The Wood Whisperer is sponsored by Powermatic and Titebond. When I first started woodworking, I wasted a lot of money on tools that almost did the job I needed them to do. Only to find out afterwards that there are actually specialized tools that work a little bit better and maybe they cost a couple bucks more. But oh my gosh, do they save me heartache when they actually have a cleaner cut or just a better result. So in a sort of "buy this, "not that" fashion, I'm going to show you some drill bits today and these are three sets. They all do three different things, but I'm gonna show you which one I think you should avoid in which one I think you should purchase and you're gonna find that a lot of these tools that maybe were intended for the construction industry where a rougher cut is totally acceptable, but they don't necessarily translate to "fine woodworking." Right? So let's jump in. First, let's talk about regular drill bits. I've got two examples here, a standard twist bit and this is called a brad point bit and obviously they look very similar, but where they differ is at the very tip with the type of cutting action that they have a twist bit has this conical shape here. So as you start drilling at this point, there is potential for the bit to wander a little bit. So if you need a very exact hole in a very exact location, these can be just a little bit tricky to line up. Also, they don't have anything that's really severing the wood fibers on the outside. So as these parts here start to scrape through the wood, you can end up with tear out on the outside and it depends on the material you're cutting, the speed you're cutting, all that stuff, but that's the potential for things to go wrong. On a brad point bit, the thing that gives its namesake here is this center spur that allows you to get pinpoint accuracy. So you can go put a little tiny dot on something and make sure that this little spur goes into that dot. You're gonna get a perfectly located hole in this particular type of brad point bit actually has spurs on the outside as well, which increases the chances of a tear out free cut. All right, so this one tends to be a lot more accurate. While I always recommend that you have a nice big set of twist bits so you can get all the different fractional sizes. You could have things that drill in metal. And of course we all have house projects where sometimes the brad point bit just doesn't make any sense. But in addition to this, you are definitely going to want a smaller four or five piece set brad point bits in the most common sizes. Now, if you're looking to make holes of a larger diameter, you're probably going to go to bits that look like this. This is a spade bit very common, very inexpensive. And these are often used in the construction industry. Think about if you're fishing Romex through framing or plumbing or something, you could plow through some soft woods with this very, very quickly. But you do have to be careful because of this sort of rough shape. If you happen to angle it just the wrong way, it can catch and send your drill flying into your face if you're not in a great position. So you have to be careful with them. And if you try to use this in hardwood, the results just won't be great. Alright, you're gonna get tons of tear out, it's just not gonna look good and it's again a safety issue. So in fine woodworking, we tend to gravitate toward a more expensive option, but much higher quality and that's a forstener bit. Forstener bits are slower cutting. You have more control, probably still a good idea to use a drill press when you use them, but the hole itself is going to be a nice flat bottom. So if you're doing like european cup hinges or something like that, a forstener bit's going to be the way to go. And honestly, I have to say that I don't see any reason for a typical furniture shop to actually even have a spade bit, maybe for house projects, but ultimately, this doesn't even need to be in the arsenal. Lastly we have counter sink bits. So these are specific drill devices that not only drill a pilot hole but also result in a counter sunk section of the hole that allows the head of a screw to go either flush or below the surface. So very handy if you're driving screws into a project. They come in all different shapes and sizes. But what I have found over the years is ones like this that have a simple collar and a little bit less expensive, these will actually do two things that are bad. One is they mar the surface, you can get burn marks or dents and indentations around the hole and that's no good. Also I find that they tend to clog and I have to clear out the area between the cutters. So what I recommend youy get is something, there's a few of these on the market, but this one in particular, this Amana counter sink bit is amazing. It's got a nice wide support which serves as your stop and because of the size and maybe even the material, I find that I don't get any burning with this whatsoever. Also because of all of this extra space here around the cutter, you never have to clear out chips, it just kind of a sort of fall on the surface and a little bit of air. You can blow it out of the way so I never have to clear out clogs. This is by far the better counter sink bit. Now, another option I should mention here is you don't necessarily have to get an all in one counter sink bit like this. You can use regular bits to do your pilot hole and then you could use a specialized counter sink bit. That's just a separate tool. If you want to go that route with separates, it works just fine. But I think it's a lot easier to have one that does everything in one shot. Alright, so I hope you found that helpful. Maybe this will save you a few bucks by getting the right tool in the first place, you know. Have anything to add to this list? Or maybe you disagree with my opinions on this. Let me know in the comments. Alright. Thanks for watching everybody. We'll catch you next time. And this particular type of Brad Pitt
[Laughter] Brad Pitt...
