[Duane Bledsoe]

My parents are looking for Christmas ideas for me and I literally don’t know what to suggest because I never want to have them buy expensive things for me, so, I’m trying to come up with low cost things that won’t be a total waste of money. I’m also realistic in what I expect quality wise with anything low cost, but I still want to ask this.

On amazon they have Yonico router bits in lots of different profiles. I’m thinking I can use some replacements for my straight bits as well as maybe pick up an edge profile or two that I don’t have now. Also, keep in mind that 90% of my work is on soft white pine 2x lumber from Lowe’s so I don’t necessarily need high quality bits that will handle hard woods, but I don’t want just pure junk either. When I began woodworking I bought a set of Skil branded bits from Lowe’s and they have satisfied me quality wise. I’m wondering if these Yonico bits would at least be equal to those? If so then I think a $25 set of straight bits would be ok and keep their cost down on buying stuff for me.

Also I see lots of other yellow bits being sold that have the identical same photos, but not the same name. Makes me wonder if it’s possible to save even a few more dollars at times on those, or if I’m seeing knock offs with pirated photos for the sake of the listing.

 

[Stick486]

gift certificate..

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

I’ve thought about that but you’d have to know mom. She thinks gift certificates are not very “gifty”. Never has gotten on board with that. We had to explain that iTunes cards are not gift cards, it’s the only way to buy iTunes music. Seemed the same to her.

 

[Knot2square]

I have bought a few Yonico bits and they are not that bad. I have not used them for large high production work, but for a hobbyist they have suited me well. Others may disagree, but for the money I believe they are a good value.

 

[TenGees]

Duane, I bought a set of 'yellow' bits that came in a wood box. They are no comparison to good bits but I've used them quite a bit. The carbide is a lower grade and it's much thinner. The welds are suspect but they've never let any shrapnel fly. I haven't measured them but 'by eye' I think the 1/4 inch straight bit is what I call a 'metric quarter'. Up here in Canada I occasionally buy Busy Bee's house brand Blue Tornado bits. They are noticeably better than the "yellows". Busy Bee is much like Harbor Freight but they don't sell no-name electric hand tools, so I'm not sure who sells similar line of bits in the USA or online. They must be out there because these are just 'branded' off-shore bits.

If you want to replace bits that you use very often, it would probably be worth buying higher quality bits though.

 

[mgmine]

If you plan on not doing production work then defiantly get them. The average user will get a lifetime of work out of a cheap set of bits. There are those that will argue that cheap bits aren't worth the price but I have never found that to be true. Years and years ago I bought a cheap set off of ebay and still use them. I have a number of expensive bits but they are specialty ones and didn't come with the set. For the run of the mill cove, rounding, ogee etc the cheap ones work fine.

 

[chuckgray]

I have many of the Yonico bits and they have worked very well for me and I work mainly with hardwood. I have been using them for several years as a hobbyist. For softwood, they will work very well for you.

 

[Semipro]

Amazon sells lot of woodworkering equipment including brand name router bits
Do you have micro-gripper push pads Amazon 50.00,white side router bits and the list goes on

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Bob Jurgens (Bj3) used them and he said they were great for the price. I bought several in architectural profiles like a table edge for example. I still haven't used them but they were about $25 compared to $100-125 for something similar from Freud or Amana. I won't use them enough to justify buying the good ones.

The quality appears to be excellent just by looking at them. They are sharp and were sharpened to 600 grit it appears because they are as smooth as the good ones and the carbide is as thick as anyone else's. The paint job is well done too. Visually they appear as good as all the top brands. They are also pretty good to deal with. Shipping was pretty reasonable even to up here. You don't need to go on Amazon or ebay to buy them. They sell under the name Precision bits. Router Bits - Precisionbits.com They also gave me a $5 certificate for my next purchase when I bought.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

Thank you for the link, I saved it and looked around the site. Yeah I don’t use my stuff much at all, honestly, so these bits should do me fine.

I remember Bob. Great guy to talk to and he really knew his stuff. Occasionally I still run across one of his old posts when doing online searches for certain things.

 

[thomas1389]

Duane, I think it's a very nice thing to be thinking of the cost to your parents of a gift for you. I used to concern myself the same way. Some people have said I had too much heart in those circumstances, not to worry, just make a suggestion. It's not easy to do that. I'm sure you'll manage reasonably. Do whatever's in your heart. Appreciate them. Be with them. They're a long time gone. Most of us on this forum have likely lost our parents some while ago. My mom in '05 at 91 and my dad in '11 at a few months shy of 100.
I had them a long time and I wish it was longer. There are so many things I want to say to them. Life goes on, Duane. Live it well.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

Thomas, thank you for your meaningful post. I’m glad for you that you had your parents for so long of a time. Sounds like you might have a lot of good memories to reflect back on and enjoy. Merry (early) Christmas.

 

[neville9999]

The main store is at Router Bits - Precisionbits.com , I have bought them and they have a few nice profiles that I could not get that easy, they worked very well so I would go to the main site rather than buy them on ebay or Amazon. N

 

[DaninVan]

Art; "If you plan on not doing production work then defiantly get them."
Not sure if that was a typo, but if it wasn't I love the "defiantly" part!
That's says it all; a verbal finger...
(I'm stealing that, just so you know.)

 

[MoHawk]

I use Yonico bits from Amazon & eBay on both my CNC and table mounted router. I'm a hobbyist so they don't get a lot of use however never had a problem yet.

 

[Herb Stoops]

Art; "If you plan on not doing production work then defiantly get them."
Not sure if that was a typo, but if it wasn't I love the "defiantly" part!
That's says it all; a verbal finger...
(I'm stealing that, just so you know.)

The Proverbial finger??
Herb

 

[JOAT]

All my life I have been given stuff I did not want, could not use, wrong size, or whatever. If I were you I would ask for wood, and tell them just what I wanted.

 

[DaninVan]

Herb; of course! Is there another kind?
Example usage: Instead of telling SWMBO that "I definitely did that" you'd say "I defiantly did that." See how well that goes over before proceeding to Level Two.

 

[mgmine]

Art; "If you plan on not doing production work then defiantly get them."
Not sure if that was a typo, but if it wasn't I love the "defiantly" part!
That's says it all; a verbal finger...
(I'm stealing that, just so you know.)

I love auto spell correction! But reading it over I like that part too.

 

[dekfin6]

Nice post