Looking for Tier 1 Drill Bit Suggestions

[Model A Fan]

I would like to "buy once and cry once" when it comes to my next drill bit purchases. I would like a set that will last me a long time for woodworking and another set for drilling metal. I do car projects and sometimes you have to drill bolts.

What brands would I be looking at? I'd prefer something above "homeowner grade" but below "kidney to the Snap-On dealer" price. Any suggestions for quality (US or European made) brand bits that will work for my intended purposes?

 

[RoninB4]

I thought this would/should be a simple reply....I was wrong. Doing a search for brands I've used in 40 years of tool making I failed to find the usual suspects. Instead I found a bewildering number of brands I'd have doubts regarding the quality/material/heat treating. I'll offer some opinions to help with your search.

You'll have to decide on several factors regarding how you'll use the drills and what you'll be drilling into.

1) Whether you intend to sharpen the drills yourself, all cutting tools get dull from use. If so then stay away from coated drills, the coating wrecks havoc on the grinding wheels (and now the coating is gone) and I strongly suspect sub-standard materials for the drill itself are used due to the makers reliance on the coating. If you're going to toss the drills and get new ones then buy/use what suits your budget.

2) The material(s) you intend to make holes in. Wood and plastic can be drilled with almost any crappy drill material. I could probably make an emergency drill out of re-bar or aluminum for drilling wood or plastic. Any type of carbon steel and most non-ferrous materials (brass/bronze) will need a better material used for the drill itself. The non-magnetic stainless steel flavors demand a quality drill and it has to be properly sharpened or you'll work harden it from rubbing instead of cutting. I hate 300 series SS.

3) Are you using the drill in a hand held device or machine? Hand held drills abuse drills from going too fast, uncontrolled feed, uncontrolled angle of attack (drill wander) and vibration. Carbide drills in a hand held drill is almost never a good idea. Hand drilling has to happen sometimes so I use drills I don't mind breaking/ruining, saving my better drills for situations I can control everything.

4) Drill material is important for what you expect out of the drill. In ascending order of quality (worst to best) carbon steel, M4 HSS, M42 HSS, T1-T15 HSS (rarely found any more), Cobalt flavored HSS. If a drill maker doesn't stamp or state what the drill is made from you can bet it's just plain carbon steel. These are ok for expendable drills but not to be relied upon for good results. A maker will stamp/state what the drill is made from if it's HSS to let you know it's not generic ****. Cobalt flavored HSS is a go-to for drilling tough/harder materials like SS or work hardened to 55 on the Rockwell "C" scale (Rc 55). Carbide is great but it's not the end-all-be-all many think it is. Carbide is quite brittle and chips/shatter with interrupted cuts, break through, or vibration. It's use should be limited to machine drilling. Masonry drill are a different topic than fluted twist drills. Stay away from anything made in China, they can make good quality items but most of them don't make it to the US. They're just not worth the risk.

5) Almost all drilling situations can be improved with the use of cutting fluid, even just soapy water. Aluminum is notorious for grabbing/breaking drills/taps due to lack of cutting fluid. Use of WD-40 works fine too for aluminum.


I have dozens more opinions/tips on drilling but that's likely more than anybody ever wanted to know. Requests for more info are guaranteed to render the average reader comatose.

Three makers of drills do come to mind. Cleveland Twist Drill was a standard in machine shops for decades, so was Chicago-Latrobe (often abbreviated to C-L stamped on the drill shank). Guhring (Germany) produces very good drills in many geometric varieties and are much more expensive because they work well. Better quality tooling costs more because it works better.

Hope this helped somebody

 

[KnurledNut]

Twist drills are consumables. The good ones have a better service life.
Only a handful of companies make the premium ones. These re-label for many different brands.

 

[bsaint]

Depends what you're drilling tbh. I have medium helix parabolic hss for aluminum and low helix carbide for drilling steels. I also have 118 and 135 and 180 degree drills.

 

[Bubba Fett]

Everything said above is true. I would spend some time looking at industrial suppliers, like McMaster-Carr, Grainger, and MSC. They have a wide range of bits, and since they typically sell to professional users, they tend to stock good quality bits.

Short answer: Norseman is generally a highly regarded USA maker of bits.

 

[Davefr]

I would like to "buy once and cry once" when it comes to my next drill bit purchases.

That's like saying "buy once/cry once" when shopping for an oil filter. Drill bits are consumables that wear out/break/chip/etc. Pick the right style bit for the job/material, use fluid, set the right speed and buy name brands and you'll extend their life.

Any of the name brands from MSC, Zoro, Grainger, Mcmaster will be fine. I'd avoid the house/no name brands but they might also be rebranded quality bits.

 

[dnschmidt]

Norseman/Viking, Chicago-Latrobe, Cleveland Twist Drill, Triumph are all good choices. You're not going to find any of these at the Home Depot. Harry J. Epstein has good prices on Norseman so buy a set from there. While you're at it get one or two individual drills from them of the new Norseman Vortex design. They are absolute killers particularly in a hand held operation.

 

[Outahere]

I agree with dnschmidt: Viking, Norseman, Chicago Latrobe, Cleveland, Triumph, Cle-Line, Consolidated Toledo Drill.

 

[woody 73]

Fantastic write up poster #2 good job!

Ok Op you are going to hate my answer but...Learn how to sharpen your own drill bits (short answer); then start by buying all the used drill bits you can find.

old post of mine:

Used Drill bit buying Guide.

(1) Safety Glasses Enough said. (2) Drill bit names, I could give you tons of names to look for; chances are (A) you will not find the names you are looking for and (B) 9 out of 10 times the name is missing from being chewed up by the chuck, remember we are talking used here. (3) If you asked...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[JradM]

I empathize with the OP because I'm not sure how to feel about drill bits.

I read all the time that I ought to be using high quality bits because they're so much better. I even have some - I order from Grainger somewhat regularly, so I pick up random sizes that go on sale or clearance. My idea is that I have a large collection of cheap bits, but I pull out the better ones when I'm drilling steel. If I happen not to have the exact size in a high-quality bit, I still use one for the pilot - and maybe oversize the pilot so it takes less work with my crappy final-size bit.

I can tell a difference. Not so much when the crappy bit is new, but the nicer bits seem to work longer.

On the other hand, I can make pretty good holes in my drill press with cheap bits. Doesn't seem like there's any magic going on. It's mostly a game of speed and pressure.

I do sometimes break bits using them in my cordless drill - mostly the smaller sizes and the cheap ones seem brittle - but then the advice above was to not use my nice bits except in a drill press.

At best, it seems like the better bits can take more abuse - e.g. less likely to snap, stay sharp longer, easier to find in alternate tip angles. There are times when that's an advantage - but no so much that I'm going to stop using cheap bits too.

What I would like to find is a relatively large drill bit index of moderate quality. That way I'd have more sizes covered and could "build it out" with higher tier bits as I break or use them up. I'm not willing to drop $500-600 on a Norseman set though - and it feels like its either that or a sub-$100 garbage set, nothing in the middle.

 

[JradM]

What do the experts think of the Triumph drill bit sets at Lee Valley? Those prices don't seem radically expensive (e.g. $120 CAD for the 60 piece numbered set).

 

[Steve_P]

I'm a Norseman fan, but I doubt you could go wrong with any of the premium US brands that dnschmidt mentioned. HJE sells Norseman sets and single bits- so when you break a bit you can buy an identical replacement. I keep a few spares of each size below 1/4" on hand.

 

[larry_g]

If you are buying two sets then get 'screw machine length' for the metal work. They are stiffer and tend to drill closer to size. Coated bits are a waste outside of a production environment. In the production environment the coating is matched to the material being drilled for best performance. Then you have bright or black oxide bits. The black oxide is NOT meant for non-ferrous materials like Al and brass.

If you really want to learn something start here, https://www.guhring.com/Support . At the Guhring site they also have IMHO the best drill and tap chart.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Rinspeed]

I've had such good luck with Norseman I see little value in looking elsewhere.

 

[FMB4]

Hansen and Vermont have been good to me. Cobalt for harder materials. Learning how to sharpen your standard bits, or having access to bit sharpener, makes a huge diff imo.

 

[kenc184]

Whatever you decide, I would go cobalt over HSS, the difference when drilling steel is noticeable.

 

[ShuhornGarage]

I would like to "buy once and cry once" when it comes to my next drill bit purchases. I would like a set that will last me a long time for woodworking and another set for drilling metal. I do car projects and sometimes you have to drill bolts.

What brands would I be looking at? I'd prefer something above "homeowner grade" but below "kidney to the Snap-On dealer" price. Any suggestions for quality (US or European made) brand bits that will work for my intended purposes?

For steel use Walter, viking, dormer, norseman, some gray, some milwaukee, some dewalt, some bosch, or irwin are worth taking home. If you intend to drill hardened steel or stainless steel, use cobalt, not titanium

For wood, irwin, bosch, milwaukee, dewalt, diablo are all good. Depends what you intend to drill, you may need a spade bit, a vairety of auger bits opr forsner bits---you cant have tooooo many

Chewap bits are a complete waste of your money, time & aggrivation plus if you don't have a very fine bench grinder stone, get one so you can re-sharpen them - some pratice may be required but well worth the investment & save you time & $$$

 

[Grokew]

What about a drill bit sharpener to extend the life of the ones you get?

 

[Steve_P]

Whatever you decide, I would go cobalt over HSS, the difference when drilling steel is noticeable.

If you read Norseman's website, they push their "magnum" line over cobalt (which is more $) and they explain why.

 

[Bubba Fett]

For steel use Walter, viking, dormer, norseman, some gray, some milwaukee, some dewalt, some bosch, or irwin are worth taking home. If you intend to drill hardened steel or stainless steel, use cobalt, not titanium

For wood, irwin, bosch, milwaukee, dewalt, diablo are all good. Depends what you intend to drill, you may need a spade bit, a vairety of auger bits opr forsner bits---you cant have tooooo many

Chewap bits are a complete waste of your money, time & aggrivation plus if you don't have a very fine bench grinder stone, get one so you can re-sharpen them - some pratice may be required but well worth the investment & save you time & $$$

You had me Googling Chewap bits because I had never heard of that type.

I have used Drill America bits before. They were OK, but I didn't think they were anything special. For larger wood holes, Irwin Speed-bore bits are quite good.

I bought a set of super cheap bits from Big Lots years ago. I believe they are high speed steel, and they have actually be pretty decent. I probably paid $10 for them. The index is ****, though.

 

[dnschmidt]

If you read Norseman's website, they push their "magnum" line over cobalt (which is more $) and they explain why.

Good point and I have personally witnessed what they claim to be true. I drilled some holes in my stainless steel dip stick so that I could see where the oil level was and cobalt didn't touch it the Magnum bit cut it like butter.

 

[bsaint]

I buy YG-1 Dream Drills or Kyrocera

 

[Model A Fan]

Thank you guys for such a detailed and informative set of answers. I think I will go for the Norseman brand for my wood/non-ferrous metal drilling needs. I'm just a DIY kinda guy who does occasuonal woodworking and car projects. I have a drill press as well as handheld drills.

I'm looking at these sets. I'm assuming price varies due to the type of metal used in the "drills" (I've always referred to them as bits, so forgive the improper usage ). Any one of these look like a good deal? I'm leaning toward the 29 piece drill bit set for $69.

Norseman Hi-Molybdenum Set 29 pc

Norseman Hi-Molybdenum Set 29 pc

www.harryepstein.com

Norseman 15 pc High Speed Drill Bit Set

Norseman 15 pc High Speed Drill Bit Set

www.harryepstein.com

Norseman High Speed 21 Piece Drill Bit Set

Norseman High Speed 21 Piece Drill Bit Set

www.harryepstein.com

Norseman High Speed 29 pc Drill Bit Set

Norseman High Speed 29 pc Drill Bit Set

www.harryepstein.com

 

[F-22]

I use normal ground HSS for all-purpose tasks. Cobalt-HSS for occasional extra percise use or in harder materials like stainless steel.


Ground or non-ground generally isn't that big of a deal, but any higher end bits will be ground anyway (sometimes called HSS-G). They're a bit more exact, but only really makes a difference on a mill....


Widia drill bits (carbide) are useless for hand drilling, and a single solid carbide bit can cost more than a quality cobalt hss set which isn't cheap either... It will chip or shatter if used in a hand tool, you need mass and rigidity of a proper mill for it (or a very solid industrial drill press).


Coatings aren't worth it in most industrial applications we have at work, so I would never consider them for home use. Cheap drill bits may have all sorts of cheap worthless coatings to sell them a bit better too - best to avoid them. Titanium is often named in some way on such coatings, but god know what they really use (if not just paint).



As for the brand, it does not matter much as long as they put what they advertise in the box. If I really wanted quality, I'd certaintly search for proper industrial CNC mill tool suppliers like Dormer Pramet or Garant. Consumer products in stores are all about advertisement and big promises, but in an industrial setting they just use less empty words cause they aren't fooling machinists who use them daily... Sure Garant and Dormer have fancy coated bits too, but those really do make sense in some limited industrial cases.


Sharpening is just part of drill bit maintenance, there's no way to avoid it. You can have them professionaly sharpened in some places, and it may not be that pricey (a lot cheaper than a new set). Machine sharpened bits do drill considerably better, but it's best to know how to hand-sharpen them...

 

[kenc184]

If you read Norseman's website, they push their "magnum" line over cobalt (which is more $) and they explain why.

I'd have to see that to believe it.

 

[Steve_P]

I'd have to see that to believe it.

See dnschmidt's post above

 

[scooby074]

What do the experts think of the Triumph drill bit sets at Lee Valley? Those prices don't seem radically expensive (e.g. $120 CAD for the 60 piece numbered set).

I dont think youd have any problems with them, but bear in mind they are just brights, not coated in any way. If youre going to be drilling any iron based metals, Id go with a coated bit over the plain steel. Youre also paying the Lee Valley premium on them.

Edit: the lv set is $92 at Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0026GFYXE/?tag=atomicindus04-20


You can get Triumph # set, coated on Amazon, for $116. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B007MN6PW0/?tag=atomicindus04-20

That said, I prefer Walter bits. Ironically Walter just bought Triumph! I also prefer flats on the shanks.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Norseman!

 

[kenc184]

See dnschmidt's post above

How is that me seeing it?

 

[kenc184]

Ironically Walter just bought Triumph! I also prefer flats on the shanks.

Not really an irony, just a coincidence.

 

[AirMech#406]

I have been using a Drill Hog set for the last three years. So far I have been very happy with it and have warrantied three bits successfully.

 

[dogdog]

Don't go crazy about a set of drill bits if you are just using it for wood or occasional uses. super precision holes in thousandths of an inches is not the priority.

I got few set of those 108 or 118 piece HSS and the cheaper nitrate coated unknown HSS bits from Costco / HF and they have serve me very well for years... back then it was $100 / set and $50 / set for cobalt coated. Almost every sizes I needed for some quasi precision holes that I don't really needed often at home.... wood ? you might be spending on the wrong thing...

if you do feel spendy go shop at a place that serve machinist industries, those solid carbide ones are to die for.

Solid Carbide And High Speed Steel Drills | Metal Cutting Tools: High Speed Steel & Solid Carbide | Travers

Travers Tool: Choose from our selection of commercial grade, solid carbide drills.

www.travers.com

 

[dogdog]

also keep in mind the coated ones you are not supposed to be able to sharpen them as oppose to HSS or solid carbide ones (even if it requires special sharpening tools)

 

[F-22]

I was told the proper procedure to sharpen coated bits (carbide) is to remove the coating, sharpen them, then coat them again. Otherwise you get a lot of wear on the sharpening tools, and the coating also has no role anymore without being reapplied over the edge.

 

[old-air-performance]

wood : heller

all other Gühring hss-e (cobalt) have them for + 10 year , if i break one of the smaller sizes i replaced them with the same.
If you buy a top tier set, it is best to invest in a decent drill bit sharpener ( no drill doctor! nothing but frustration)

i recently purchased a new set top tier phantom hss-e tin coated, but these will only be used on lathe & mill.
I don't know these are being sold in the usa.

Kind regards,
Toon

 

[Jlarson]

We use almost entirely Champion cause that's what our fastener house carries, I can go in and grab a whole index or packs of bits for a job, I don't bother messing with saving bits, if we know we're going to use a lot of a size I order them.

Their black/silver bits will eat anything you'd want to be doing with a hand drill.

 

[RoninB4]

also keep in mind the coated ones you are not supposed to be able to sharpen them as oppose to HSS or solid carbide ones (even if it requires special sharpening tools)

-That's not quite true. I've had to sharpen many a punch for stamping dies that was coated (several types) as well as a few drills someone had. The coatings will erode a grinding wheel but they can be sharpened once you grind below the coating. I wouldn't bother trying to remove the coating from the outside or the flutes, it can still provide less rubbing/friction between the drill body as well as aiding in the evacuation of chips from the flutes. I still believe that many of the cheaper drills that are coated are not made from HSS unless it expressly states it is.

Any type of carbide cutting tool (drill, end mill, etc.) should not be sharpened with the usual grinding wheels (AlOx, carborundum, etc.) and require a diamond wheel (expensive) for this. Yes you can use a Silicon Carbide (usually green) wheel but it leaves a rather rough cutting edge and may induce thermal micro-cracking if not careful. Not having a diamond wheel (which should always remained mounted on the hub once it's been "trued"), that's what I use but it's not recommended. For that reason I try not to use any of my carbide tooling. HSS works for most any situation/material and sharpening is far easier if I dull it on heat treated (below Rc 52) or welded material.

For the occasional drilling tasks, use whatever suits your budget. Not much point in expense without benefit. Ganbatte.

 

[scooby074]

Not really an irony, just a coincidence.

Thanks professor

 

[Slick111]

I buy medium middle of the cost bits but threw away my drill doctor went ante up to a Daravex V390 $$$$$ but will perfectly sharpen any bit cheap to hi dollar

 

[Steve_P]

How is that me seeing it?

Read the Norseman explanation why the Magnum works better in 304 SST than cobalt. Then buy one of each bit and try. I doubt you'll will do either, but... how many companies recommend a cheaper product when they sell both types of bits???