W.L. Fuller
Drill bits and countersinks for wood, countersinks, brad point drills, taper point drills, plug cutters, step drills
Philosophy
Every W.L. Fuller tool is designed to cut, not scrape. Using premium American-made M2 High-Speed Steel, the company produces professional-grade drilling tools for craftsmen who demand a clean, splinter-free hole on the first pass.
History
Warren L. Fuller Sr. sold Hudsons in the 1930s in Warwick, Rhode Island. On weekends, he built plywood boats. A hobby that became an obsession when he realized that commercial countersinks didn't do the job. Too many burrs, irregular holes, and wood splitting around the screws. He decided to make his own.
What could have remained a garage project became a business. Fuller began selling his countersinks to Rhode Island shipyards, then to local woodworkers. Word of mouth did the rest. The quality spoke for itself: clean holes, no need for rework, in any type of wood. Cabinetmakers, marine carpenters, and then luthiers came knocking at the door.
It was his son, Warren Jr., who transformed the business in the 1950s. The innovation came from a single gesture: angling the flutes of the countersink. Before him, countersinks scraped the wood. After him, they cut it. The difference might seem subtle on paper, but in practice, it's night and day. A hole countersunk by a Fuller tool is clean, splinter-free, and ready to receive a screw without any touch-up.
Steel matters too. W.L. Fuller uses American-made M2 High-Speed Steel (HSS), while most competitors settle for imported carbon steel. M2 holds its edge longer, handles heat better, and is more forgiving of user error - a detail that only a cabinetmaker drilling two hundred holes a day can fully appreciate.
Warwick didn't become a tool hub by accident. Rhode Island was historically home to New England's hardware and screw manufacturers, an industrial tradition dating back to the 19th century. Fuller is part of this heritage, but one of the last to remain. Others have offshored or closed.
Today, three generations of Fullers work together in the same factory. The catalog has expanded: brad point drills, Taper Point conical drills that have become a reference for cabinetmakers and luthiers, plug cutters, and step drills. But the heart of the business remains the countersink, the tool that started it all in the boat workshop.
A detail that connoisseurs notice: the orange packaging. Legend has it that Fuller Sr. picked up a lot of surplus paint after World War II. The color stayed. Like everything else.