Lost Art Press

The New Generation of Auger Bits

Posted on by Lost Art Press
The WoodOwl augers make insanely clean holes (when used correctly).

I love spade bits, and I will always recommend them for people getting started in chairmaking. The bits are dirt cheap, widely available, sharpenable and are easily customized to do things other bits cannot.

But like many chairmakers, I am always game to try new drill bits. If someone told me there was a new drill bit made from hard cheese and rat pelvises, I would buy a few to try.

For the last few years, I have been working with some of the “new” auger bits made by WoodOwl of Japan. Specifically, the Star-M Japanese F-Type Auger Bit and the OverDrive bits.

These bits cut quickly and cleanly and – insanely – leave a clean exit hole without any backing board. For the chairs I build, this is a big deal when drilling the holes between the armbow and the seat. With these bits I don’t need to clamp backing boards to the armbow. And I can easily drill through the seat – making the joint between the sticks and the seat incredibly strong with more surface area and wedges.

The exit holes for both WoodOwl bits. So clean.

But the bits have a learning curve. Because the flutes along the body of the bit are sharp, you have to keep a steady hand when freehand drilling, otherwise you will make weird overly elliptical holes. And you need to learn how to start them properly. And to deal with what happens when the cut stalls. 

The OverDrive Bits

These bits are widely available in the United States. But after using them for 16 months in chairmaking, I don’t recommend them for making chairs. The bit’s center spur is too short for anything but shallow angles. 

Why is this bad? Angles greater than 12° or so are difficult. You have to start the bit vertical then move into the correct (sometimes compound) angle. And you might have only a second or two to do this.

Wait, can’t you do this at “sloth speed” and ease into the cut? No. The bits are (in my opinion) designed to be used at high speed. When used at low speeds, they tend to tear up the wood. The OverDrives are great bits for furniture making where the bit is 90° to the work and in a drill press. But for chairmaking? Pass.

OverDrive bits (left) and Star-M bits (right).

The Star-M, F-Types

I buy these bits from Workshop Heaven in the U.K. If they are sold elsewhere I don’t know. But I haven’t found them in the U.S. These bits are similar to the OverDrive bits, but the center spur is radically different, which makes all the difference. 

The long center spur and cone-shaped tip allow you to use this bit at radical angles (though I would argue that you shouldn’t do this without a stern warning, which is below). And because of the bit’s shape you can get the bit settled into the work with slow rotations until you spin things up to full speed.

STERN WARNING: When you use any bit at a radical angle, you tend to bring the flutes into the cutting equation. With a traditional auger, the flutes aren’t sharp, so it’s not a big deal. But with many modern augers, the flutes are pin-sharp. So it’s easy to make the hole an elliptical mess when the flutes start whacking at the rim of your hole.

During the last couple years I’ve found that while the bits allow you to start the hole at a 40° angle, that’s a bad idea. As you approach 20° off vertical, the risk of the bit’s flutes making a mess of things increases radically. Stay under 20° off vertical, and you’ll be OK (with a steady hand).

When I have to angle the bit more than 20°, I switch back to spade bits, which cut slower and don’t tend to ream the hole as much.

So here are a few tips for using the Star-Ms.

  1. Start the bit’s spur slowly (or make a divot with an awl to start the bit). Otherwise the bit can skate across the work when cutting compound angles.
  2. As soon as the bit is started, run up the bit to full speed without pushing the drill downward. The cut will be cleaner.
  3. One you get to full speed, plunge in and let the bit determine your feed speed.
  4. The bits are sensitive to changes in grain direction (like when you laminate two boards together. And when you drill through the far face of the board). No matter how powerful your drill is, the bit will sometimes stall. When this happens, ease off on any downward pressure on the drill. Run the bit up to full speed with no downward pressure then plunge gently again.

The Star-Ms can be difficult to find in stock, particularly in the 16mm (5/8”) size, which is common for chairmaking. But they’re worth the effort and the wait.

— Christopher Schwarz

35 thoughts on “The New Generation of Auger Bits”

  1. Good info Chris. Question? What is the durability as I assume these are not so easily (if at all) sharpened as a spade bit.

    1. I haven’t worn one out. The WoodOwl spade bits seem to get dull a little faster than Irwin’s. But the WoodOwl traditional augers last a long time. All this is to say: I don’t know but I will some day.

    1. Thanks. I’m glad to hear there is a domestic source.

      I’ll stick with Workshop Heaven. After Taylor Toolworks tried to copyright the term “Moxon vise” I’ve been leery of using them or promoting them.

      It’s a personal problem on my part as a toolmaker and as someone with a lot of friends who are toolmakers.

      2. They tried to do what?

        I expect that every company will eventually try some level of f#¢kery, but that’s a level for which I was unprepared.

          1. They also tried to trademark “Scary Sharp,” and were granted a trademark for “1-2-3 Block.” That is wild.

    1. I have not tested the extender. It uses the same collet system that other extenders use that allow the bit to wobble. Maybe they fixed the wobble. Don’t know.

      What we are working on (almost done, too) is to immobilize the bit and shaft so they are perfectly concentric with zero wobble.

  9. What happens when you sand down the edges of the flutes, making them dull? That ought to help avoid the edges reaming the hole and making it eccentric. It’ll probably cause other difficulties, but I can’t imagine what.

  10. I have tried 16mm drill bits in combinaison with the veritas tenon maker (the 5/8″ of course) and even with the tenon maker set as well as i could, i thought the holes in the seats were to big (those damned 0,12mm), i guess this gap would not be a problem in the arm thanks to the wedges…… May you have a trick to make this drill bit fit the tenon cutter ? Thank you and have a nice day. Jonathan

  11. I always seem to be asking… anyone know where I can get them in Canada? I found the wood owl spade bits at northwestpassagetools in Canada.

  12. You can also get the Star M bits in imperial sizes from Dieter Schmid in Germany:

    https://www.fine-tools.com/auger-bits.html

    They have a very large range of Star M in different lengths but in metric diameters too.

    (I’ve got no connection with this firm other than as an occasional customer.)

  14. Thanks for the info. I’m going to give them a try. Not having to put a backing board would be a blessing!

  15. Leave to “Lost Art” to make me not take something for granted I have stopped thinking about…LOL…I started using three fluted…”WoodOwl Ultra Smooth Tri-Cut Auger Bits”…bits decades ago, and basically stopped thinking about drill bits…They are all I have used over the last few decades and still have not found anything superior to them…These you profiled here seem interesting so will have to give then a closer look…

  16. What’s your opinion of old spoon bits. I picked up a few at a garage sale a while back. They need de-rusting and sharpening, but otherwise look OK.

    1. I’ve used them a few times, but I am no expert. Many chairmakers swear by them because of the ability to steer the bit to the correct angle after starting the cut.

  17. Aren’t forstner bits a possible solution? One could pre drill the correct angle with a 3 mm regular drill bit, just a cm in or so and then use the forstner with its guide following the predrilled hole. Zobo is a good brand and has an extensive suite of add ons and supplements, like extensions. Their products are sold by FineTools (Dieter Schmid). I have no affiliation/

    1. Standard Forstners have a center spur that is too short for most chairmaking angles. Unless you are willing to adjust your angle during the middle of the drilling process.

      There are a few Forstners out there that us a long and skinny drill bit as the center spur. These can be hard to find and expensive when you do.

      Also, Forstners in small diameters clog too easily for many deep cuts into a seat.

  18. I swear I’ve read it before, probably here even, but cannot seem to search it out right now. What are the common sizes for chair making? It’s a pretty limited set, right?

    1. I mostly use 5/8″ and 1/2″. If you don’t want to ream your legs, you also need 1″. That’s for stick chairs. Other forms have different needs.

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