If you've bought a box of drill bits in the last decade, there's a good chance some of them were split point and some weren't, and you used them interchangeably without thinking much about it. That works fine until you're drilling something that shows you exactly why geometry matters.
Split point is one of those features that sounds like marketing until a bit without it walks across your work or buries itself in heat-hardened stainless. Here's what's actually going on.
A conventional drill bit has a chisel edge at the center of the point. This chisel edge doesn't cut — it scrapes and pushes material out of the way through brute force. It's the reason you sometimes need center punch marks to keep a bit from wandering at the start of a hole: the chisel edge is trying to walk before the cutting lips engage.
A split point grinds away most of that chisel edge and creates two additional small cutting edges that meet in the middle. The result is a tip that actually cuts across its full width right from contact, instead of having a dead zone in the center.
This changes a few things:
Split point bits usually come with a 135° included angle. Conventional bits typically run 118°. This matters more than the split point feature on many materials.
118° is the traditional general-purpose angle. Sharper point, more aggressive penetration on softer materials. Good for wood, soft aluminum, and mild steel when you're drilling at low surface speeds.
135° is flatter, which distributes cutting force more evenly across the lips. This makes it better for hard materials, stainless, and tough alloys. The flatter angle also self-centers more effectively — when combined with the split point, a 135° bit on stainless or hardened steel will out-perform a 118° conventional point almost every time.
Where 135° costs you: starting in soft aluminum or wood at high speed, the flatter angle can produce slightly more burring at entry. Not a problem for most applications, just worth knowing.
Drilling without a punch mark. If you're doing production work where center-punching every hole location would kill your cycle time, split point lets you skip it on most materials.
Stainless and hard alloys. This is where split point pays for itself. Conventional bits in stainless work-harden the surface with every chisel edge scrape. The split point gets cutting lips engaged immediately, which means less rubbing, less heat buildup, and less chance of the hardened layer defeating your bit.
Sheet metal and thin stock. The self-centering behavior matters a lot when there's nothing below the work to stabilize the bit. Walking on a thin sheet with a conventional bit tears the entry hole.
CNC and production drilling. Any time you're drilling the same location repeatedly and cycle time matters, the reduced thrust and self-centering of split point adds up across a run.
In soft, forgiving materials at low speeds — mild steel with a punch mark, wood, soft aluminum — you're not going to notice a meaningful difference. Conventional 118° bits work fine and tend to cost less. If your shop runs mostly mild steel layout work and you've already got a pile of conventional bits that are sharp, there's no reason to replace them.
Split points require a more complex grind than conventional bits. The additional cutting edges at the center need to be restored accurately or the self-centering benefit disappears — you just end up with a bit that looks like it has a split point but performs like it doesn't.
When you send split point bits for resharpening, make sure your service can actually restore the split point geometry, not just grind a basic cone. We restore split points as part of standard resharpening. A bit that comes back from resharpening without its split point restored is a bit that came back half-done.
Split point drill bits cut across their full diameter from first contact, which reduces walking, lowers required thrust, and makes them significantly better in hard materials and thin stock. The 135° angle that usually comes with them adds to that advantage in hard materials. For production work, stainless, or anything where you want to skip the center punch — split point is the right choice. For general mild steel and soft material work, conventional 118° still does the job.
If you're sending in a mix of split point and conventional bits for resharpening, note which is which so the geometry gets restored correctly.
SEND US YOUR DRILLS →