Decent and Affordable Drill Bits?

Re: Decent and Affordable Drill Bits?

Tom Dunlap

A while ago I needed a set of drills when I was out of state. I bought a set of Dewalt bits in the handy yellow carrying case. Normal tip though. After some time I realized that these bits were staying quite sharp. I broke some of the smaller one...my fault. Overall they gave better service than others.

Re: Decent and Affordable Drill Bits?

John McGaw

DeWalt DW1956 may be of interest. Amazon has them.

Re: Decent and Affordable Drill Bits?

John in NM

What did the point look like? From the pictures I just saw on google, kind of like a mini-step drill?

Personally, I like re-grinding dull bits as brad points. Its not hard with a reasonably sharp cornered grinding wheel and a bit of practice.

I had a set of B&D split point bits in the 90's, those were good bits. Several of them are still around as brad points in my drill box.

Lee Valley brad points

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

In a weak moment, and not wanting to waste a free shipping opportunity, I bought the set some years ago. Had second thoughts about the $$ the second I hit the "place order" button.

Over the years as I have used these sharp, splinter-free bits my satisfaction with the purchase has grown to where I can recommend to any serious woodworker, buy this set. You might question the purchase initially but not in a year if you use them.

Note...they arrive with a protective cover on the tips. I noted recently that most of the protective covers are off, meaning I have used almost all the sizes 3/64" to 1/2.

Re: Lee Valley brad points

John Jardin

Bill is right, Lee Valley for sure

best for quality

Jack Guzman from Maine

I use those for drilling mortises and there is no better drill bit. I bought only the sizes I use most and keep them in a foam lined box.

Re: Lee Valley brad points

John K Jordan

>>>...meaning I have used almost all the sizes 3/64" to 1/2.

I don't see any smaller than 5/64. Is this HSS set what you have?

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=42247&cat=1,180,42240

I’ll third that.

Re: Lee Valley brad points

William Duffield

I have both the imperial set of 28, 07J01.28, and the metric set of 8, 07J16.30. Highly recommended, but for wood only.

I also have a boxed set of HSS twist drills, for wood and metal, branded Ace Hardware, that I bought from a local hardware store. They are of decent quality, and a lot easier to resharpen than the brad point bits, so I use them for any abusive situation or when I don't care about chipout.

small fractions confuse me

Re: Decent and Affordable Drill Bits? Trivia

CharlieL

For those that don't know, DeWalt was started by Black & Decker, as their industrial line.

Joe, just in case.....

Barry Irby

You don't want to get involved with new drill bits or new fangled tech....I looked on E-bay for Black & Decker Bullet point drill bits and got many hits. You could replenish your stash from new old stock. May not be cheaper than all new ones but who knows.

Re: Decent and Affordable Drill Bits? Trivia

William Duffield

No, DeWalt was started by Edward DeWalt in 1923. My DeWalt RAS, built in the '50s, is branded American Machine and Foundry. It wasn't purchased by B&D (from AMF) until 1960.

More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeWalt

Re: Decent and Affordable Drill Bits?

TomD

I had some of those B&D points, and I think the point was that they cut like brad points as far as cutting the circle is concerned, but also cut harder materials, because the point was really a mini drill. The point on a brad point is basically a spike. So it will need to be forced through the cut, which works fine with wood. So if you want to drill wood, regular brad points are great. If you want to drill metal, regular drills for metal are good.

The Lee Valley tool HSS brad points are super nice, but I also have some of their regular bits, and they are fine also. HSS steel was invented for metal cutting, in standard wood working, drilling, those heats should rarely occur, but if you don't know how to grind, HSS is great because you can't easily burn it. I use a wide range of metal bits, but for wood, the standard 1/8" inch set plus 5/16 is nice, you can add the extras as they become necessary. It is pretty easy to regrind twist drills, to brad points, and they are cheaper and available in far greater range of sizes.

For metal drills, I like these guys:

https://www.victornet.com/