Starborn Industries Smart-Bit Pro Plug System Countersink Drill Bit Tool for Wood Decks, Flooring, and Woodworking

Bought these for plugging an Ipe deck. They work well but the carbide teeth will wear out and you’ll notice little “heat rings” around the holes. That’s how you know it’s time to swap out. If I had to do the project again I would use this product again.

The tool makes it super easy to drill and countersink holes for the Pro-Plug system.I liked it so much that I even adapted it to drill and countersink some other holes that didn’t need to be so deep. I just made a spacer out of some large washers and taped them together so the countersink went to the desired depth. Worked like a charm.

The Pro Plug system works well and definitely speeds up a deck installation. I used it for 3 decks on my home.. I was using Brazilian Cumaru which is hard on the Pro Plug tool. I went through 2 tools and about 12 bits. The bits seem to break for no obvious reason. It is also necessary to sharpen the plug hole cutting tool as it will go dull on very hard wood and become hard to drill. Be sure to use a corded drill with strong power. Also, the directions recommend a rubber or hard plastic headed mallet to pound in the plugs. I tried that method, but it is much easier to use a regular metal hammer or the plugs do not go in far enough requiring too much sanding.

As others have said, the drill bit is junk & breaks easily. Unfortunately, a good job ends far too quickly. Cool off hot bit with water between drills but drill bit will still break, poor quality for sure. When it breaks below the counter sink bit there's no getting it out to replace with a new one. I bought 6 of these for a job that should have taken one or two. As others have sad, instead of going into debt over these things pre-drill with a quality 1/8" bit and use counter sink to finish the hole for screw or else you'll go broke buying new ones. Good tool but cheap bits!

Honestly, it's garbage. I bought this to be used with the Sanborn pro plug plugs for composite decking. Not only does the counter sink dull out after several holes, it turns out each countersunk hole is too large in diameter to fit the pro plug plugs that are supposed to go along as part of the system. So now I have over 200 holes that can't be filled. Just trash.

This device is great for countersinking the hidden screws and leaving enough space for a dowel/plug to be inserted to hide the screw used. The only problem was that the length of the bit does not match the length of the screws in the Pro-Plug kit, so if used with very hard wood as the 'base' the hole should be lengthened with another bit or the screw will bend or break.

This is a great time saver when putting in a deck. The depth stop doesn't spin like a regular drill stop would. So no spin marks on the boards.

I ordered 6 of these based on reviews saying they quickly broke/lost sharpness. We ended up using 3 for about 1000 sq fr of decking (Cumaru). My contractor was happy with them. The plugs fit fine.