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• The cutting end of a bit meant for a hammer drill looks quite similar to an ordinary masonry bit. The tungsten carbide insert may be a bit thicker.

• A long bit like this is good for drilling through 8 inch (200mm) cinderblock walls.

• Long SDS masonry bit.

• Very long SDS masonry bit.

• Masonry bits tend to be longer than bits meant for steel, because a lot of people have 8-inch (200mm) thick concrete, brick, or cinderblock walls, but very few people have 8-inch thick steel walls.

• Long masonry bit.

• Drilling through glass or fine-grained porcelain calls for a tungsten carbide spear-point drill. They come in two-flute and four-flute varieties.

• These bits are optimized for cutting glass or fine-grained porcelain.

• Masonry bits come with widely different styles of flutes.

• Masonry bits rely on a chunk of extremely hard tungsten carbide brazed to the tip of a steel shank.

• Carbide Glass Drills

• 4-flute glass cutting bit

• This expensive tungsten carbide bit is designed to cut through concrete with embedded reinforcing bars (typically ½” - ¾”, 12-18mm, thick steel). For steel you want a sharp bit, for concrete you want a blunt bit, so this is a tough combination to get through.

• I got these ordinarily very expensive carbide-tipped hole saws at an auction. This was fortunate because shortly thereafter I needed to drill a sizable hole through the very hard bricks on my house.

• Every home should have a few of these masonry bits.

• Masonry Bits

• Even though concrete is very hard, drilling it actually takes less force than cutting steel, because you can chip away at it a bit at a time. A huge bit like this can be driven by a small, handheld electric drill (note the small diameter shank).

• This is the core left after drilling a hole through a brick on my house using a carbide-tipped hole saw.

• Long masonry bits.

Do you have a better example of this kind of tool? Let me know by leaving a comment, and include a picture of it if you can so everyone can see!