Selecting Wood Drill Bits For Installers
By: Ari Erenthal, Published on Nov 29, 2016
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Comments (33)
Brian Karas
Most installers here may already know this tip, but in case not: when drilling with a hole saw, if you "wobble" the drill as you drill it will cause it to cut a hole with a wider kerf, which results in the plug that is left over in the hole saw being slightly smaller than normal, making it way easier to remove.
Also, this quick change arbor makes it easy to remove the hole saw to knock out the cut-out (even though the review gives it only 1 star, it's always worked perfect for me):
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Undisclosed #1
Is there any kind of wood bit that is not difficult to sharpen?
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Kyle Folger
I use the Milwaukee Switchblade for prewire. It makes holes fairly well. I would have linked to Milwaukee's site but it wasn't pulling up at the time of this post. I have the quick change bit extension as well. If there are a lot of holes a corded drill works best but I haven't had enough holes to justify the Hole Hawg.
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Michael Miller
Don't forget Self Feeding Wood Bits which can be more useful then hole saws.
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Brian Rhodes
On the issue of bit sharpening, drill bit material plays a key role in addition to geometry/rake angles.
High Speed Steel (HSS) bits can be repeatedly sharpened and take an edge, but dulls with use pretty quickly.
Solid carbide bits are often too hard to be sharpened successfully. They stay 'factory sharp' longer (even through heavy use), but typically cannot be resharpened for more than a hole or two.
In some cases, HSS bits are coated with some sort of carbide-like coating. Once that coating is gone, the underlying bit can be resharpened, but it dulls quickly.
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Matt Ion
On a related note, this is possibly the coolest, slickest, most useful take on a bellhanger bit I've ever used:
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Michael Archer
Even since I found this kind of drill bit, called a 3d Bit. From of all places a shopping channel. QVC many years ago. I never bother with any other bit.
The nature of this bits means it never slips, you can turn and twist to drill at angles, even 45degree ( great for pipe work ) and also can move it in directions. And also cut at edges which would otherwise not be possible unless on a bench!
Maybe someone can locate as I only know source for UK where to get.
My original set I had lasted me for over 20years. Even used smaller size to cut into tiles for cables! (shower cable, not cctv!)
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Ryan Anderson
Bad Dog Bits, who normally has a booth at ISC West, has good bits. We have used the multi-purpose bits and the Rover Bits. They have been good, lifetime warranty too, if they break, they send you a new one (pay shipping of course)
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Craig Mc Cluskey
In the 1970s, I lived in Sacramento, California. One company was doing some remodeling of some of the old buildings downtown. When they opened up an old wall, they found the studs were actually 2" by 4".
At that time, I was doing a lot of work with 2x4s; the ones I bought were 1-5/8" x 3-5/8", so the "make them smaller and charge the same price" has been going on for quite a while.
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