Lee Valley countersink/drill bits

[Victor Robinson]

I was going to pick up a set of LV countersink/bore drill bits, but am torn between the regular twist bits ($29 for a set of 5):

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=40127&cat=1,180,42240,42281&ap=1

and the tapered bits ($65 for a set of 5):

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=32309&cat=1,180,42240

Anybody have these? Is the tapered HSS bit set worth twice as much?

[Mike Henderson]

I have a tapered set - not LV, but by someone else. For the woods I work with, I don't feel they are necessary. Perhaps if you work with extremely hard wood, or some wood that splinters very easily, but I've not seen any difference between those and the straight bit ones in the wood I work with.

Mike

[Bill Huber]

I have the Lee Valley tapered bits set, they work well but they do clog very bad and you have to clean them out after 2 holes.
I have been looking at these, they got a very good write up in Fine Woodworking.

http://woodworker.com/fullpres.asp?PARTNUM=151-337&LARGEVIEW=ON

[Rick Lizek]

The tapered bits are for old fashioned traditional wood screws (slotted). The straight buts match the modern straight wood screw. Look at what the shank on the screws you typically use is shaped like, straight or tapered? I don't even waste the money on bradpoint bits for these either. Save your money. You won't get any better results with the more expensive bits.

[Myk Rian]

I have a Peachtree tapered set. Just as good as the pricier LVs.

[Brian W Evans]

I actually have both. The twist bits are not LV, although they work fine. One problem with the twist set is that you can't set the depth of the countersink/counterbore - just how much of the bit extends beyond the countersink. You can find depth collars separately that can set this depth, however.

The LV tapered bits are nice but they do clog relatively easily. I like them for use with brass wood screws which seem to still have the taper that many newer wood screws have lost. This set comes with separate depth collars that allow you to set the countersink/counterbore depth in addition to the bit depth.

By the way, LV has free shipping until July 11. That doesn't happen very often.

[Ray Newman]

See what Rick Lizek posted -- he's dead nuts on ab out the reason for straight vs. tapered bits.

Another source for Made-in-the-USofA c'sinks, tapered bits, stop collars, etc: http://www.wlfuller.com/
Top quality tooling and easy to get replacements from Fuller and Woodcraft.

I have an older Fuller set that I would not trade as we have become old shop mates over the last 25 + years. While the bits/c-sink may clog a bit more than others, I quickly remove the chips with a metal pick/scribe.

[Bill Trouard]

I also have a Fuller set (http://www.wlfuller.com/html/type__c__sets.html). I have had it for about a year now, I can only say that they also clog easy with some hardwoods like some have said about other brands. Prior to this set I had the ones that Rockler sells and had some issues with the set screws coming lose and burning in hardwood and clogging on just about every hole drilled.

The Fuller set was expensive but well worth it IMO. I have never used the ones sold by Lee Valley

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