nestork wrote:

Pete:

I'm sorry to say that the angles at the front of a masonry bit are
oriented in entirely the wrong direction to "CUT" into the masonry.

There's no magic here. If a masonry drill bit were intended to "cut"
into masonry much the same way a twist drill bit cuts into wood, the
masonry drill bit would be designed and shaped very much like a twist
drill bit, except perhaps having much harder cutting edges which
wouldn't wear down. But, the tip of the bit is not similar to a twist
drill bit at all. It's entirely the wrong shape to CUT. It is,
however, the right shape to BASH something.

In my view, rotating that forward facing tip against the masonry would
only serve to make it duller than it already is.

However, I can easily visualize how having a forward facing tip on the
drill bit and hammering that tip against the masonry in front of the bit
would pulverize the masonry in front of the tip into dust. And, I also
note that the flutes on a masonry bit are designed much the same as
those on a twist drill bit, so I expect the purpose of the flutes is
undoubtedly to remove the dust created at the front of the bit. It
seems to me that the masonry bit is ideally designed to batter a hole in
masonry, not cut a hole as you claim.

Perhaps we should just agree to disagree on this one?

Perhaps see if Hilti has a whitepaper or something on their site, they
are the experts on this stuff.