Bosch 7 piece Wood Forstner Bit Set

Flat-bottomed holes are a make-or-break detail in a lot of my projects: countersinking hardware, setting magnets, or creating clean recesses for plugs. I spent a few weeks working with this Bosch set to see if it could pull reliable, clean holes from a portable drill as well as a drill press. It mostly does, with a couple of caveats that matter depending on how pristine you need your surfaces and how much tuning you’re willing to do out of the box.

What you get and how it’s built

The set covers seven sizes—1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, and 1 inch—each with a 3/8-inch hex shank. The hex shank is a meaningful advantage. In a hand drill, it locks in securely and resists spinning in the chuck, and in a drill press it centers easily in a standard three-jaw chuck. All bits share a short centering tip, two main cutting edges, and a toothed rim intended to score the perimeter before the inner cutters sweep the waste. The bodies have deep flutes to help with chip removal, and the overall length is right around 4 inches, which balances reach and rigidity nicely.

Out of the box, the machining and finish on my set were generally good, with one exception: the outside rim on two bits arrived with small burrs. That’s not unusual on mid-priced Forstners, but it does matter. Burrs on the rim increase cutting force and can create fuzzy edges on the hole. A few passes with a fine diamond card on the rim teeth and a light touch on the flats of the main cutters corrected it in under five minutes per bit. If you’re expecting absolute perfection out of the case, you may be annoyed; if you’re used to tuning new cutting tools, it’s a minor speed bump.

The storage case is compact and keeps the bits separated so edges aren’t clashing in transit. It’s the usual molded plastic affair—functional, not luxurious.

Setup, speeds, and technique

Forstner bits reward good technique more than most common wood bits. A few practical notes from my time with the set:

• Mark your location and use light downward pressure until the rim establishes a perimeter. The short centering spur helps you place the bit precisely but won’t prevent walking on an angled or slick surface; a quick awl punch fixes that.
• Keep speeds down. In hardwood with the 1-inch bit, I had the best results between 300–500 RPM on the drill press. In softwood, 500–800 RPM worked well. With the 1/2-inch and smaller bits, you can climb to 1,000–1,500 RPM. In a hand drill, use low gear and let the rim do the work.
• Clear chips frequently. Even with generous flutes, these will pack in deeper holes. Peck drilling (advance, withdraw, clear, repeat) keeps heat down and edges sharp.

Follow those guidelines and this set delivers the flat-bottomed, splinter-free holes you buy Forstners for.

Performance in a drill press

On the press, the Bosch set produced clean entry holes with minimal fuzz in hard maple, red oak, and Baltic birch ply. The toothed rim does a good job scoring the perimeter first; I didn’t see the crescent-shaped tear-out you sometimes get with smooth-rim designs in plywood. Around knots and through end grain, the rim’s bite helped maintain a true circle with less chatter than I expected from a set at this price point.

Depth control was spot-on, and the bottoms of the holes were reliably flat with a tiny pimple from the centering tip, as expected. With the 1-inch bit in hard maple, feed force was moderate after I stoned the burrs off the rim. Before that tune-up, it needed heavier pressure and tended to leave a faint burn ring if I ran the RPM too high or paused mid-cut. Post-tune, the burn issue vanished at sane speeds and steady feed.

Overlap boring—starting a hole that breaks into an adjacent hole’s perimeter—was stable if I began with a shallow scoring cut, then plunged. The rim geometry stayed engaged instead of skating.

Performance in a cordless drill

Handheld, the hex shank pays off. There’s no slippage, and I didn’t have to over-tighten the chuck. In construction-grade SPF and in poplar, the 3/4-inch and 1-inch bits bored cleanly at low gear with a mid-range 18V drill. You do feel the difference between fresh edges and slightly dull ones here; once heat builds up, chip evacuation slows and the cut gets grabby. Peck drilling and clearing chips solved that.

On face veneer plywood, a sacrificial backer prevented blowout on exit, and the rim left crisp entry edges with very little fuzz. The short spur keeps wander to a minimum but won’t self-feed—by design—so you’re always in control. For shelf pin holes or small recesses, the 1/4- and 3/8-inch bits were predictably easy to place and produced flat bottoms that hide nicely under plugs or hardware.

Edge quality and splinter control

The toothed rim design is a win for clean edges. In my tests:
- Clean entry in hardwood and veneer ply was the norm.
- End grain cuts looked better than I usually get with smooth-rim bits, with less crushing around the perimeter.
- Around knots, the rim stayed engaged and didn’t deflect into softer earlywood nearby.

If you press too lightly or spin too fast, you may see light burnishing on dense hardwood. That’s a technique issue rather than a design flaw. Keeping the feed steady with chips breaking cleanly avoids heat and gives a crisp edge.

Chip evacuation and heat

Chip clearance is better than average for this class. The flutes are wide enough that chips eject cleanly with a quick withdrawal. In continuous deep cuts, I still had to peck drill to avoid heat buildup. After several dozen holes in hardwood, the 1-inch bit still cut cleanly, which tells me the heat wasn’t excessive and the edge held up.

Durability and maintenance

After two small furniture builds—roughly 60–80 holes across sizes—the 1/2- and 3/4-inch bits remained sharp enough to leave smooth bottoms and clean perimeters. The 1-inch bit showed the earliest signs of dulling (no surprise), but a quick touch-up with a fine stone on the flats and the outside rim brought it back. The steel feels appropriately hard; it takes an edge and holds it reasonably well without chipping.

I wouldn’t call these production-shop workhorses, but for regular cabinetry and furniture tasks, they stood up well. If you’re drilling hundreds of holes a week, you’ll want a premium set and a dedicated sharpening routine. For typical shop use, a light touch-up every project or two keeps these performing like new.

Fit, finish, and small frustrations

Aside from the rim burrs on two bits, fit and finish were respectable. The hex shanks were well-ground and ran true in the chuck with no visible wobble. The short centering spur is well-proportioned; it’s long enough to guide the cut without punching through thin stock prematurely. The case does its job, though the latch feels like it will eventually fatigue.

One note: if you’re chasing absolute out-of-box perfection, give each rim a quick inspection. A couple of minutes with a diamond card can transform the cut quality and feed effort.

Who this set is for

• Woodworkers who need flat-bottomed holes in the 1/4–1-inch range for hardware, magnets, plugs, and counterbores.
• DIYers who primarily use a cordless drill but want the option to step up to the drill press with the same bits.
• Anyone who appreciates a hex shank to prevent chuck slip.

If you frequently bore large-diameter hinge cups (35mm/1-3/8 inch), you’ll need an additional bit; that size isn’t in the lineup.

The bottom line

The Bosch set hits the essentials: accurate placement, clean perimeters, flat bottoms, and solid chip evacuation, with the very practical bonus of hex shanks that don’t slip. The performance on a drill press is confidently clean, and handheld results are very good once you dial in speed and feed. The main caveat is quality control at the rim—minor burrs on a couple of bits increased cutting effort until I stoned them off. After that, the set behaved like a much pricier kit.

Recommendation: I recommend this set for most woodworkers and serious DIYers who want reliable, clean Forstner performance without paying premium prices, and who don’t mind a quick tune-up if needed. If you demand flawless edges straight from the box or you’re working in a production environment, consider stepping up to a higher-end set. For everyone else, this is a capable, versatile set that earns a spot in the drill drawer.