Thread: Sutton drill pits - frost vs P&N vs viper

My only concern with the Viper is re sharpening to the original design. Apparently it’s this tip design that gives it its advantage according to Suttons. Does the loss of this tip design relegate it to a eg. P&N drill which is cheaper?.
The Suttons website has pictures of the split point tip.

4E29238E-AC28-4A72-9550-C87F1939052B.jpg

The Frost brad point drills are trash IMO; they're carbon steel, not HSS, and they weren't even all ground true in the box we got at work :/

You should get several sharpens before the split point is gone (unless you chip the edge and have to grind a lot off), but with a bit of practice you can re-grind the split point, buy some cheap bits to practice on.

There's no doubt a new Viper tip has advantages but that gets lost after the first few touch ups and I'm pretty sure the metal is just standard HSS and eventually it reverts to a standard HSS drill bit .

If you want good performance in metal then the Co bits are worth getting especially for use in SS. They also stay sharp longer when drilling wood.

I bought cheap sets of 0.1mms and 64th's increment and replaced the ones I broke with P&Ns except for those that I use a lot for tapping or drilling through chainsaw bars and then I bought Co replacements.

Co = Cobalt?

I think you'll find the main difference is country of manufacture. Frost are Chinese, pretty sure P&N are too, but Vipers are made in Australia AFAIK.

Yes, Co = Cobalt.

I like the Viper bits, very good for drilling pen blanks on the lathe. A lot less issues with centering and heaps less drilling pressure / force required in end grain which means less heat, and a lot less frustration with blowouts with my built up pen blanks ( celtic knots etc.) The original Viper split point cutting is far superior to any of the other bit geometry designs ( no matter how sharp they are ) including brad point bits.

The split point can be easily resharpened / remade using the Tormek DBS22 jig - costly but very good.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

The split point can be easily resharpened / remade using the Tormek DBS22 jig - costly but very good.

I second that. I have a Tormek T7 and the DBS22 jig, excellent results. Minor limitation is minimum 3 mm drill bit.

Frost are fine for carpentry if you're really not concerned about the quality of cut. P&N are an upgrade but I'm not particularly keen on them, they're not cheap but they don't hold an edge for too long either. Vipers are excellent for cut quality and edge retention.

For brad points, I really like the CMT HSS bits, they are really nice bits but they should be since they're pretty far from cheap. The CMT brad points in carbon steel would be my second option.

For forstner bits, Timbecon have TCT bits that are fantastic. Super clean holes and you can run them at full speed.

Buy Dormer, job done.

Just a question to those with the Tormek DBS22. With that jig can you accurately recreated the exact split point of the Viper bit or do you just provide a standard drill end shape?
I would have though you would have needed a very thin wheel to get that centre, almost right angle shape.
Cheers

Thanks for replying guys. Does anyone have any suggestions for HSS normal twist drill bits for under $100?

There was a Sutton 100th anniversary drill set for $99. It went to 1/2" or 12mm (or was it 13mm).

Total Tools has a few sets in that range, we have the TTI 1-13x0.5mm set; M2 HSS, split point (although they've all progressively been ground to brad point). Very happy with them.

Originally Posted by Yanis

There was a Sutton 100th anniversary drill set for $99. It went to 1/2" or 12mm (or was it 13mm).

The metric goes to 13mm and 1/2" in the imperial.

Not a bad price for that set, i paid a fair bit more for the Sutton metric and imperial sets when i brought mine 10 years ago.

They do the job