Which Hole Saw Brand Wins?
We compared 14 hole saw options head to head. MK Morse came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
MK Morse
Price shown in test: $8.45
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Milwaukee Hole Dozer
Price shown in test: $9.84
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Teeth | Made In | Hardness | Mild steel cut time | Mild steel hole accuracy | Hard steel (1095 knife blade) cut time | AR500 armor plate result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1MK Morse$8.45 | 9 carbide tip teeth | USA | not scratched by a number nine Mohs pick, very high quality carbide | 24 seconds, 1 second slower than Irwin, wider path than Irwin's teeth, 2 carbide teeth damaged | hole looked a little cleaner and was slightly more accurate than Irwin's, no exact fraction given | 24 seconds, took the lead from Irwin, best chip dispersal yet | ran out of steam after about a minute (60 seconds), did not cut as deep as NGE, most teeth still in great shape |
| 2Milwaukee Hole Dozer$9.84 | 13 teeth | USA with global materials | around an 8 on the Mohs pick scale | 25 seconds, only 2 seconds slower than Irwin, very minor wear on 2 teeth | quality of cut very good, hole size 1 and 3/128 inch | 38 seconds, good chip management but not quite as good as Morse | stopped making progress after about 10 seconds, went a little deeper than Irwin, teeth dulled but in better shape than Irwin's |
| 3Irwin$8.42 | 14 teeth, bimetal, no mandrel included | not tested | around an 8 on the Mohs pick scale | 23 seconds, tied with DeWalt Carbide for fastest at that stage, only a couple teeth showed visible wear | extremely fast but hole quality did not look very good, size about 3/64 inch too large | 30 seconds, managed metal shavings well | stopped making progress after about 10 seconds, armor plating was too much for it, all teeth ended up pretty dull |
| 4NGE$7.99 | 5 teeth, carbide, includes the mandrel | China | scratched by a number eight Mohs pick, not high quality carbide by the host's standard | 35 seconds, one carbide tooth experienced a little damage | pretty decent, hole size just under 1 inch | 36 seconds, managed chips well, no compressed air needed | did not fully cut through the work hardened armor, but almost drilled all the way through, best depth of the bimetal/entry-level saws; 4 of 5 carbide teeth had mild to moderate damage |
| 5Bosch HB100$10.45 | 13 teeth, bimetal, no mandrel | packaging claims USA, Switzerland, or China; the actual hole saw itself is stamped made in China | around an 8 on the Mohs pick scale, same as Milwaukee Hole Dozer | 48 seconds, started fast but slowed about 15 seconds in, held up about the same as Irwin | very clean cut, only 1 and 1/128 inch over an inch, extremely good job | 29 seconds, only 5 seconds slower than Morse, great chip displacement | stopped making progress after about 10 seconds, best of the three bimetal saws (beat Milwaukee Hole Dozer and Irwin) |
| 6Lenox$10.98 | 13 teeth, bimetal, includes the mandrel | USA with global materials | around an 8 on the Mohs pick scale | 29 seconds, held up really well with only minor tooth wear | very good, only over by 1/64 inch | 1 minute 17 seconds (77 seconds), did not disperse metal chips as well as some other brands | stopped making progress after about 5 seconds, performed about the same as Irwin, all teeth showed significant dulling |
| 7DeWalt 2X 2X$10.99 | 14 teeth, bimetal, no mandrel | USA with global materials | around an 8 on the Mohs pick scale | 39 seconds, lost momentum about halfway through, only minor tooth wear | quality of finish looked very good, described as extremely accurate, no exact fraction given | 140 seconds (2 minutes 20 seconds), does not displace chips as efficiently as some other brands despite being a terrific hole saw | unlike the other bimetal saws, continued cutting after 10 seconds and did not slow until around 25 seconds, did as well as Morse for a bimetal, teeth ended up in better condition than the other bimetal saws |
| 8TCT Carbide$12.88 | 6 teeth, includes the mandrel | China | between an 8 and a 9 on the Mohs pick scale | 30 seconds, only minor visible wear on one tooth | very nice looking finish, precision impressive, only off by 1/128 inch | 35 seconds, terrific chip displacement | cut well over a minute before stopping, best result up to that point in the video, almost made it all the way through, 4 of 5 teeth remained in very good condition |
| 9Diablo$14.85 | 8 teeth, tooth hardness around a 9, no mandrel included, requires the Snap-Lock Plus mandrel | assembled in China with Swiss components | not tested | 31 seconds, got stuck several times slowing it down slightly, teeth still had paint on them and looked as good as new | fairly fast but quality of cut not quite as good as some other brands, size off by about 1 and 7/128 inch | 34 seconds, wide tooth path like NGE and TCT | shredded the armor plating for nearly 2 minutes before stopping, the best AR500 result in the whole video, better than TCT, about two thirds of teeth still in very good condition |
| 10DeWalt Carbide Carbide$39.43 | 4 teeth, includes the mandrel | Taiwan | not scratched by a number nine Mohs pick, very high quality carbide | 23 seconds, tied with Irwin for fastest, briefly got stuck at the start, no visible chipping or wear, looked as good as new | finish definitely the best yet at that point in the video, extremely accurate | 25 seconds, terrific chip displacement despite a wider path than the bimetal saws | started off very strong, gradually lost momentum; host calls it the best hole saw for mild and medium steel, but all four carbide teeth broke on the AR500 armor plate |
| 11Drill Hog USA$39.99 | 4 teeth, includes the mandrel | not tested | not scratched by a number nine Mohs pick, very high quality carbide | 30 seconds, held up really well | extremely smooth cut, only 1/128 inch over an inch | great chip displacement like DeWalt Carbide, but the transcript's number is garbled: 'it wasn't quite as fast as the DeWalt at seconds' drops the actual seconds value, so this figure is omitted rather than guessed | started off very strong like DeWalt Carbide, gradually lost momentum, did not quite cut all the way through but did better than DeWalt Carbide, all four teeth experienced some damage |
| 12DeWalt Impact Ready Impact Ready$15.41 | 30 teeth | USA with global materials | around an 8 on the Mohs pick scale | 39 seconds, did not start off as strong as some other brands given its high tooth count, only minor tooth wear | smoothness of the cut probably the best yet at that point in the video, hole size 1 and 3/128 inch | 44 seconds, struggled with chip displacement and needed compressed air assistance several times | not tested |
| 13Milwaukee Shockwave Impact Ready$18.57 | 24 teeth, includes the mandrel | Taiwan | between a 7 and an 8 on the Mohs pick scale | did not finish; started strong, stopped making progress around 30 seconds, eliminated and did not advance to the hard steel or AR500 tests | did not quite finish the cut, but was very close | not tested | not tested |
| 14generic 5-piece hole saw kit$14.69 | 17 teeth, includes its own mandrel | China | only a 6 on the Mohs pick scale, far softer than the other brands | 2 minutes 35 seconds (155 seconds), all teeth showed more wear than the other brands tested up to that point | extremely slow but provided a very clean finish, hole size 1 and 1/128 inch | did a poor job displacing chips and was unable to cut through the steel, effectively eliminated | not tested |
How it was tested
- cut time and tooth wear through 3/16 inch mild steel at 250 RPM and about 85 lb of downward force
- hole size and finish accuracy on the mild steel cut, measured against the nominal 1 inch diameter
- cut time and chip dispersal through hardened 1095 knife blade steel with cutting oil and extra downward force
- cut depth, progress, and tooth condition attempting to cut through AR500 armor plating
- Mohs hardness pick scratch test on each hole saw's teeth or carbide
“All three of the brands that I really liked are under $10 and performed very well especially the US made Morse brand with the carbide teeth. It did an amazing job averaging number one for cutting speed on the first two types of steel that we tested.”
Data notes and caveats
14 distinct hole saw brands are tested (matching the host's opening line 'we've got 14 brands to test'), but the video description's prose brand list and its affiliate link list both name only 12, omitting NGE and an unbranded generic 5-piece kit entirely even though both are fully tested with price, tooth count, and hardness data; flagged in those two products' notes rather than assumed to be errors. Two brands are eliminated partway through: Milwaukee Shockwave (impact ready) failed to finish the first mild steel cut and does not appear again, and the unbranded generic kit failed to cut through the hard steel test and likewise does not appear in the AR500 test, though no explicit skip statement was given for it. DeWalt Impact Ready is explicitly excluded from the AR500 test on camera because its arbor and drill are a single integrated unit, a genuine stated omission, not a caption gap. One brand mislabel was resolved by testing order: a hard steel test sentence names 'the DeWalt Shockwave' at 44 seconds, which cannot be Milwaukee Shockwave since that product was already eliminated, so the time was assigned to DeWalt Impact Ready by subject continuity. Drill Hog's hard steel cut time is missing from the transcript due to an apparent dropped number ('wasn't quite as fast as the DeWalt at seconds') and is recorded as omitted rather than guessed. The closing verdict names three liked brands, all under 10 dollars (MK Morse, Milwaukee Hole Dozer, Irwin), explicitly framed as a value message even though more expensive brands (Diablo, TCT Carbide, DeWalt Carbide, Drill Hog) scored as well or better on the hard steel and AR500 tests; winner and runnerUp are set to the top two of that closing list, with Irwin as the third liked brand documented in its own notes since the schema has no third slot.