Filling the hole the Powerbore left in the toolbox

You can find spade bits anywhere, but for a neat and smooth hole, who would want them? They scrape and stick and they blow out the other side. Stanley Tools used to make a terrific drill bit they called a Powerbore. It had a long sharp point, and it cut with a sharp rim spur and a radial lip for lifting the chips out of the hole. This geometry is like a Forstner bit, which cabinetmakers prefer for drilling precisely when boring a mortise once they've carved a tenon.

Well, Stanley stopped making Powerbores, for whatever dumb reason, leaving those of us who owned and loved them to protect our sets like they were family heirlooms. Not the tools you’d lend to your clumsy neighbor.

Now the good folks at Lee Valley have developed a very similar piece they call the Greenwood bit. The $60 set of 6 cuts with the same long, sharp point as the old Powerbore, though the Greenwoods are beefier than their somewhat fragile predecessors. The long tip is key, as it guides the bit on a straight path through the wood, and also helps you avoid any splintering on the exit side. Here's the drill: you keep a finger an eye on the back side of the work, until you see the point just breaking the surface. Then you withdraw the bit and complete the hole by drilling from the back side.