I keep telling myself that modern spade bits are not great, but they’re OK. But I am lying to myself. Anytime I use a NOS (New Old Stock) Irwin spade I am shocked by how good the old ones are compared to the modern stuff.
During the last few chairmaking classes I taught, the modern spade bits could barely make it through one chair before becoming useless. And the cutting geometry was so poor that you had to push with all your might to get them to bite.
So until I find a good (I’d settle for decent) brand of spade bit, I’m looking elsewhere.
Last week I tried the 5/8” Trident bit from BB Custom Tools. I paired it with the BB Custom Drill Extension (6” or 10” works for stick chairs) and the Stick Chair Spindle Bushing. It’s an expensive rig, especially compared to a $12 spade bit (16” long).
But here’s the deal: The bit is resharpenable ($8 to $14 for the job), and it cuts with far less effort than a spade. The Trident comes insanely sharp and plowed through all the mortises for four stick chairs without complaint. And it was still razor sharp at the end.
There is a little more fussing around when drilling the mortises through the arm and seat with the Drill Extension. You have to detach the bit and extension to drill the mortise in the seat. But after drilling mortises for one chair (that’s 26 mortises), it became an intuitive operation. So the plusses way outweigh the minuses.
The biggest surprise with the equipment was the little plastic Stick Chair Bushing. It centers the bit in the mortise through the arm. I laughed when I saw it. “Yea right, I’m not using that.”
I fricking love it, and it will reduce errors with students.
Speaking of students, I’m going to switch over to this drilling system for classes. I’m tired of watching students struggle with sub-par spade bits. And I’m tired of smelling the smoking wood as some of the spades have to practically burn their way through the wood after four or five holes.
I am happy to recommend this gear for all makers of stick chairs. I only wish we had a manufacturer of spade bits that did as good a job as BB Custom Tools. Nice work, Kyle and Patrick.
— Christopher Schwarz
They really are great tools, I have one and really enjoy using it. Expensive, but worth it.
**Quickly purchases before they sell out….***
Same here…
There are other chair making books that LAP sells that detail how to grind your own brad point bits from inexpensive silver and deming drill bits (metalworking drill bits grater that 1/2″ in diameter) and making that same bit extension using 1/2 metal rod and a shaft coupler from suppliers like MSC. It seems involved at first blush but is really quite easy if you have a bench grinder with a decent rest. I have made several in different sizes. I also use metal drill bushings readily available at any hardware store as a guide for the extension shaft when drilling through arms. For larger holes you can super glue a drill bushing into a wood dowel that has been center drilled l to adapt the 1/2 shaft drill extension into a 3/4″ hole for example.
Thanks Todd, I will try this. I also see some videos on how to do this on YT, dremel or grinder, both seem to work. Dremel seems to give a longer brad point if needed. Thanks
Is this a superior, or just alternate approach to using a GoDrilla and Star-M bit?
The Star-Ms can be hard to come by. Also, I am not a fan of the way they cut sideways and elongate mortises.
Now you tell me. I have the go drilla and star m bits per your recommendation….
So does this mean that you have changed your mind on the the Wood Owl and Benchmark Abrasives spade bits that you had recommended, compared to the old Irwins. FYI everyone, there is a seller on eBay that has a large stock of NOS Irwins mixed with current Irwin spade bits. I messaged them and was able to get a bunch of just the old style 1″ and 5/8″ bits, and seems like they have plenty left.
The WoodOwl bits are now as bad as the Irwins. And the Benchmark spades I’ve gotten recently are also thinner.
The NOS Irwins are still my favorite. But there is a limited supply, so I am looking to the future.
I have been happy with the Milwaukee Spade bits ..
They are weirdly inconsistent. Some are great. Some are terrible. I need to dig into the issue.
Been using all of Kyle’s jigs and bits for the past 3 years and it has brought my chair making to next level! Beautiful equipment!
Curious as to why you decided to buy the BB extension and didn’t use your own GoDrilla.
The bit is too large to fit in the GoDrilla.
I thought it might be something like that. Thanks for the reply.