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- Guide to Grooving Bits
- Whiteside
Point cutting roundover bits are ideal for cutting decorative profiles and lettering. The smooth surface finish left by the carbide tipped cutter ensures you won't need to cross your eyes while checking to see if you dotted your Ts.
Because of their inherently fragile cutter geometry Whiteside and Tools for Working Wood do NOT guarantee point cutting roundovers against breakage.
Grooving bits cut a profiled slot through interior portions of the workpiece. They may also be used to profile edges of a workpiece if used with a template and guide ring, or in a router table with a a fence. Point cutting roundover bits, and round nose bits are both good options for lettering or decoration.
Round Nose or Corebox bits cut a semicircular, or “U” shaped groove. Unlike most router bits which are sized by their cutting diameter, round nose bits are referred to by the radius of the round nose which, not coincidentally, will always be ½ the cutter diameter of the bit. For instance, a ¼” radius round nose bit, has a cutter diameter of ½”.
Bowl and Tray cutters cut a flat bottomed groove with rounded edges.
V-groove bits come to a point and are sized by specifying the included angle of the flutes, and the bits cutting diameter.
Point cutting roundover bits have two concave flutes that meet at a point in the center of the bit. Because the flutes meet in the center, Point cutting roundover bits have a cutting diameter that is twice the radius of the profile they are designed to to cut. For instance, a ¼” radius point cutting roundover bit, has a cutting diameter of ½”.
For over 30 years Whiteside Machine Company has manufactured best quality router-bits and we are proud to offer an exceptionally wide selection of their catalog. Combine them with your Festool router, or router table and you have a professional quality solution not only for shaping, but for joinery, grooving, copying templates, and even making the kid a custom set of wooden train tracks.
Flag waving aside, the real reason to purchase a Whiteside router-bit is because the hands down top quality of their product. Their router bits feature innovations such as concave ground cutting edges, who's sole purpose is to improve product quality, not simplify a production process, or shave a few cents per bit in manufacturing cost. Whiteside is a company who would rather build their own proprietary machinery, than settle for what's available, and with over 200 years of collective experience in their grinding room alone, they have the chops to pull it off. What that means for your woodworking is not having to worry about endlessly sanding out machine marks. It means not having to worry that a pre-maturely dull bit will tear out the grain. It means you can push your bit through the wood with the confidence of knowing that the folks who made your router bit cared as much about their product, as you care about yours.
Whiteside Machine is a family owned and operated business based in Claremont, North Carolina.
Fine Wood Working had this to say about Whiteside in their May June 2007 Router-bit review: "At the end of the day, the Whiteside and the Eagle bits had risen to the top of the mix, tying for the highest score. Lee Valley had the second-highest score, followed by Southeast and Woodtek in a tie for third. By the way, Whiteside also had the best bit when we reviewed straight bits in our August 1999 issue (FWW #137). We named the Eagle and Whiteside bits best overall. And, since the Whiteside had one of the lowest prices of the top bits, we also named it best value."
