Best Drill Bit Set Deals for Metal and Wood

Twist bits do most of the work in a home shop: wood, plastic, aluminium and mild steel. What separates a set that lasts from one that wanders is the steel, the point geometry and the coating, not the number of pieces in the case.

A twenty-pack of the workhorse size

The at $16.99 is the least glamorous listing here and probably the best value in metalworking. Cle-Line bits from Cleveland Twist Drill are general-purpose high speed steel with a 118-degree point and a 4-inch jobber length, and you get twenty of the same size rather than a mixed index. Quarter-inch is the size you reach for most often in mild steel and timber, so a handful of spares makes sense.

• 118-degree general-purpose point for wood, mild steel and plastic
• Jobber length with a 4-inch overall length
• Made by Cleveland Twist Drill in Mexico
• One size repeated twenty times: low cost per bit, no index case

A fourteen-piece split-point index

For mixed everyday drilling, the at $19.60 is the sensible starter index. The split point bites in without a centre punch and resists walking, the three flats on each shank stop the bit spinning in the chuck under load, and a black and gold coating helps with heat and corrosion.

Cobalt for stainless and hard steel

For stainless and hard steel, cobalt stays hard at temperature. The at $18.55 are HSCO cobalt with a 135-degree point in screw-machine length. The at $11.85 lets a large bit fit a smaller chuck.

Coated singles and specialty twist sets

Black oxide helps HSS bits resist heat and corrosion. The at $26.99 are 135-degree jobbers, and the at $19.45 is the large single you need for one big hole. The at $11.24 enlarge existing holes, while the at $129.95 is a full index for those who want small sizes covered.

Masonry bits carry a brazed carbide tip to chip brick and aggregate. The at $12.98 covers sizes for wall anchors. For ceramic, porcelain, marble, granite, quartz and glass, the at $12.30 grinds rather than cuts, so use low speed and a little water.

Forstner bits drill flat-bottomed, clean holes. Two 16-piece sets compete: the at $173.99 and the at $169.10. The at $49.54 handles screws, while the at $6.99 is the cheapest option for enlarging holes in softwood and ply.

Step bits drill many diameters with one bit, which makes them the tool for sheet metal, panels and electrical boxes where you enlarge a hole in stages. The at $37.99 is the serious option, with molybdenum high-speed steel and step ranges including 3/16 to 1/2 inch and 1/8 to 1/2 inch across the five bits. The at $21.51 is the budget alternative, sized to the common step-bit ranges used in sheet-metal work.

Driver bits belong in the same drawer. The at $12.83 is S2 alloy steel with magnetic tips and 1/4-inch hex shanks, and the at $12.24 covers the household screw sizes. If you drive screws with an impact driver, the at $97.69 is the impact-ready bundle: bits, a magnetic holder, nut drivers and a ToughCase. One specialty listing is worth knowing about: the at $21.49 pairs a threading tap with its matching tapping drill in a pouch, which is the correct way to cut an internal thread instead of guessing the hole size.

If you need a drill as well as bits, two listings bundle the problem away. The at $23.99 is an entry-level 12-volt drill-driver listed at 180 in-lbs of maximum torque, aimed at home drilling and screw driving. The step up is the at $89.99, a half-inch brushless drill-driver with bits in the box and the runtime advantages of a brushless motor. For the bare-tool side of the same purchase, our best cordless drill deals roundup covers drills without the bits.

HSS is the baseline. High speed steel cuts wood, plastic, aluminium and mild steel at a fair price, and every listing above that does not state otherwise is HSS. It loses its edge quickly in stainless, which work-hardens under the bit, and in any pre-hardened steel.

Cobalt adds heat resistance. Cobalt HSS, usually marked HSCO, has cobalt in the alloy rather than on the surface, so it stays hard at the temperatures generated drilling stainless and alloy steel. It costs more and is more brittle, so a dropped cobalt bit snaps where an HSS bit might survive the fall.

Titanium is a coating, not a steel. Titanium nitride raises surface hardness and helps the bit deal with abrasive materials, but the body underneath is still HSS. Once the coating wears through at the cutting edge, you are drilling with an HSS bit. Black oxide is a useful lubricious treatment on HSS, but again it is not a hardness upgrade. Buy the steel first and the coating second.

Point geometry matters more than any coating. A 135-degree split point self-centres and resists walking, which is why it now dominates metalworking sets; the older 118-degree general-purpose point is perfectly good in wood and soft materials. Brad-point bits, with a sharp centre spur and spurs on the outer edges, are the woodworker's choice: they start exactly on the mark and clear chips in timber, but they are useless in metal and will deflect on a hard knot.

Pilot holes prevent most of the damage people blame on the bit. A pilot hole before a screw in hardwood reduces splitting, lowers the torque the drill has to deliver and guides the fastener straight. Choose a pilot close to the minor diameter of the thread, and step up gradually in hard timber rather than jumping straight to full size.

Why cheap bits dull and wander comes down to soft steel, sloppy grinding and inconsistent point angles. A budget bit goes off the mark as soon as pressure goes on, and its edge rounds within a few holes in anything harder than pine. A split point, a decent HSS or cobalt body and a pecking pace, meaning back off, clear the chips and go again, fix almost all of it. The index case is part of the product too: a folded steel or moulded index keeps sizes sorted, protects the cutting edges and shows you what is missing at a glance, while a loose pouch loses bits in the drawer within a month.

Match the bit to the material before you match it to the price. For metal, a split-point HSS index covers daily work and a small cobalt set handles stainless. For walls, carbide-tipped masonry bits and a diamond core set for tile. For wood, one decent Forstner set outperforms a drawer of anonymous twist bits, and a countersink set makes screwed joinery look intentional. Build around a 1/4-inch workhorse, keep the index case, and replace the bits that dull rather than the drill that drives them.