I’ve been drilling a lot of pilot holes in pine. My brad points do not leave anything even close to a clean finish. This did not surprise me. They are a set of Parkside drill bits I bought from Lidl years ago. For those not familiar with Lidl, Parkside are the brand they sell cheap but fairly useable, but not very high quality tools under. Think Harbour freight level tools for those in the US.

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Given they are cheap, and old, and very well used. I put the ragged entry holes down to that and set about getting recommendations for a nicer set of brad points. It is important to note at this point that I intend to use the bits in an egg beater drill. This adds a level of complication. Most modern bits are produced to go in a powered drill, and designed to be used at a far higher speed than in an egg beater. Just because a bit does not work well in an egg beater does not make it a good bit.

I got two main recommendations. Lee Valley & Fisch. The Lee Valley bits look good, but its a lot of postage to get them to Ireland. I also found quite a few photos online with entry holes that did not look much cleaner than what I’ve been getting. The Fisch bits are far easier to find in Europe. The sell both imperial and metric sets. Given my love of vintage tools I initially steered towards the imperial set, but they seem to sell for about twice the price of an equivalent metric set. Given pilot holes rarely have to be that precise I settled on the metric set ordered them and waited for them to arrive.

When they got here I went out to the shop, chucked up a Parkside bit and drilled into some pine. I got my usual ragged holes. Then I chucked up my new Fisch bits and …. No real difference. At all. Two sets of very ragged holes.

I grabbed a thin off-cut of walnut and drilled some holes with both. In harder wood both make pretty clean holes. But again, no significant difference. The conclusion. Either Parkside bits are a real bargain, or neither are much good in a egg beater drill.

I was talking about my disappointment last night on Hand Planes and Coffee, when Tom Dickey chimed in. “Have you tried running them backwards first?”. Ummm, no, I had not. I had never considered such a thing. I grabbed the same piece of scrap and bit. Ran it backwards for a second or two before reversing direction and drilling through. Massively cleaner entry holes resulted…. repeatedly. It would seem running it backwards allows the spurs to do a better job of scribing the hole. Thanks to Tom I now have two sets of brads that can give me clean holes in pine.

I still would not describe either set as doing an absolutely perfect job, so in the longer term, I’m not content with brad points in the egg beater. Anyone out there have a set of bits that give pristine holes in softwood in small 2/3mm sizes? Star M seem to have a range a bits that start out at 2.2 mm in size, I might order one or two to try out in the future.

Brad Points The Parkside set I have been using for years Brad Points Fisch metric brad points from Amazon Brad Points Fisch on the left, Parkside on the right. Other than the Parkside being a bit longer, there is not much of a difference to my eye. Brad Points Test holes. The 4 holes on the left are Parkside. The 4 on the right are Fisch. The hole on the far left is from a tapered drill bit that does not even have spurs and looks better than any of them… Spurs seem to be a bit of a liability on soft wood at low speed… Brad Points

The same bits in walnut. Much cleaner, still not perfect, and still no difference between the two. Brad Points

Now we are talking. The two holes on the right are done with both bits (I cant remember which is which). In both cases I spun the bit backwards for a few seconds before reversing and drilling. Brad Points

Star M spiral bits. Start at 2.2mm and claim a clean hole without spurs. I may have to try them. The round shank makes them perfect for an egg beater.

Brad Points

Star-M 601 bits. Start at 3mm but have a very significant flute on the sides. Look like a brace auger. Given I have no issue getting clean holes in pine with augers, this could be a winner.