Hi, can you please help me identify this router bit? It came in a set of bits and there’s no further explanation. I am seeing this for the first time and have absolutely no idea how and what for could I use it. (Though I am an ultimate routing rookie).
The tip looks like a V shape and there is one straight side blade, though it looks like they’re not connected.
What you’ve got there is a panel pilot bit.
Imagine you’re building a vanity. You make the countertop out of plywood, cut a rectangular hole for the sink, and then put laminate over it. Now your sheet of laminate is covering up the sink hole, you need to cut it out. In the home shop, it might occur to you to get out a drill, punch a 5/8 or 3/4" hole, then you can stick your ball bearing flush trim bit through that hole and then cut out the laminate as a template routing operation.
Now imagine you work in a cabinet shop and you’ve got 50 vanities to make today. You don’t have time to keep switching between your drill and your router, so you use this bit. It’s a flush trim bit, the smooth area near the tip is a template guide, and the point is so that it can plunge itself into the work without a separate drilling operation.
Cheers, that makes sense.