Product Description

Reversible Glue Joint Router Bit, 1/2 Shank, TiCo&tm. High Density Carbide.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22284 in Home Improvement
• Brand: Freud
• Model: 99-031
• Dimensions: .48 pounds

Features

• Provides a stronger joint by increasing the surface area for glue
• Cuts all composition materials, plywood, hardwood and soft wood
• Precision-ground carbide bits are made with added titanium; impervious to chemical attack
• Computer-balanced for vibration-free operation
• 1-1/2-Inch bit diameter; 1/2-Inch shank diameter

Amazon.com Product Description
The Freud Difference
Freud manufactures some of the most innovative, technologically advanced woodworking tools and accessories in the world. To ensure that the highest quality products meet the toughest design standards, Freud owns and operates six manufacturing facilities in Western Europe. Freud is one of the few manufacturers of woodworking tools in the world that produces its own MicroGrain carbide with titanium, called TiCo -- a combination of titanium and cobalt. Freud develops different types of carbide for each application to maximize the cutting life and performance of the tool; and Freud also operates one of the most modern product development research centers in Europe. By overseeing the entire manufacturing process from start to finish, Freud guarantees some of the highest quality, most advanced products in the industry.

About Freud's Industrial Bits
Serious woodworkers choose serious accessories. They choose Freud. The Freud name equals quality, precision and craftsmanship. Freud router bits feature TiCo Hi-Density Carbide for maximum cutting life and are individually balanced; providing a cut above the rest. When you’re looking for a serious router bit, look for Freud red.

About the Reversible Glue Joint Bit
The Freud 1-1/2-inch reversible glue joint bit provides a stronger joint by increasing the surface area for glue. This precision-ground carbide bit is made with added titanium, making it impervious to chemical attack. The bit is computer-balanced to insure vibration-free operation at speeds that are a safe margin above the typical 22,000 rpm of most routers.

Applications
Use this bit to increase joint strength by expanding the surface area available to accept gluing. For use on CNC and other automatic routers as well as hand-held and table-mounted portable routers, this bit cuts all composition materials, plywood, hardwood, and soft wood.

Key Tech Specs:

• Overall diameter: 1-1/2 inch
• Shank diameter: 1/2 inch
• Carbide height: 1-1/4 inch
• Angle: 30 degrees
• Overall length: 2-3/4 inches

Warranty
This bit is covered by Freud's limited lifetime warranty.

From the Manufacturer
Freud's precision ground carbide bits have a grain size smaller than other grades and titanium is added making them impervious to chemical attack. Promoting safer woodworking is the reason Freud made a commitment to develop anti-kickback router bits. Bits are computer balanced to insure vibration-free operation at speeds that are a safe margin above the typical 22,000 RPMs of most routers. Freud's philosophy is woodworkers should expect safety, not pay for it. Overall diameter 1-1/2-Inch, angle 30-Degree, shank diameter 1/2-Inch.

Customer Reviews

Perfect edge joining made easy.
This bit takes all of the work out of gluing boards together. With this bit mounted on a router table, you can have four boards edge treated for perfect gluing in about 60 seconds. It works best if you have all boards planed to uniform thickness before running the edge treatment. If you like building furniture out of solid wood but don't like the warping and twisting that comes with it, use narrow boards at 3" - 4" wide and use this bit to join them together. Your final wide pannel will be strong and stable. It's even great if your final pannel is wider than your planer. So long as you start with uniform thickness, you'll have nothing more to do than light sanding after the boards are glued. A great investment for better solid wood furniture and it will save you money in the long run because narrow boards are less expensive per board foot.

Glue joint bit excellent for aligning board surfaces.
This glue joint bit is excellent for aligning board surfaces. It also enhances the surface area moderately, thereby adding some strength. For further strength, use it in conjunction with biscuits. I had bought this Freud reversible glue up joint bit as part of a cabinet set.
The problem is getting the glue seams on multiple boards to sit flush. Normally when clamping, one board might sit a little higher, or lower than the one next to it. Clamping is of course an answer, but is only effective if you clamp the heck out of nearly the entire surface.
If you are fortunate enough to own a huge drum or belt sanding stationary machine, you enjoy the advantage of being able to pass your table top through the sander to level the edges. Since most of us don't have that advantage, it would be reassuring to know that the irregular face of the bit forces the alignment of the individual boards.
You must take the time to get the registration right. To prep to use this bit, is to plane the boards, all at the same time, to a final even thickness, and then used the reversible glue up joint bit, you would wind up with a table top that would only need a light sanding.
From what I see, most people are considering this bit to be an alternative to biscuit joinery. Although I admit that you are slightly increasing the amount of board surface to glue up, it is not really significant enough to make a substantial difference in the strength of the joint. It appears that the finger joint bit would do the job of increasing surface area a little better.
The advantage of the Frued glue joint bit, is that it will give you a perfect alignment of the boards. In plain words, a flat top without irregular seam ridges to try and sand out.

In conclusion, use this glue up joint bit to align your boards, and mildly enhance the glue surface. Adding biscuits would give you even more strength.
Hope this helps.

Practical Considerations
The concept is appealing. Treat your edges with this bit and glue them together. More glue surface means a stronger joint.

The problem is that one must be exact with the positioning of the bit...and I mean exact. If your're off by a hair, your error is mutlplied twice by the same error on the other board. In addition, the cut of the bit takes off about 1/8" off each board. It also would have helped if the company published the center point of the bit. I assumed it was 1/2 the overall height.

To be fair, this is a well made bit with plenty of heft. Running it around 18000 rpm produced the best performance. If you are interested in this type of edge glueing you might also want to take a look at the company's other offerings, particularly the finger joint edge glue bit. This bit does not need to be exacrly centered but raised or lowered 7/32" to provide a match.