Your recommendations on drill bit - brands and composition

Hi all,

I am currently shopping around for a set of drill bits for use in my 3/8" drive cordless and corded hand drills. I will eventually use these sometimes on my Tacoma, but also on wood and just general around the house use. I haven't bought any drill bots for a good 15 years and I see there are some things available now that I don't recall from years past.

I'm looking to start with a reasonable set going from say 1/8" up to 1/2", 3/8" shank (either round or hex).

I'm looking at the web sites for Lowes and Home Depot, so my knowledge of what is out there is not all comprehensive. But from what I can tell based on those two resources, cobalt coated bits seem to be the current top end as far as durability and strength. I'm willing to pay good money for high quality that will last me a long time and not wear out or break too easily. But I don't necessarily need the over the top end freakishly expensive bits anywhere on earth, either.

I am familiar with brands like DeWalt and Milwaukee, though these companies likely just rebrand someone else's actual product as far as drill bits are concerned. I see these stores also sell other brands of cobalt bits, but I am not familiar at all with these other brands.

So - my two questions for you all are:

* Cobalt coated bits: Yes? No? Marketing hype and not worth the extra $$? Something better out there?

* Talk to me about brands such as Gyros, CLE-Line, others besides DeWalt and Milwaukee.

Many thanks everyone.

 

I like these Irwin's but they are expensive http://amzn.to/2sgTScB
You asked for a brand other than Dewalt. However, for the money you cannot go wrong with these http://amzn.to/2te9Ild

Both are titanium

 

At my last place of employment we ordered our drill bits from MSC. You can hop on there and check out their options. Much more industrial tailored vs Lowe's or HD's selection.

 

Many thanks, appreciate the suggestions. Irwin make good quality tools and accessories. DeWalt and Milwuakee as well, I was just looking to see if there might be other brands I wasn't aware of, to compare.

 

Sure thing. What does MSC stand for, or do you have a link? I'm not familiar....

 

MSC Industrial Supply.
www.mscdirect.com

They sell industrial supplies, think machine shops, factories ect. They carry drill bits that are meant to be used day in and day out!

 

Any set at HD and Lowe's is gonna be mid grade at best.

That's good enough for my uses, but if I had the time and means to sharpen my own bits (Drill Doctor is a pile) then I'd buy better, commercial grade bits from MSC or similar and pass them to my kids.

 

There really is no comparison to high end bits. You can tell the minute they touch steel that they are NOT cheap o' bits.

 

Thank you, Sir!

 

I like Norseman brand, they are usa made and a set like you are talking about would probably run about 100. I normally just buy the black ones. I'm not sure if the titanium ones are any better.

 

...for uses on wood and such, i've found fisch to be good:

http://www.fisch-tools.com/en/Products/Drills-Countersinks

 

As of Late I just buy the size bits I need

The size for the taps and thread replacements I use

The holes I drill the most M6 M8 M10 M12 1/8 3/16 1/4 5/16 3/8 1/2 5/8

anything bigger is annular cutters

I buy all my drill bits from McMaster-Carr a Industrial Supplier

I have never received poor quality parts being close the the NJ warehouse I get next day delivery

 

Instead of buying bits and new bits and more new bits learn to sharpen them. If it is a wood / utility use they can last near forever with a decent bit. When they lose a bit of edge sharpen them and they are as good or better than new. Even junk bits I can make work with a little edge dressing.

 

MSC is way over priced, but I still buy from them when I need specialty end mills. Search eBay for YG1. Surprisingly good for how cheap they are. That's what I use for drilling titanium and zirconium. Cheap enough for me to throw away when the get even slightly dull.

I work with a lot of exotic metals, I usually use coated drills. cobalt or solid carbide.

 

Snap on drill bits are garbage. Irwin turbomax bits do the trick.

 

Funny I have a set of Snap On bits the Cobalt ones I bought back in the seventies still going strong .

Then maybe they just get better with age.

It really comes down to just what your trying to drill For Hand drilling I use the short maintenance bits rather then the full length Jobber style

Yes I also tend to forget that most people no longer know how to sharpen drill bits

Those were the days as the new kid in the shop everyone gathered up all the broken and dull bits gave them to me and said when your done we will find you something else

 

Ive had good luck in the general purpose wood/metal bits from Dewalt,Milwaukee. If you are wanting cleaner holes in wood Id go with forstner bits. Cobalts are good and pricey but if you do a lot of metal work those are better. For me its just rough stuff for the most part so the cheap bits in a kit are fine. I wouldnt get any harbor freight drill bits...

 

Norseman . Builds bits for lots of high end outfits . About as good as they get I would say . Learn to sharpen them is a good thing .

MM

 

I buy cheap sets of HF bits, especially the multi packs of the smallest bits. I will admit I am impatient and break many by using too much force. I'm also bad at getting a bit set and breaking or losing the best size bits. I now have three bins of bits sorted by size, small, medium and large. I can get what I need most of the time.

Separate from that I do have a large set 10X each of metric bits. They are hard to find in the good old USA but I need them for working with 3D printing.

 

Morse, Vermont American, Regal, Triumph, Hayden come to mind, Bosch are also OK too.

Also buy one of these, a

$110 Drill Doctor DD500X Drill Bit Sharpener

Drill Doctor sharpener--especially if you buy Dewalt or HF: