Wood Bit & power drill

[Pete S]

I have been using a power drill and a new bit "made for" wood. It has a nice set of cutting edges, but along with that has the "screw" in the center. I always have to reverse it a bit to get it our and thus some shaving get pushed back in.

Can I simply cut that "screw" off and just push the bit into the tree?

I think it's a Blu-Mol brand from Fleet Farm.

Thanks!
Pete

[Big_Eddy]

Nope
Cut the screw tip off and it won't work at all. It will just skid on the bark and won't pull into the tree.

[lpakiz]

Pete,
Spend $15 on a dedicated tapping bit and you will never regret it.

[woodey24]

I bought a tapping bit and it snapped on the second tap. Sugarbush swapped it for me but said it was the first they had ever had returned. The first hole did come out clean. We had the other taps in with normal bits by the time I got the second bit. I do use the smaller taps so the bit was smaller but seemed pretty brittle.

[cpmaple]

Not that the bit your talking about is junk but buy a tapping bit. Their is several differences between a wood bit and a tapping bit. First a tapping bit has a greater angle on the leading edge rather than a wood bit second the flutes on a tapping bit are sharpen also to make for a cleaner hole. A wood bit tears the fibers in the tree and a tapping cuts them. Just a little input that I learned over the years but don't take me wrong they all work just some are better than others.

[eustis22]

bump!

I have a tapping bit but still ended up with shavings in my tubing and leaks around the tap. What am I doing wrong?

[mellondome]

How high are you tapping? Most likely you are using an 18v or larger drill.. and when it starts to work a little, it will "torque" twist on your hand, causing the whole drill to move and make the hole out of round. Stepping back to a 12v drill and it usually will stall out before twisting in your hand.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Run drill on high speed with a piece of tubing as a drill stop on the bit or a drill stop for the depth you want to go. When it hits stop never slow down the drill bring it back out in one motion with the drill running on high speed and will bring the shavings with it most of the time. Takes about 1.5 seconds to drill a hole 1.5" to 2" deep.

[DrTimPerkins]

The bits with the deep spiraling flutes are VERY aggressive, and seem to break more frequently than other types (probably due to torque). Get a good Canadian" style bit from one of the maple dealers and you'll get good results (fast, clean hole with no breakage).

[MapleReid]

Buy a tapping bit and use TWO hands on your drill. Pretend you are drill press and move your arms in a linear motion. The new Bodoc brand bits from CDL are very aggressive, but leave the cleanest hole I have ever seen. Side note.... I have tapped several hundred thousand trees in my lifetime and never broken a bit. I attribute it to the two hand method of drilling.


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[eustis22]

Thank you, I do have the canadian bit that I ordered from bascoms this year and it looks exactly like what I always assumed was a canadian bit bought in 2014, again from bascoms. Interesting about the torquing. My drill is a 20V. I tap about chest high. Will last years shavings flush out of my tubing or do I need to dig them out by hand?

[johnpma]

All this talk about bits, the do's and dont's, who has the best bits.....I decided to do some research. I work in a tool shop. Here is a bit I made up yesterday. It's a parabolic flute high end aircraft bit. I threw it on the tool and cutter grinder and put a "split point 90 degree angle tapping point" on it. I have used everything in my life from a hand drill to an 9.6V, to a 12V, to an 18V drill. I'm going to try the bit out and see the variation in results, speed at which it cuts, torque required, cleanliness of the hole, and measure the hole with calipers to see how round the hole stays after drilling. Be interesting the see the results as compared to other bits we have used in the past........more to follow

FYI this bit was about $7.48

[johnpma]

Did some experimenting tonight. Tapped 10 holes using three different types of bits. A wood bit that I have used in years past a standard 118 degree point HSS bit off the shelf from hardware store and a "tapping bit" all three cut well. The wood bit is a bit coarse and has a tear style wood chip. The jobber and tapping bit had similar results. The white clean wood chips looked identical. The difference being the drill point. The tapping bit has a 90 degree point and penetrated the tree easier than the others. All drilling was done with a Milwaukee 18V cordless which appears to be a work horse.

The drilling was the same in all three cases feeding straight in for 1 1/2" and a quick reverse removing the drill in a single stroke. All the holes measured identical with I'd calipers. Holes were round within. 007-.009

Just thought I would share this with you

[johnallin]

All this talk about bits, the do's and dont's, who has the best bits.....I decided to do some research. I work in a tool shop. Here is a bit I made up yesterday.

Let us know how that works out for you. I'll listen to anyone who can make his own drill bits

[johnpma]

Let us know how that works out for you. I'll listen to anyone who can make his own drill bits it worked well....very well I'm only altering the drill point not making the bit per say...... but I can't say that a simulated "tapping bit" performed better than a HSS off the shelf bit. There is a slight difference in the internal geometry inside the tree. The tapping bit has a cutting point where a standard drill bit has a blunt point. But we are talking in thousandth's in either case which probably really doesn't matter to the tree