Brad point drill bits

[Rob Luter]

The Brad point bits I have are junk. They're home center grade. They're not all ground straight and the Brad points are off center. Where can I get a pro quality set? Not too concerned about price.

[Mike Nolan]

"Not too concerned about price?" sounds like a job for lee Valley. http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=42247&cat=1,180,42240,42247

[Ben Rivel]

"Not too concerned about price?" sounds like a job for lee Valley. http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=42247&cat=1,180,42240,42247
Yep. Thats what I went with, the box set of 28 and they have been awesome so far. After that set I replaced all my drill bits with Lee Valley ones for all types. Expensive, but so far they have performed better than anything cheaper Ive tried before.

[Rob Luter]

Good call. Didn't think of them.

[lee cox]

Why brad points? Why not use regular twist bits?

[Van Huskey]

Why brad points? Why not use regular twist bits?

Brad points are for wood, regular twist bits are for metal (in general terms).

I have used a lot of brad points over the years and the absolute best are from Forest City tool, it is a sister company to Whiteside in NC and built its business supplying the furniture industry in North Carolina as did Whiteside. Quality American made bits.

Colt and Famag also make great bits as does Lee Valley but they are all a step behind Forest City in quality. Fuller also makes a great bit BUT I haven't used them in years so I can't speak to the current quality.

[Jerry Miner]

Why brad points? Why not use regular twist bits?

Brad points cut cleaner in wood.

[Andrew Hughes]

I too have the Full Set from Lee Valley.I really dig all the in between sizes, they have saved my butt on many projects.
But as Van mentions only for wood.And they do have a diiferant feel when using them in a cordless drill.
They sometimes will self feed.

Aj

[glenn bradley]

"Not too concerned about price?" sounds like a job for lee Valley. http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=42247&cat=1,180,42240,42247


Yep. Thats what I went with, the box set of 28 and they have been awesome so far. After that set I replaced all my drill bits with Lee Valley ones for all types. Expensive, but so far they have performed better than anything cheaper Ive tried before.

That's what I run as well.

344317


Why brad points? Why not use regular twist bits?

Apples and oranges. Lipped brad points give you super clean entrance and exit holes. The center spur disallows wandering. If you are just boring a hole for a screw almost anything will do. Dowels or precision hardware can benefit from a little more precision. Like a lot of things, if you haven't missed them, you probably don't need them.

[pat warner]

Wl FUller.
Have lengths, diameters that are unprecedented in the industry.
(Number, wire, fractional, metric etc.)

[Bruce Page]

I'm very happy with my LV set.

[jack duren]

http://www.woodworking.org/WC/GArchive00/2_19bobdrillbits.html .....

[Larry Frank]

I have a set of Colt brad point bits that work well for me. Perhaps, not quite as good as the Fuller but a little Lee's in cost.

[Van Huskey]

I have a set of Colt brad point bits that work well for me. Perhaps, not quite as good as the Fuller but a little Lee's in cost.

It is important to note that Colt makes more than one quality level of brad point, as do many manufacturers. The most common to see are the Twin Land and 5 Star versions. The Twin Land are quite economical at roughly $20 for a 7 piece set where the 5 Star bits are about 4x the price. The Twin Land are actually a quite good bit for the price and it is hard to do better at the price and have gotten quite a bit of use out of the couple of sets I have had in the past, I still have several of my less used sizes and don't hesitate to use them.

[Mark W Pugh]

"Not too concerned about price?" sounds like a job for lee Valley. http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=42247&cat=1,180,42240,42247

+1 I went with these, and I'm glad I did.

[Joe Jensen]

Fuller are top notch, it was a good investment for me...joe

[James Baker SD]

another plus for Lee Valley. I broke the edges off one bit of the set hitting an embedded nail I did not know about. Lee Valley had the individual bits for sale as well, so only had to buy one bit to restore the set.

[Wayne Lomman]

I grind a select few drills to brad points when I need to. The rest stay as regular twist drills although I do change the angle depending on the task at hand. I usually purchase from engineering tool suppliers. Cheers

[peter gagliardi]

W.L. Fuller that Jack linked to the review of, are every bit as good as the old Forest City stuff- I almost think W.L. Fuller supplied Forest City's brad points.
Anyway, they are as good as you can find, and the big,big plus, for me anyway is that they are made right here in the U.S. In Warwick, RI . They will resharpen, no one else I know, offers this, so the rest are selling essentially a "throw-away" set.
Supporting a stateside manufacturer is a priority for me.
Otherwise, pretty soon we will have no jobs and no skills, then, we won't be consumers, etc......

[Rod Sheridan]

A second vote for the Lee Valley bits, I have them, they are straight, sharp and drill very well.

Isn't this a weird world? I'm praising a drill bit for drilling properly, who would ever have guessed we would be reduced to trying to find drill bits that work?

Regards, Rod.

[Al Launier]

I was actually suprised & pleased at how well the Irwin brad point bits performed. The resulting holes were cleanly drilled & held size well when used for steel dowel pins, as well as for wooden dowels.

[Garth Almgren]

It is important to note that Colt makes more than one quality level of brad point, as do many manufacturers. The most common to see are the Twin Land and 5 Star versions. The Twin Land are quite economical at roughly $20 for a 7 piece set where the 5 Star bits are about 4x the price. The Twin Land are actually a quite good bit for the price and it is hard to do better at the price and have gotten quite a bit of use out of the couple of sets I have had in the past, I still have several of my less used sizes and don't hesitate to use them.
I have the Colt Twin Land 7 bit set, and am very happy with it as well. One step up from the BORG options, and a good entry level set.

[Mike Henderson]

I bought a set from Norseman. Here's a link (https://www.emisupply.com/catalog/norseman-sp29-magnum-super-premium-jobber-length-black-gold-drill-29pc-p-2202.html?utm_source=googprod&utm_medium=product_search&utm_campaign=google-product-search-us-en&utm_term=NDT-44150&gclid=Cj0KEQjwvIO_BRDt27qG3YX0w4wBEiQAsGu3eTUQWZxe vYPCgvmYjlzSVofV1W3vvJSY_2KvzSpf-qkaAkjR8P8HAQ#.V-G4HvArLIU) to someone who sells what I bought. Good drills.

Mike

[Cary Falk]

I have a small set from Lee Valley. I have a large set from Harbor Freight for the not so common holes. They are not as good as the Lee Valley ones but they aren't bad.

[Rob Luter]

After much contemplation I pulled the trigger on the 28 piece boxed set from Lee Valley. The brown truck just delivered them to my office at lunchtime. I'll give them a try when I get home tonight.

[Lee Schierer]

After much contemplation I pulled the trigger on the 28 piece boxed set from Lee Valley. The brown truck just delivered them to my office at lunchtime. I'll give them a try when I get home tonight.

Wow, that was a long contemplation. ;) I hope the bits work out for you.

[Rob Luter]

Wow, that was a long contemplation. ;) I hope the bits work out for you.

I like to think things through. How to explain a $200 box of drills to my bride was one of those things I needed to think through. :D

[Ben Rivel]

After much contemplation I pulled the trigger on the 28 piece boxed set from Lee Valley. The brown truck just delivered them to my office at lunchtime. I'll give them a try when I get home tonight.
I have the same Lee Valley kit and love it. You wont be disappointed.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

My first set, very small set, was a cheap Colt set. They worked, but I quickly wore out some of the sizes. I then bought the 28 piece Lee Valley set, many more so I can cut the precise size I need, and they seem to hold up better than the Colt set that I had.

[Greg R Bradley]

A couple points:

- WL Fuller makes fabulous bits. They don't make lower end bits but do provide some drills made by others IF they meet their standards.

- Colt makes low end and high end bits. If you are disappointed, they are the low end sets. The Twinland sets work well for a short time and are great for the price.

- Many other companies make, or sell, low end stuff with their name on them. Mostly can forget trusting a tool based upon name only.

- The Norseman bits mentioned by Mike H above are Metal bits, specifically designed for steel and some difficult to drill materials like Stainless Steel. Fabulous bits but nothing that relates to wood bits. They also make HSS bits designed for some wood use, aluminum, etc. They make plastic specific bits. Cobalt bits for the specific places where the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. They also have a new Cryo/Nitride which are an even higher end tech that has a significant advantages for some uses at a big price.

Here is a pic of my purchase of bits a few years ago. The Fish bits in the upper right show low end junk from a high end German company, Fishe. They were so bad, I contacted Fishe thinking they were counterfeit. The step drills, large drills, and drill index will show you how highly I think of Norseman Super Premium bits!
375950

[Rob Luter]

I have the same Lee Valley kit and love it. You wont be disappointed.

Looking forward to trying them out.


https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4651/38723055965_a869c75db2_c.jpg


https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4707/39589844542_64815d1fd8_c.jpg

[Warren Lake]

no issues with Lee Valley they have worked well, have a few others brands as well. Before that always just ground my own from a regular drill noy and still do from to time time, on a good day they are excellent.

yeah Rod its a weird world but for 100 other reasons :)

[Osvaldo Cristo]

Bosch brad point drill bits - probably not the best of the world but very good quality and you do not sell a kidney to purchase them. I bought mine from either Germany or Brazil (all of them metric but they offer also SAE)... I believe they are made in Swiss.

[Wade Lippman]

I like to think things through. How to explain a $200 box of drills to my bride was one of those things I needed to think through. :D

I've heard that a number of times and always wondered if it is humor or serious. Does your wife really know or care if you buy drills?

[Brian Gumpper]

Norseman makes brad points, just not large sets. High quality and made in USA.

https://www.holbren.com/bradpoint-drill-bits/

[Ben Rivel]

FWIW the Lee Valley set uses US made bits. (LINK (http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=42247&cat=1,180,42240)) I cant remember which company makes them, but its a common/popular brand.


Starting with a top-of-the-line American-made twist drill, we reshape and sharpen the tips on a state-of-the-art Swiss CNC grinder. Made from high-speed steel, the bits are not subject to burning, and stay sharp about 10 times as long as carbon steel bits.
The polished flutes give superior chip clearance, and the sharply defined lips have a slight negative rake angle on the lip tips to score the hole perimeter for clean entry and smooth sidewalls. Equally important, these bits are extremely accurate in diameter.

[Rob Luter]

I've heard that a number of times and always wondered if it is humor or serious. Does your wife really know or care if you buy drills?

Nope. Just kidding. She knows. She doesn’t care.

[Rob Luter]

I tried a 3/8 when I got home. I sunk a hole in a maple plank I use for drill press backup. The hole was crisp and the sides were very smooth. It measured .378”. I can live with .003 oversize. ;)

[Alan Lightstone]

I bought a set from Norseman. Here's a link (https://www.emisupply.com/catalog/norseman-sp29-magnum-super-premium-jobber-length-black-gold-drill-29pc-p-2202.html?utm_source=googprod&utm_medium=product_search&utm_campaign=google-product-search-us-en&utm_term=NDT-44150&gclid=Cj0KEQjwvIO_BRDt27qG3YX0w4wBEiQAsGu3eTUQWZxe vYPCgvmYjlzSVofV1W3vvJSY_2KvzSpf-qkaAkjR8P8HAQ#.V-G4HvArLIU) to someone who sells what I bought. Good drills.

Mike

I love my Norseman bits too. But as was said earlier, mine are not for wood, they aren't brad point. But they are great bits (as have been the individual Fuller bits that I've purchased.)

[Jim Becker]

I tried a 3/8 when I got home. I sunk a hole in a maple plank I use for drill press backup. The hole was crisp and the sides were very smooth. It measured .378”. I can live with .003 oversize. ;)

If you drilled it hand-held, that could account for the slight oversize. But yea, I wouldn't worry too much about .003"... ;)

[Ted Phillips]

A couple points:

- WL Fuller makes fabulous bits. They don't make lower end bits but do provide some drills made by others IF they meet their standards.



I'll also vouch for WL Fuller brad point bits. I've been using a full set of their bits for years and have a lot of good things to say about them...

TedP

[Rob Luter]

I'll also vouch for WL Fuller brad point bits. I've been using a full set of their bits for years and have a lot of good things to say about them...

TedP

It has been suggested that the LV bits are Fullers that have had a secondary grinding operation.

[Greg R Bradley]

It has been suggested that the LV bits are Fullers that have had a secondary grinding operation.
LV Brad Points have the brad points on twist drills provided by the same company that sells twist drills under the brand name Triumph.

[Greg R Bradley]

Norseman makes brad points, just not large sets. High quality and made in USA.

https://www.holbren.com/bradpoint-drill-bits/

THANKS for posting this.

NOT in the catalog I keep that is a year or two old. They are in the new catalog so must be a recent addition. Don't have a full set of sizes. A set to 1/2" is only 14 sizes. Larger sizes not in 1/64" steps, not even in 1/32" steps. However these appear to be made on their Super Premium blanks, which probably means they are better material that all the other brad points mentioned. Of course, they will be a bit harder to sharpen. BUT at the price and if they stay sharp long enough, these could be incredibly good.

[Joe Jensen]

Wl FUller.
Have lengths, diameters that are unprecedented in the industry.
(Number, wire, fractional, metric etc.)

Yep Fuller, I have a set that goes from 1/16" to 1/2" by 1/64th increments. Fantastic other than breaking the 1/16". Amazon has them, made in the USA.