I second that. Never use any bit to tap that is not made for tapping trees. The maple companies all carry them and so far I have never gotten one of poor quality.
Back about 10 years ago or so, I had an employee tapping for me, while drilling his foot slipped and he broke the bit. He then went and bought a hardware store bit so he could continue tapping because I was out of town. The trees he tapped using the hardware store bit yielded less sap by quite a bit. I do not recall the amount but it was very notable. The bad part, is that I had 2 or 3 spare bits in a parts box I had given him that contained lateral tubing fittings, taps, connectors, saddles etc. He just had not thought to look in there.
Yes, an official tapping bit costs more, but they are worth every penny.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.