Drill bit for dowels

[Rick Potter]

What kind of drill bit do you use for dowels, brad point or a normal HSS bit? I see that the Beadlock recommends a regular HSS bit, but how about your more traditional type dowel jig?

Rick Potter

[Rich Engelhardt]

I bought a decent 3/8" bradpoint to use w/my cheap Rockler jig.
The regular twist bit has a tendancy to move the jig.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

For woodworking you cannot go wrong with brad point bits. They work great for the jig and excel when drilling precision hole with a drill press.

[Greg Hines, MD]

I only use Brad Point bits for woodworking. Twist bits just wander way too much. The only time I use them are in metal.

[Rick Potter]

Thanks guys, that goes along with my experience too. The Beadlock recommendation for twist bits made me wonder. Just to experiment, I went to the B&D outlet center near me, and picked up a couple Bullet Point bits on sale. I think I will try them too. They are a cross between brad point and twist. If they don't work out, I can always use them for steel, where they work great.

Rick Potter

[pat warner]

Free hand drilling? Then brad point.
Drilling with bushed dowel jig? Then 118 deg. garden variety hss drill.

[Heather Thompson]

Free hand drilling? Then brad point.
Drilling with bushed dowel jig? Then 118 deg. garden variety hss drill.

+1 on what Pat just said, I use the Dowelmax and that bit can not wander, no way no how. Take a look at the
Dowelmax website and click on the "Standard Order" tab to view their bits.

Heather

[Rich Engelhardt]

No doubt the better jigs stay put.
However - a common knock against the cheap Rockler jig - which is otherwise and excellent value for a budget jig - is that the see through plastic part is too "slippery" and will move no matter how hard you clamp it down.
A brad point bit helps a lot to keep the jig in place.

I dabbed a thin coat of Zinsser Seal Coat on mine and that made a world of difference in helping to keep the jig in place.

Now, with a decent brad point bit, the cheap little jig works well beyond what something in that price range can be expected to.

[Peter Quinn]

I use brad points in my dowel jig, but mostly because that's what I have in HSS, not for a particular reason. In my slot mortiser I use brad points from Morris wood tool which have a modified point to track straight into end grain such as for rail and stile assemblies. Even a standard brad point can wander and try to follow the grain in harder species, but e ones from Morris are fantastic and accurate, well worth the money for the results. I think they are made fro drilling gun stocks or something?