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Good Day!

Does anyone happen to know a source for 1/16" x 1/4" shank up cut spiral bits. Preferably Canadian but will happily go south if there's none domestic. All I can find here are 1/8th. Lee Valley has 1/16 fluted but I think spirals probably cut cleaner? It would be for rosette and inlay work.

Thanks,
Danny

I think most here are using spiral downcut bits for this application

Downcut for me, too. Downcut seems to reduce the amount of fibers being lifted out of the cut and thus, rough edges to the channel being formed.

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Yes, I was suprised that a brand new (sharp) regular bit chipped the heck out of a rosette channel.

Danny-
Not in Canada, but will ship here:
I've dealt with http://drillbitcity.com/ a couple of times and been happy. They sell an adapter to use 1/8 shank bits in 1/4 collets, which worked surprisingly well for me.
Now if I could just find the darn thing! Shoulda bought two!
BTW, it pays to contact DrillBit City directly- not everything is on the website, and as with most US suppliers, you want to make sure they send your stuff via USPS/CanadaPost.

Also, MicroMark sells 'FishTail' bits which I've had good luck with.
http://www.micromark.com/SearchResult.aspx?deptIdFilter=0&searchPhrase=fish

Cheers
John

That's a problem for me as well,sometimes- depending on the piece of wood..
Sometimes a wash coat of shellac can harden up things a bit to reduce splintering. You do have to wait until it is dry and hard before routing. More careful builders than me use a gramil to score the line before routing, or do it all by hand.

Cheers
John

As a machinist a down cut is good at a cleared hole , if you are making a slot be careful as the chips go into the work and can cause problems. Most instances it isn't the it is a downward spiral but but the sharpness. A dull bit is a dull bit. i use BQtool.com
you will find the bits there at affordable prices.

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

John-
Thanks for the tip.
They have a ton of products!
In their end mills, what is the equivalent to a 'standard' (Onstrud-style) spiral up- or down-cut bit?
Or, in other words what do you recommend?

Thanks
John

I,ve found that if you can get good HSS bits even straight fluted ones you can get a clean cut.To me the HSS bits take a sharper edge. I find it hard to find them nowadays. John hall is right about the sharpness being the most important factor.Some bits are junk for fine work.

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Here's another

this is the link you need for BQtool http://bqtool.com/cart/extra-length-squ ... 54cdddab21
I use a number of them and they now have a .020 end mill they make for Dave Nichols and I but are on a request basis , call and ask them .
I agree HSS can be sharper but these have been very good to me and the price is right. A sharp bit is what you want regardless and at this price you can afford to replace a bit when they are dull.

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Thanks for the great links Y'all! I've only used up cut bits in the past and have been satisfied with the results but I'm always happy to try something better.

Happy Sunday!
Danny