Hello Ted,

Probably the Lowes set is imported and of questionable quality at that price.
High speed steel will be quite adequate for your purposes. I personally don't
like carbide tools for woodworking. They may hold their edge forever, but they
are never very sharp.

You can touch up a Forstner bit with a diamond hole, it use the little paddle
type for this.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com/

In article , Ted says...

I have seen Forstner bits sell for a wide variety of prices:

Lowes set sells for about $30.
Woodcraft has sets for about $50 up to $400.
I have also seen carbide tip sets for about $130.

What should I look for? Is carbide better or is high speed steel OK?
Is it hard to sharpen the non carbide bits?

I will be using the bits in a chuck in the tailstock of my lathe
cutting into various kinds of wood.

Thanks for any info,
Ted