DRILL BITS WITH BEARING ELEMENTS FOR REDUCING EXPOSURE OF CUTTERS

A bearing element for a rotary, earth boring drag bit effectively reduces an exposure of at least one adjacent cutting element by a readily predictable amount, as well as a depth-of-cut (DOC) of the cutter. The bearing element has a substantially uniform thickness across substantially an entire area thereof. The bearing element also limits the amount of unit force applied to a formation so that the formation does not fail. The bearing element may prevent damage to cutters associated therewith, as well as possibly limit problems associated with bit balling, motor stalling and related drilling difficulties. Bits including the bearing elements, molds for forming the bearing elements and portions of bodies of bits that carry the bearing elements, methods for designing and fabricating the bearing elements and bits including the same, and methods for drilling subterranean formations are also disclosed.