"When it came to design and testing, we left no stone unturned, ensuring that the high performance products we're introducing to the industry are superior, across-the-board," said Harvey Performance Company Vice President of Engineering and Technology Brian McKahan. "We took our time to guarantee we'd do it right, and we did."

These bits have a pronounced spur on the leading edge of the bit for a clean cut, even at slow speeds with a hand brace. The main cutter is shaped like a chisel, and turns around the threaded center spur, cutting up the wood freed by the circular cutting action of the edge spur. The center screw point pulls the bit into the wood so that little or no pressure is needed when boring. The screw point features a smaller thread than those bits designed for hand brace use only. See Comparison! This is because the hand brace bits would be pulled into the wood much too quickly if used in a drill press. Be careful, especially when starting the hole, not to tilt the drill and to keep it straight and true, otherwise the point can break off and render the bit useless.

Similarly, Valor Holemaking's High Performance Drills for Steels is optimized for 4140 Steel, but exceptional in other Alloy Steels, as well. They are offered in solid round or coolant-through styles, with stocked products ranging in diameter sizes from 1.587 mm to 12.700 mm for 3x, 5x, and 8x solid round drilling, and 5x and 8x coolant-through drilling.

While optimized for 6061 Aluminum, Valor Holemaking's offering of High Performance Drills for Aluminum & Aluminum Alloys, offered in solid round and coolant-through styles, is engineered to deliver superior performance in a wide range of Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys. Its initial offering will consist of stocked drills with diameters ranging from 1.587 mm to 12.700 mm for 3x and 5x solid round drilling, and 5x and 8x coolant-through drilling.

For clean, tearout-free holes, whether you use a power tool or a hand brace, these STAR-M bits are a fine choice. Japan can look back on many many centuries of tradition in woodworking and timberframing at the very highest levels of the art, and with it the same quality of toolmaking to provide those working today with the best tools modern technology can provide. So we can also enjoy the fruits of this marriage of tradition, modernity and outstanding quality in products like these auger bits.

Six-sided shaft end on bits Code 312350 to 312363 with different shaft sizes, see the table. The big bit, Code 312365 (2 inch) have a round 12 mm shaft, that is slightly flattened on three sides, to allow them to be used in a drill press with a three fingered chuck without having the extra torque of the big bits turn the bit fixed in the chuck in use. Bit Code 312350 (1/4 inch) can only drill shorter holes, as the shaft is thicker than the bit diameter. Here is a photo of the 2-inch augerbit. Enlargements and instructions how to use

These auger bits are designed for use with all kinds of softwoods and European hardwoods like beech and oak. They do not work well with the various kinds of very hard tropical woods. Use either a correctly-sized hand brace or a an electric drill. When using an electric drill, one must be careful not to overheat the bit and to frequently "air" the bit and free the threads of any shavings by turning the machine in reverse and pulling it out of the work piece. Pulling the bit out with the center screw still holding in the wood can damage or break the point! Use only light pressure with these bits! Do not use a drill press!

Valor Holemaking's High Performance Drills have been tested and fine-tuned to deliver outstanding hole accuracy and repeatability, exceptional surface finish, amazing tool life and performance, and impressive cost-per-hole.

Valor Holemaking's inaugural product offering will feature High Performance Drills for Aluminum & Aluminum Alloys, High Performance Drills for Steels, and High Performance Spotting Drills, among other complementary holemaking solutions, such as Combined Drill & Countersinks, High Performance Chamfer Cutters, Counterbores, and Multi-Form Thread Mills. All Harvey Performance Company's products, including the new Valor Holemaking lines, are fully stocked and ready to ship the day of purchase.

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Harvey Performance Company has launched Valor Holemaking, a new brand of American-made high performance drills and complementary holemaking solutions.

Up until now we could not offer the ideal bits to cut the round mortises for our Veritas Tenon Cutters, and could only offer Forstner bits in inch measurements. Auger bits have a number of advantages over Forstner bits in that case, as one can cut slowly, or even use hand braces and the center threaded spur can be carefully controlled for accurate results especially when starting the hole. So we are happy to be able to offer these auger bits in very exact inch measurements from a very reputable Japanese toolmaker, STAR-M, for precisely fit and strong joints. These are excellent bits and easily as good as the metric auger bits we have long offered. As always, we think there is no sense in experimenting with cheap tools, especially for applications like round mortises.