Greeting all,
I am in the process of building my bench and have been using mostly hand tool. The long rips, repeated cross cuts, and final planing have been done by machines. With that in mind, I have bought some braces to make holes in my bench. I figured I am bound to forget a hole somewhere and my little bench drill can't handle the size of some of the pieces.
I looked around and the general consensus is modern augers are terrible. I seen recommendation for vintages GreenLee, Irwin, and Russel Jennings. Missed out on some Russel Jennings at a respectable seller. I am not keen on buying used bits that may need sharpening or have lots of rust in them. I have used the old harbor freight auger in power drills before. They work OK, but it is an effort and the blowout on the other side is like a war zone. Ugly. I looked at sets (it is always cheaper to buy set) but I am not sure I need all the odd sizes? I tend to drill 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, and 3/4 for most stuff thus far. Mainly dowels and the occasional trapezoid mortise. So I think 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, and 1" will do me.
I have settle on a brand by WoodOwl.
Question:
Anybody have good experiences with them for woodworking? Are there other brands that should be considered?
Big set? Do I buy the 11 pieces set that covers most to 1.25". Do you reach for the other sizes often or the standard 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, and 1"?
WoodOwl has two type I am looking at.
The standard spurred combination: https://taytools.com/collections/too...ion-aguer-bits or
the ultra smooth tri-cut: https://taytools.com/collections/too...ra-smooth-bits
Thanks for anyone inputs.