Gekkou Drill Bits from Bic Tool Company

Gekkou Drill Bits Featured Image
  1. Bic Tool Company announced back in August that they would be bringing their Gekkou Drill Bits to the North American market. I know what you’re thinking – another drill bit, is it really that big of a deal?

Well, yeah. In this case, they’ve come up with a very compelling product.


Despite the fact that drill bits can seem boring on the surface, there’s a ton of science that goes into taking iron and carbon to create a bit capable of drilling through a variety of materials. It starts with the steel and moves all the way through heat treatment and physical design. Gekkou Drill Bits are designed to cut through plastic, wood, acrylic, copper, aluminum, and brass. At the core of its DNA is its performance on steel, including stainless blends.

Gekkou Drill Bits: Materials

Gekkou Drill Bits take advantage of an element that if you’re not familiar with, you should be. Cobalt is an additive in steel blends that is prized for its ability to reinforce strength at high temperatures. These bits use a 5% cobalt blend in their steel to ensure that as the temperature rises they’ll still cut through steel without losing their edge. It’s possible to move up to as much as 8% – 10% in high speed steel products, but Bic Tool has optimized their bit at a slightly reduced percentage.

Cobalt

In addition to high temperature strength, cobalt also offers a much higher lifespan and edge retention for drill bits used in metal applications.

Since cobalt is an additive in the steel blend, it doesn’t suffer from the same shortcomings as coatings like titanium. Many drill bits on the market, including Gekkou, are designed to be resharpened as they wear down. With a titanium coating, you lose the benefits as soon as you grind through it. Cobalt runs through the entire bit, so you can reap the rewards until the bit can no longer be sharpened.

Gekkou Drill Bits: Physical Design

There are many things the Japanese are very good at. One of those is creating very sharp, optimally shaped cutting edges. Gekkou Drill Bits are the beneficiary of this ability. Subtle yet critical differences can be found at the bit tip.

The extreme tip of the bit bites into material quickly to prevent walking startups. Once the bit establishes its position, razor sharp crescent-shaped cutting edges at 118 degrees begin to remove material from the selected diameter.

Gekkou Drill Bits 118 degree tip

You’ll notice when drilling in metal that the material isn’t chipped away – you get a nice string swarf (that’s the technical term for the material that has been removed). It’s the consistent contact and cutting paired with two evacuation flutes that results in this the swarf.

Gekkou Drill Bits Cutting Edge

In other words, higher quality bits drill where you put them and produce that really cool spiral of metal. They also should leave a smooth, burr-free finish.

Gekkou Drill Bits: Performance

There is a debate among professionals about how exactly you’re supposed to drill through steel. High speed or low speed? How thick does it have to be before using a lubricant? Do I need a pilot hole? How much pressure should I apply to the drill? Ask five different guys and you’re likely to get five different answers on the appropriate method from start to finish.

To see where Gekkou Drill Bits did their best work, we tried them in a variety of settings. Not to worry, we put another leading manufacturer’s cobalt bit right next to it for a comparison.

We had some overhead lights to install at the Pro Tool Reviews man cave that involved drilling into 1/8″ steel from a ladder. I had no idea just how fast my arms could get tired from holding a drill against a piece of steel! First, I drilled in high speed with light pressure to let the drill and bit do the work. This resulted in less than stellar drilling times for both bits.

Gekkou Drill Bits In Use

On the next set, I drilled in high speed with a lot of pressure against the drill. This resulted in very fast drilling. The competitive 135 degree cobalt bit actually left a nice finish, but Gekkou left behind some burring.

Gekkou Drill Bits Swarf

Most pros that drill into steel a lot will tell you (and I agree) that drilling in steel should be done in low speed. This helps reduce the heat build up while allowing the bit to really work on slicing through the metal rather than chipping away at it. With only moderate pressure, I saw the kind of results Bic Tool Company promises with their Gekkou Drill Bits. I had a near perfect burr-free hole and beautifully spiraled swarf ejection. That sounds a little weird chatting with your friends over beer and football, but it’s an accurate description.

The competing bit performed well with similar results. Where it fell short was in cutting speed. Gekkou was clearly superior in that department, making it through the beam in half the time.

Automotive Extreme Testing

cobalt bit steel bolt drillingOne of the biggest tests we undertook involved taking these cobalt bits and handing them to Tim Johnson, one of our reviewers. He had removed the head off a Chevy Trailblazer and, as is often the case, broke three of the aged highly-torqued bolts in the process. He needed something to drill out the broken cylinder head bolts so they could be removed and replaced. If you know anything about head bolts, these are Grade 8 160,000 psi bolts, and they’ll make mincemeat out of standard drill bits. Tim took an 1/8″ Gekkou cobalt bit and drilled straight down through the first steel bolt—far enough to get it to spin a bit and allow him to insert an Ez Out bolt extractor to remove it. The other two bolts were even more difficult, and he moved up to a 1/4″ cobalt bit after using the 1/8″ bit, so the Ez Out could do its job. Tough as nails? I have yet to find a nail that’s as tough as these bits!

bolt remover

I wasn’t set up to test the durability claims in this evaluation, however, Bic Tool is claiming some 7 to 10 times the life over standard stainless steel bits.

Gekkou drill bits can be used without lubrication—which is how I tested them. Bic Tool also runs their demonstrations oil free. You’re still welcome to use lubrication and will get even longer life out of the bits.

Conclusion

Anytime I find myself near cutting tools or accessories made in Japan, I take notice. The quality of the cutting edges coming from that part of the world tends to be superior and Gekkou Drill Bits are no exception. The speed of drilling through steel was unquestionably greater than competing bits I compared them to. The addition of cobalt to the steel blend results in greater lifespan, edge retention, resharpened performance, and the ability to drill without lubrication.

If you drill in steel frequently, I can give Bic Tools’ Gekkou Drill Bits my hearty recommendation. Look for these bits to be hitting the market mainly in smaller retail stores while they establish a presence and reputation. Some of these retailers do sell online, but I was unable to find any in a recent Google search.

I’ve been told to expect a 20% – 50% premium over comparable American made cobalt bits. While this may seem steep, it is worth it if you’re getting real world results that match the internal tests showing that you can use one of these bits for every 7 – 10 standard cobalt bits.

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