drilling hardened steel

T

TNutter

Joined
Jul 12, 2021
Messages
11
Hi guys, new to knife making and first post. first off let me say im loving the hobby and im currently half way through my first knife.
ive anealed a file, and so far so good, ive got to the point where i need to drill the pin holes in my handle and scales, yet the steel is still to hard
to drill with a hand drill and standard drill bits, and im a little weary of taking a tourch to the handle incase i ruin the blade hardening.
does anyone have any advice on how to drill a couple holes without ruining the knife blade hardeneing

Thanks in advance guys
Thomas Nutter......(yes that is my real name lol)
 
Ceramic tile drill bits are cheap and will easy drill hole in hardened steel.
But your post is little unclear to me . You say that you annealed file .....then you say that you don t want to ruin the blade hardening ? IF file is annealed you have not hard blade ? Maybe you tempered file to lose some hardness ? That would make sence ?
 
Hi thanks for the reply, your correct im still getting used to the termanoligy, i tempered the file in the oven, not annealed it, ill get straight on to some ceramic bits now, thanks again for the speedy reply :)
 
yea i figured that lol, ive ordered some carbide bits and i have a drill press at work....im currently on the scout for a small bench drill press for the home shop too, exciting times :)
 
Drilling into hardened steel is generally something you just don't do. When people make knives out of files, you usually anneal/deharden it first, then make the profile shape + drill the holes. Then you choose if you want to grind the bevels before or after heat treatment, depending a bit on the exact project. I didn't quite understand how you ended up in this situation, did you forget to drill the holes before hardening and tempering?

Try your luck with those ceramic bits, but it sounds to me like you're in for a pretty rough night. What you can also do is use a blowtorch or welding torch to just deharden only the spots on the tang where you want to drill the holes, without getting the blade hot.
 
Dr Heelhook said:
I didn't quite understand how you ended up in this situation, did you forget to drill the holes before hardening and tempering?
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i started off with a hardened file and tempered it in the oven to make it slightly more managable, i dont want to soften the blade fully yet as i havent the ability to reharden it, (small knife forge is on the list of next purchases), i do have the ability to blow torch the handle and soften it but i run the risk of over heating the knife and ruining the hardness that i have on the blade, i hope that makes sence lol
 
Dr Heelhook said:
Drilling into hardened steel is generally something you just don't do.

Try your luck with those ceramic bits, but it sounds to me like you're in for a pretty rough night.
Click to expand...
I make so far maybe more then 50 knives from M2 , M35 and M42 HSS steel .Hardness from 64 to over 67 Rockwell .I drill many hole in them for pins with drill bits for ceramic tile .And you know what ? I don t drill hole even in other knife i make .I drill them after hardening knife . Drilling that holes was more easy then drilling hole with HSS dril bits in annealed steel .....
All parts for this folder you see on picture are from M2 steel and all are 64 Rockwell :)
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These are from 5mm thick M2 steel , again around 64 hrc
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I was going to say use carbide bits, but you've already got that covered.

My other piece of advice (in case you already didn't know) is to drill using slow speed on the drill press. The slowest speed on my press is 620 RPM and I've used it many times to drill hardened steel with carbide drill bits. A little slower than that might be even better if your press at work goes slower.

Cooling fluid/oil is also a good idea to prevent overheating (although I don't always use it).
 
I didn't know that a vise would be able to do that job: Thanks! 👍
 
Carbide is the way to go. I have a few myself for when I forget to drill something or if I change my plans.
 
I use either accu drills(straight flute carbide) or I will plunge an on side carbide 4 flute end mill in a Bridgeport.
 
A quick way to drill through harded steel if you need to enlarge pin holes or add more etc. Is to use a masonry drill bit normally used forbbricks nothing to expensive they all pretty much have tungsten carbide tips and they only survive a few uses especially if the blades are over HRC 60. I spent a whole day going back and forth to the hardware store years ago buying different types of drill bits trying to enlarge holes in Nitro-V blanks with zero success and a heap of blunt bits. Didn't think masonry bits would work but they went through instantly.
 
Kraken82 said:
A quick way to drill through harded steel if you need to enlarge pin holes or add more etc. Is to use a masonry drill bit normally used forbbricks nothing to expensive they all pretty much have tungsten carbide tips and they only survive a few uses especially if the blades are over HRC 60. I spent a whole day going back and forth to the hardware store years ago buying different types of drill bits trying to enlarge holes in Nitro-V blanks with zero success and a heap of blunt bits. Didn't think masonry bits would work but they went through instantly.
Click to expand...
They work even better if you sharpen them with a diamond stone...
 
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