General Tools 195-1/2 Countersink Bit, 1/2-Inch

I have only used this counter sink for one project so far. It worked great! It cut thru the wood with great ease. It made a nice smooth counter sink. I didn't have any problem with chatter. I'm not a woodworking expert at all. Some of the wood that I used was older and soft. Other wood was just standard 1X3. I will be using this again and again for my next projects.This tool appears to me to be made to last. Again though I am not a woodworking expert, just a do it myself kind of person. I know it will last me a long time. This is a great tool that I wish I had purchased a long time ago!I use to use a larger size drill to make a counter sink.... this counter sink is way nicer!!!

If you don't have a countersink bit, you don't know what you're missing. This one works real well, as it has 7 flutes. For years I just used a larger size bit to make countersinks - I don't build pianos or rocket ships, so I never needed real precision. However, I somehow got a countersink bit, and OMG - they work so easy compared to using a large bit. The countersink bits will never grab and drill deeper than you want - they cut slowly but cleanly. If you don't own one, get this one - it is large enough to do everything - I don't think I'll ever need a countersink that is 3/4 inch diameter, but if I do, now I've got it. This one looks very well made, it drills cleanly. I use it for steel, aluminum and plastic. Works great.

This countersink works very well, but using it for a couple of hundred holes in 1/4" aluminum plate revealed a slight issue. The aluminum likes to stick to the countersink. Not really a fault of the tool, as aluminum likes to stick to high speed steel tooling in general. Great value for the money, but a cobalt or carbide tool may be a better option if you need it for a lot of aluminum.Still, if you don't want to spend 5x the money for a bit, this is a great value.

I have tried to improve my carpentry and was tired of just driving the screw at the highest power to get it 'sunk' ( I never said I have arrived just trying to improve). I bought a combo set to drill and counter sink at the same time but was never satisfied by the three bit combo. I have reviewed may choices but not too many with glowing reports. I stumble on this little beauty with 5 flutes for fine smooth wall countersink hole. I had to get used to not needing any significant pressure, even in oak. Now I can countersink with the best with and size drill bit I select. Great Item! Made in USA. Very versatile with little effort. Easy to get consistent results with a little practice.

I own a few tools from general and usually they are pretty well made but for some odd reason the countersinks they make are slightly off this is my second one I bought one around 15 years ago and lost it too was a little off, but I thought lets try again maybe I just got a bad one.I guess not as this one is a little off as well so because it is not perfect the countersinking in something like aluminum is not perfectly round because it jitters a bit from the machining not being dead on. based on this I would hope they fix the problem.I may try another brand to see if others can produce an accurately machined countersink, so far have had good success with bits and such from Irwin they seem to be well made and are not off center even in the slightest amount, so as for General countersinks they get a 3 star rating but might be fine for less critical countersinking in wood where you really cant tell, but in metal where you need a precision countersunk hole on lets say a nice faceplate I would not recommend this bit.

Some of these reviewers don’t know what they’re doing. This type of bit is going to chatter if you aren’t using a drill press (and even then if you try to go too fast), it’s not the bit’s fault. At the very least you’d need one with a pilot, but then you’re looking at a whole set with one for each size hole.I set the press to the lowest speed and it shaved a bunch of deep countersinks in aluminum L-track like it was cheese and left a nice shiny perfectly round hole for some 3/8” countersunk bolts. For drilling you usually go high speed low pressure on aluminum, but in this case that was just very loud and hot (the countersink still came out nice and round but looked rough from the million tiny cuts instead of one steady slice).It’s HSS, so I’m only expecting it to last for this one project, and so far so good after a dozen 3/4” holes. Great value for the money. If you’re doing this all the time, get a single flute cobalt set for like $200, otherwise you can’t complain.

As advertised, works fine in hardwood , you just need to pay attention to speed and pressure. I have used this in hickory, oak and ash, all came out clean with no splintering, or burning. There may be higher quality Countersink bits available, but for the price, this meets my needs just fine.

It worked perfectly for what I needed it for. I just rebuilt an old Craftsman model 113 Contractor's table saw.I didn't want to drill into the original cast iron on this 1951 saw to mount a Delta T2-30 inch rip fence.I needed to drill and countersink the hardened angle iron frame on the brand new rip fence, and knew that the warranty was gone the second I did that.I needed it to work perfectly, and it did; the saw has absolutly no heeling or kickback problems so the countersinking was dead on.