Looking to Invest in good Twist and Brad Point bits

[Jerome Hanby]

Anyone seen a set like that 170 piece woodcraft brad point set that were HSS instead of carbon steel? Woodcraft's twist drill set is HSS but no the brad points...

[Lee Ludden]

I have these. Expensive, but VERY nice.

[Rob Fisher]

I've got the LV bits and I love them. Definitely hot knife through butter stuff.

[Kent Chasson]

I must be the only person who doesn't love the Lee Valley bits. They do cut extremely well and seem to stay sharp. The long, sharp point is great for precision drilling. But the tips are a bit fragile. Some of mine have a bit of wobble. Worst problem is that it is sometimes hard to drill multiple holes without stopping. The long barbs often cause a small disc of wood to get stuck in them when they exit a hole. When that happens, you have remove the disc of wood before drilling another hole.

They are nice bits but for that much money, I'm looking for perfect.

[Greg Portland]

I have these. Expensive, but VERY nice.

Lee, a quote from that website: With the Miebach "Colt 5 Star" bits, you can drill through without using a backing board and still get a clean exit hole.

Have you tried this with your bits and are the bits that good?

[Jeremy Brant]

I have the LV brad point bits and like them for wood. For metal, I have Norseman 1/16-1/2 by 1/64ths in the mechanics length. They are all split point and are by far the best bits that I've used before. Here's where I got them: http://www.fairburyfastener.com/norseman.htm. They will special order any other norseman bits too, and I considered getting the brad point bits but found the LV set was more useful as it had only the most commonly used sizes used for woodworking.

[Dave Gaul]

I haven't invested in a good set of brad points yet, but I did get an email not too long ago from Woodpeckers, and they were taking a poll to see if people would be interested in a set of high quality brad points, and I am waiting to see if they come out with anything.

For general purpose bits, I like the bits from Ace Hardware. They have split points available. They are strong bits, very affordable, and sharpen nicely in the Drill Doc!

[Doug Shepard]

Another very satisfied owner of the LV brad point bits. They're without a doubt the sharpest set of bits I've ever bought. I've managed to cut myself a few times by gripping them along the flutes while handling them but I'm not complaining.

[Russell Sansom]

I also have a set of the "too good to be true" woodcrafter bits. They are the worst drills I have ever seen, and I grew up in in a log house in the middle of nowhere and people used their drills for decades. Wobble plus the points appear to have been ground by hand because they are chipped and not necessarily symmetrical. Thanks for offering me this chance to vent.

They actually made me pretty cynical about Woodcraft. At this point I will only buy from them out of desperation. Why didn't I notice the bits? I would never have dreamed they would sell a product that unusable and that out of whack. And, the wobble is hard to predict with a simple visual inspection in the store.

[Jonathan Spool]

Greg,
Check out the video. Around the 4 minute mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPGG9...eature=related
Although I can get a clean exit hole most of the time, I still use a backer as insurance.
Most remarkable are the pen bits, although designed for end grain, I can drill acrylic as well with clean entrance and exit holes, and with excellent ribbon clearing with no melting.

[Phil Thien]

In my brad-point drill bit arsenal, I have:

(1) A set of U.S. made 1/8 to 1/2 by mostly 32nds (with a few added 64ths). I purchased the set 20 years ago from Woodworker's Supply. It was expensive at the time (maybe $150). But it was the only set I could find at the time with bits in those more obscure sizes.

(2) A set of the Rockler HSS bits.

(3) A set of the Harbor Freight NOT HSS bits.

My U.S.-made set is perfectly true. Not a single wobbling bit.

It took getting a couple sets of the Rockler bits to make a set of bits that were true.

The HF bits were mostly true right out of the box.

The only reason I added the Rockler and HF bits is because there were bits I didn't have in the original U.S. kit I have. Many of the 64th sizes weren't included, as they were only including sizes they felt would be of interest to woodworkers. Never figured that out.

[glenn bradley]

The long barbs often cause a small disc of wood to get stuck in them when they exit a hole. When that happens, you have remove the disc of wood before drilling another hole.

This is a known characteristic of this type of grind. It is the same geometry that provides the clean entrance hole. These would be the wrong bit for that job. Like saw blades, no one cutter is perfect for all jobs.

+1 on the Colt bits as well. Very nice to use.

[Chris Fournier]

If you're looking for good twist drill bits, check out your local machine tooling supplier. You will likely get the highest quality at the lowest price from this sort of outlet. LV brads are good and they are Fulller bits, or at least mine are. Fuller ain't amongst the Panteon of Greats when it comes to twist drill bits but we're using them on wood afterall.

[Tri Hoang]

I believe LV brads USED to be Fuller's but nowaday, they grind their own.