Freud 99-036: 1-3/4" (Dia.) Adjustable Tongue & Groove Bit Set

Works great on Cherry and Paduka wood.

The Freud 99-036 adjustable tongue & groove bit set is absolutely fantastic. Each bit is razor-sharp and cuts clean, precise joints with minimal tear-out. The adjustability makes it incredibly versatile, and the build quality is top-notch — solid, balanced, and built to last. I’ve used it on several projects with hardwood and plywood, and the results are consistently professional-looking. If you do any tongue-and-groove joinery, this set is worth every penny. Truly a must-have for serious woodworking.

I never thought I’d say this, but these router bits are so beautiful, I almost don’t want to use them. Before this purchase, I bought sets of 20 or more for nearly the same price as these two pieces. Never having owned professional-grade tools, I couldn’t imagine what justified the extra cost. Boy, was I wrong. First, the packaging makes you feel like you’ve won an award for craftsmanship. It’s like opening a trophy case. Then, I was surprised by the sheer weight of the package—I was curious how router bits could have the density of a dying sun. When I finally opened it, I realized the bulk wasn’t the packaging. These bits are massive. Imagine an anvil and a shipping container had a baby—yeah, that’s how sturdy they feel. Sharp? Let’s just say they could give an eagle’s eyes a run for their money. I’m grateful I read a review that warned me not to cut myself while unboxing. If I hadn’t, I might be typing this review one-thumbed. I usually store all my router bits in foam, but these? They stay in their own display case like trophies in my workshop—because they are! The quality is undeniable, and after a few cuts, I know I won’t be going back to the bulk sets. If you’re on the fence about investing in high-quality bits, take the leap. You’ll wonder how you ever worked without them.

Works like all my Freud router bits, Perfectly! Does take a couple sample pieces to adjust for smooth perfect joints!

The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I have not yet used it in a true furniture piece. However I believe it will rate 5 stars when this is accomplished. I have only used this T&G set for practice so far. I did some tongue and grooves on a practice pair of boards as though I were going to make a wide glued up panel. The set worked fine. Read the little sheet that defines the thickness of the included spacers. Adding the appropriate spacers to both the Tongue bit and the Groove bit is very important to make the tongue fit snugly into the groove. The most difficult thing is to correctly adjust the height of the tongue bit for the second board to match the exact location of the opposing groove location on the first board. Otherwise you get a beautifull T&G that fits well but one board is offset from the other by however much you didn't correctly adjust the height of the cut. This is very tricky to adjust. Not a fault of the T&G bit set, just an inherent issue when using any router bit set pair. Maybe there is a good way to solve this. But I don't know what it is. For me there are two options to solve this problem: 1) Adjust, adjust, adjust with the same dimension trial boards before going to the real wood pieces: 2) adjust until fairly close then make the T&G. Then make a small 45 deg chamfer on the exposed edges before glue up. The chamfer hides small offset differences plus adds an interesting feature to the furniture piece. Conclusions - I am glad I bought the T&G set. I would do it again. Understand that there are difficulties to make exact matching booards, but they can be worked. The set cut very cleanly, no chip out.

These bits are very sharp and very accurate. Shims are included on both bits which allow for fine tuning the height of the tongue and the groove. There is a chart on the packaging that details the different thickness settings and what shims are needed to dial them in. I find it easier to cut accurate and tight-fitting tongue & groove assemblies on the router table as opposed to the table saw. I have used these bits to make frame-and-panel cabinet doors and for glue-ups. Adjusting the fence on the router table allows for fine-tuning the depth of the cuts. This could also be achieved by using larger bearings on the bits themselves, but you'd probably still want to use a fence... and I'm not sure how many people have the extra bearings floating around. The package housing the bits was filled with packing peanuts, which was likely done to mitigate any damage caused by the bits dislodging and bouncing around inside the package during shipping. I'm pretty sure the shipper did this, as none of the Freud bits that I see at my local Woodcraft have these peanuts inside the packaging. I appreciate this extra effort. I normally try to stick with Whiteside for my router bits, but I am pleased with these Freud bits. I could not find a Whiteside offering that was adjustable and competitively priced. I have no regrets though!

Affordable and adjustable for the perfect cut. Works as advertised and easy to adjust for the perfect fit. Seems to stay sharp but after only a few dozen cuts more will tell what longevity it has. For now it's all I expected.

The negative reviews mention shipping damage from loose bits, carbide damage, and tear out in wood while using these. The shipping containers have been updated, I have 2 iterations of these updated containers, one was really tight rubber grips, I had to cut out of the container, not ideal, but no damage. The last set I received was the best because they were zip tied in, so no shipping damage, but also easy to pull out after cutting ties. The first set I got, one of the cutters chipped after some practice cuts, but I reached out to Freud and they replaced the damaged piece right away. I've actually experienced this with higher end carbide more than cheaper ones, I have to assume it's from harder carbide being used, but they took care of it for me. The upside is they should stay sharper much longer. Finally, the blow out. This always happens for me on deep router cuts with any bits I've ever used. The best way to deal with this is to oversize your piece width, router them (you will get chips), then take off about 1/16" on the face with the chips on a joiner or table saw to get rid of the chips, then do another pass on the router to get the depth again. There's much more expensive and complex bits with more blades that claim to stop this, but it's more about the grain than the cutter imo. The adjustability is nice and simple to set, they work great, and the company stands by their products.

Bought this set to turn a bunch of old hardwood floorboards into panelling. As with other Freud tools I’ve bought it did the job safely and easily.

Precisa e robusta, vale cada centavo.

Tiene buen filo, buen embalaje no se maltrata nada en envío.

These feel really well made. Solid construction and let me make cabinet doors really easily with the fine adjustment shims. They feel like they will last a lot longer than some other bits available online. My only gripes are they can be tough to initially get out of the case (wear gloves as they are super sharp!) And the instructions are not entirely easy to read. A little trial and error solved some problems but there doesn't seem to be any further explanation of how to read their chart online. I couldn't tell which shims were which size but maybe I'm just a little new at this. I would also mention that it is a very tall bit so it would be ideal to have router fence with a larger opening height wise to get the most versatility out of it. Overall feels like a professional product.

The cutters must be of good quality, for my part I had to buy a 1/2 collar or 12.7mm tail diameter to adapt to my machine. Freud is and will remain a brand that has nothing to prove