Sick of using rubbish own brand drill bits and want a simple set of metric HSS from about 2-8mm. Happy to sharpen now and them but would like something half decent that will last a while and isn’t made from toffee!

Any thoughts?

Good question, I always assumed they were a disposable item as they never stay sharp for long.
I guess it all depends how many nails you drill into on a regular basis 😳

I’ve always found Dormer drills to be very good. I have a random assortment of bits I’ve collected over the years. Mostly cheap rubbish but the odd nice one. If I find I’ve drilled a hole and its gone in particularly well its usually a Dormer bit. Also whats wrong with a 10mm bit?

Yep Dormer would be an excellent choice – I’ve also used the gold coloured DeWalt drill bits that are really good.
We use Kennedy at work (think they are the in-house brand from Cromwell tools) which are fine.

I assume this is for drilling through a variety of metals?
I like Cobalt bits from Cromwell tools, seem to cut well and not hard to sharpen.
I’ve also got a couple of carbide bits which are awesome for really hard stuff, like for drilling out a screw extractor, but they are expensive, brittle and hard to sharpen.
The yellow dewalt bits are cobalt I think.

I’ve also used the gold coloured DeWalt drill bits that are really good.

Are they the Extreme 2 ones with the clever ground tip? I find they are good up to a point – sharp and cut particularly well in steel and bigger sizes are easier to get started accurately on your mark. However something about they way the flutes on the side are configured means they are really keen to grab the hole and screw themselves into the work – either making a mess of the hole ….. or snapping the bit. I have a pretty pricy box-set of them (paid for by a job) but about a third of them are now broken.

Thanks all. There’s a cromwell tools down the road so will pop in and get a selection (up to and including 10mm!). There’s a dormer set of 1mm – 10mm for £50 which will do me nicely…

You’ll not go far wrong with Cromwell’s – they are aimed at professional workshops.