CMT 806 691 11B Double Bearing Cutting: Enhanced Precision for Effortless Cuts Review

Paid $28.28 for this bad boy. Works as advertised. Did a quick job with 1 inch thick sapele. An update nearly a year later brought the bat back for a second. The beat breaks off easily. I have a very cheap set of bits that cost less than this one bit and they didn't break. The second replacement, but also breaks off. I'll use it until it falls apart, then I won't need SMT anymore. Only Whiteside and Freud.

CMT has an odd habit of making flush bits that don't cut flush with the template. The surface becomes smooth, the lower cutting edge does its job perfectly, so there are no complaints. The problem is that the dimensions of the rolling bearing and the edge of the groove are slightly different. The surface of the wood will be several thousand inches wider than the template. This is a real problem when using this to create pieces that are glued together.

What I love about this cutter is the dual bearing top and bottom so you can do any job by placing the template on the top or bottom of the workpiece. I also like the upward shift when placed on the router table and it throws the wood chips over the table instead of into the router. This is a very impressive little beast when I was making the Roman Ogee kitchen cabinet doors as I laid the template over the blank and made the wood smooth as butter.