# What exactly are "diamond-tipped" drill bits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426 "2010-09-11T19:06:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/21 "2010-09-16T21:04:15Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > What I still don’t understand is this: If the material they use for attaching the dust is so strong, why not just use that for the drill bit? Why bother with the diamond dust at all? Is it just marketing? If the plastic handle they use to attach a steel knife blade to is so strong, why not just use that for the knife blade? Why bother with steel at all? Is it just marketing? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/22 "2010-09-16T21:14:20Z")
:smack::smack: I had been wondering about that for years, and suddenly, I can’t even figure out what I was thinking! Ignorance has been fought. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/23 "2010-09-16T21:14:59Z")
> [@YamatoTwinkie](#): > > > [@Keeve](#): > > > > What I still don’t understand is this: If the material they use for attaching the dust is so strong, why not just use that for the drill bit? Why bother with the diamond dust at all? Is it just marketing? > > If the plastic handle they use to attach a steel knife blade to is so strong, why not just use that for the knife blade? Why bother with steel at all? Is it just marketing? Why don’t they make the whole plane out of the stuff the ‘black box’ is made of? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/24 "2010-09-16T22:41:24Z")
The roads aren’t wide enough - Cecil covered it in a [column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/909/if-aircraft-black-boxes-are-indestructible-why-cant-the-whole-plane-be-made-from-the-same-material) some time ago. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/25 "2010-09-17T01:19:26Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The roads aren’t wide enough - Cecil covered it in a [column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/909/if-aircraft-black-boxes-are-indestructible-why-cant-the-whole-plane-be-made-from-the-same-material) some time ago. Ignorance fought. Now I have to cancel all that black box material I ordered. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/26 "2010-09-17T13:14:49Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > While we’re at it, carbide tools are made of silicon carbide, a material very similar to diamond (basically, diamond with half the carbon atoms replaced by silicon). It’s not quite as hard as diamond, but it’s still pretty hard, and much cheaper and easier to make tools out of. > > I don’t think so. > Most drills are actually tipped with Tungsten Carbide. Silicon Carbide is much too brittle, and can’t be brazed like WC can. Tungsten carbide drills? What the bloody hell are tungsten carbide drills? ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/27 "2010-09-17T13:39:02Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > > [@beowulff](#): > > > > I don’t think so. > > Most drills are actually tipped with Tungsten Carbide. Silicon Carbide is much too brittle, and can’t be brazed like WC can. > > Tungsten carbide drills? What the bloody hell are tungsten carbide drills? Drills where the cutting edge is made of a tungsten carbide. Very hard stuff, and keeps a great edge. Goes through plain old steel like butter. Most of the bit is tool steel.. Just the edge is tungsten carbide. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/28 "2010-09-17T13:45:59Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > > [@muldoonthief](#): > > > > Tungsten carbide drills? What the bloody hell are tungsten carbide drills? > > Drills where the cutting edge is made of a tungsten carbide. Very hard stuff, and keeps a great edge. Goes through plain old steel like butter. Most of the bit is tool steel.. Just the edge is tungsten carbide. “Drills where the cutting edge is made of a tungsten carbide” ? You’ve bloody fancy talk since you left London. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/29 "2010-09-17T13:46:29Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > What I still don’t understand is this: If the material they use for attaching the dust is so strong, why not just use that for the drill bit? Why bother with the diamond dust at all? Is it just marketing? Aside from the other replies let me point out that the bonding agent in the electroplating process I described is pure nickel, not even a very strong material. They also occasionally used cobalt although I never knew why. I don’t know where the diamond dust came from, but back in the 60s, white dust cost about $5 a carat, $25 a gram, $750 an ounce. But it didn’t take much. There were other drills made without diamonds and I think they were tungsten carbide. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/30 "2010-09-17T14:08:59Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > > [@muldoonthief](#): > > > > Tungsten carbide drills? What the bloody hell are tungsten carbide drills? > > Drills where the cutting edge is made of a tungsten carbide. Very hard stuff, and keeps a great edge. Goes through plain old steel like butter. Most of the bit is tool steel.. Just the edge is tungsten carbide. I have many micro drill and miller bits made entirely out of tungsten carbide, they go through anything but you just drop them on the floor and they snap in pieces. That’s why your normal drill bits are not made entirely out of that material. That and it’s bloody expensive too. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426/31 "2010-09-20T07:07:10Z")
I’m very glad that my tungsten carbide wedding ring isn’t diamond-tipped. Can you imagine the damage it would do when I move it up and then out of my nose? Click [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=209087) if you think I’m posting on acid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-are-diamond-tipped-drill-bits/553426.md?page=1)