Sourcing drill bits and saw blades from China

Duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 25 September 2026, masonry drills, high speed steel drills for metal, diamond-tipped drills, milling tools and other interchangeable tools carried 0% duty on goods from China, while circular saw blades, with a steel working part or other including diamond segments, carried 2%. No line carried an anti-dumping measure. For gear-cutting tools, see our guide to sourcing gear hobs.

A mixed accessory kit may be classified as a set or as its separate items, so confirm the commodity code for the way it is packed.

What makes a bit or blade good

Drill bits are sold on the material: plain high speed steel, cobalt alloys for hard metals, carbide tips for masonry. Specify the grade, the hardness after heat treatment, the point angle and any coating, and test samples on the materials your customers drill. The shank matters as much as the tip: straight, hex, and the SDS systems used by rotary hammers have to fit UK tools. For broach purchasing specifications, see our metalworking broaches sourcing guide.

For saw blades, specify the diameter, bore, tooth count and tooth grade, and for diamond blades the segment height and bond. Every blade should carry its maximum operating speed, and it must be above the speed of the tools it is sold for; check the marking at inspection.

Packaging and sets

Accessories are sold on the peg or in cases, so the packaging is half the product: blister cards, cases that close, and sizes marked on each bit. Agree the artwork and case quality with the factory, and check that the sizes in the case match the labels.

The hand tools and fixings guide covers running an own-brand accessory range alongside hand tools, and the power tools guide the tools themselves. For countersink accessories, see our countersink bit sourcing guide. For screwdriver accessories, see our screwdriver bit sourcing guide. For adjustable spanners in your hand tool range, see our adjustable spanner sourcing guide. For knives in your hand tool range, see our retractable utility knife sourcing guide. For plastering tools in your range, see our plastering trowel sourcing guide. For glass-handling tools in your range, see our manual glass suction lifter sourcing guide. For knife replacement accessories, see our snap-off blade sourcing guide.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: 10,000 carbide-tipped circular saw blades, commodity code 8202 39 00 00, bought for £35,000 free on board, with £2,000 of freight and insurance, so £37,000 is the value customs works from. Duty at the 2% rate for carbide-tipped saw blades is £740. VAT at 20% applies to £37,740, so £7,548. A VAT-registered buyer usually recovers the VAT, so the border adds £740 to the landed cost. Drill bits and milling cutters of heading 8207 would pay 0% on the same value. See calculating UK import duty and VAT for the method.

Inspection checklist

Dimensions: measure diameter, flute and overall length of twist drills against ISO 235 for jobber drills, and carbide-tipped masonry and SDS drills against ISO 5468, on bits from every size in the range, and check the size marked on each bit matches.

Steel and hardness: ask for the high speed steel grade, such as HS6-5-2 to ISO 4957, and check it by spectrometer on samples, then measure hardness by Rockwell to ISO 6508-1 on bodies from several heat-treatment batches.

Blades and packs: measure diameter, bore and tooth count against the drawing, check body flatness against a straight edge and tooth grind angles on a profile projector, and check blister cards, cases and barcodes against the approved artwork.

What goes wrong

Drill bits and blades fail on hardness, brazing and runout. Bits and cutters heat-treated too soft go blunt in the first holes, while over-hard ones snap, carbide teeth on saw blades are poorly brazed and fly off at speed, and blades run out of true so cuts wander and vibrate. Blades lack the maximum speed and dimensions marking required for woodworking tools, and sets arrive with sizes mismarked or cases that do not close.

Measure hardness on samples from every batch, test braze strength on saw teeth and check that each blade is marked with its maximum speed and dimensions to BS EN 847-1, check runout and flatness on an arbor, drill or cut test material and compare against the approved sample, and check size markings, cases and blister packs.

Consistency across batches

The complaint that ends accessory ranges is inconsistency: one batch lasts, the next goes blunt. Ask for hardness readings with each batch and test a sample from every shipment against the approved sample.

Cambridge China Bridge sources own-brand drill bits, saw blades and tool accessories to a written specification, with batch testing and packaging checked before shipment. See how our sourcing service works.