What Types of Drill Bits Are Used for Drilling Wood?

Drill bits are the tools that are fit into drilling machines to create holes in different types of surfaces. Wood is one of the widely used materials in residential and commercial buildings and there are many situations in which wood drilling may be required. As obvious, the bits used for metal drilling can’t be used for wooden surfaces.                                                                                                                     

As a result, specially designed bits are available for the purpose of drilling wood. These bits differ in terms of geometry, design, length and functionality. Here is a discussion about the most common bits that carpenters and homeowners use to create holes in wood.

Lip and Spur Bits

One of the popular wood drilling bits is lip and spur bit that manages to drill through wood fiber cleanly. The center of this bit has a pointed spur surrounded by four sharp corners. The drill works by first cutting the periphery of the hole. These drill bits are available in diameters ranging between 3 and 15 mm.

Spoon Bits

As the name suggests, these bits consist of a shank in the shape of spoon with outer cutting edge. One of the oldest types of bits, they are helpful in situations when the hole angle need to be adjusted. The most common use of these drills is in the art of chair making.

Auger Bits

These drill bits have centers with tapered screw threads and long spiral-shaped flutes to remove the chips effectively. Jennings bits and Irwin bits are the two most powerful types of auger bits. Applications that require deep holes to be drilled in wood make use of these bits.

Forstner Bits

These bits consist of a center surrounded by a cylindrical cutter so that they can move inside the material with much more precision. These tools are popular for creating holes with flat bottoms in wood.

Spade Bits

Available in different sizes, these bits are useful for high-speed cutting. The design consists of a center surrounded by two cutters. Unlike other wood bits, these tools have flat surfaces.

Adjustable Bits

Finally, there are drill bits with adjustable controls to offer flexible wood drilling. An adjustable set screw is used to fix the cutter at a particular position. Holes with different depths can be drilled using these bits.

These bits are made up of different materials and in different sizes and dimensions. Discussion with an expert should be helpful in choosing the right kind of tool.