An alternative to the auger

[Trunks]

Just looking through some woodworking sites and found these "spoon bits". It seems they have no lead spur - like most augers, give you greater versatility as to what angle you drill at, and they look like they could be easier to keep sharp too.

Has anyone ever user one of these? Do you think it would be a good alternative to the auger, particular for birch tapping

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...180,42337&ap=1

[Trunks]

Ok, so not an alternative to the auger, just a different type of auger

[g4ghb]

I guess it would work fine however the 'screw' augers actually 'pull' themselves into the wood, you just apply slight initial pressure then rotational force.

These look like they would create a lovely round bottomed hole but it's not really needed for our purpose.

however if you have one............... it looks perfect! - make do and mend and all that

[mr dazzler]

Spoon bits cut a nice crisp hole. And you can cut clockwise or anti clockwise, and start at an angle too. Plus you can do a blind hole much closer to the opposite side seeing as there is no space taken up by the lead screw. You can drill eg a 28mm deep hole in a 30mm thick piece of wood. With a screw auger you would probably only be able to do a 22mm deep hole to avoid the lead screw breaking through. But they are harder to keep sharp than a screw auger (jenings type)

[dave53]

hi all saw one of these on utube he was drilling holes in logs to build a log cabin affective
regards dave

[Trunks]

I'm keen to try my hand at a bit of green woodworking and i like the idea of a tool that serves more than one purpose.

Thanks for the advice chaps