Drill Bits

[Mitchell Ristine]

Hey folks, what are your go to drill bits for wood applications?

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Mitchell, I use Forstener, lipped Brad points, standard jobber twist drills and tapered twist drills for wood screws.

I also use a few carbide tipped metric bits for dowels and shelf pins.

For electrical work I use auger bits.............Regards, Rod.

[Frank Drackman]

For wood I use brad point & forstener bits most often.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Any recommendations on brands?

[Phil Gaudio]

Fuller Brad Point Bits: excellent quality and made in USA
451024

[Phil Gaudio]

Freud Carbide Forstner Bits: Made in Italy (which is not China)
451025

[glenn bradley]

I also use Forstner, lipped brad point, and standard jobber twist drills. Forstners for flat bottom or large diameter holes, bradpoints for almost all solid wood drilling, twist bits for composites and plywood.

[Lisa Starr]

I use Jobber Twist Drills, Forstner and occasionally a Spade Drill. For the Jobbers, any good US brand like Greenfield will hold up the best.

[Tom M King]

My "Bits" toolbox weighs about 40 pounds, and that doesn't include the ones in the "Big Bits" box, or the "Holesaw" box.

[John K Jordan]

Hey folks, what are your go to drill bits for wood applications?

Depends on the application - deep holes at the lathe, shallow large diameter, rough holes or precision, hand held or drill press.
Like others I use a wide variety.

My favorite at the lathe are taper shank bits - they fit into the tailstock with no chuck needed.

JKJ

[Orlando Gonzalez]

Jobber twist drill, forsteners, brad point
Brands - W. L. Fuller (brads), Fisch (large brad point), CMT (forstener). For jobbers anything I can get.

[Mitchell Ristine]

I should have been much more specific. Sorry. I'm looking for Brand and material for twist jobbers.

[Earl McLain]

Much of my drilling is through end grain on the lathe (pen blanks). Norseman split points for my imperial sizes, for metric set i picked up Viking. Real happy with how true they run, flutes clear nicely, and have stayed very sharp for 2 years work in a variety of hard exotics and stabilized wood. Not a lot of tolerance in drilling for pens, and those two sets have paid for themselves.
earl

[Rob Luter]

Freud Forstener bits and a 28 piece lipped brad point set from Lee Valley. Super quality in both cases.

[Rod Sheridan]

I should have been much more specific. Sorry. I'm looking for Brand and material for twist jobbers.

Cleveland, Chicago, Triumph.

I normally buy HSS jobber length drills, split tip, cobalt if I'm going to use them in stainless steel.

Lee Valley sell Triumph drill bits, they're as good as Cleveland or Chicago...............Regards, Rod.

[Eric Schmid]

I buy from two local suppliers. One sells primarily Champion and Triumph, the other Fuller and Norseman. All excellent bits. Drilling in steel quickly separates the average from great.

I picked up a few quarter inch bits recently to drill 250 holes in 1/8” wall aluminum. I was surprised I only used 1 bit. It might have been Norseman and I honestly don’t know which steel they gave me. That’s the beauty of good suppliers. Tell them the application and they sell you what you need. A dying skill, unfortunately.

In wood, a sharp tip is most important for my purposes. I do a lot of freehand, unguided drilling as opposed to time on the drill press. I think HSS tends to be sharper initially than other metals, but this could just be perception. Certainly, nothing more is needed for drilling wood, right?

For drilling strictly wood, my go to bits are Fuller taper bits with counter bore. Nice sharp point, long lasting.

[glenn bradley]

I should have been much more specific. Sorry. I'm looking for Brand and material for twist jobbers.

LOL. Yes, you did get quite a lot of info that wasn't spot on, eh? I'm not in the tapered bit camp so I will let those that use them comment; hopefully a little more targeted from this point on :D

[Ed Edwards]

Drill Bits
Rod Sheridan's second post says it all

Ed

[Mike Kees]

Mitchell I like Cle-line bits. Have used these for about 15 years.

[Mike Kees]

So how do you like the riser block on your delta ?