I need some drill bits. Mine are junk. What’s your choice?

G

godogs57

Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
754
Been using “Jobber” bits from Fastenall all these years and they’ve done ok. Still Chinese stuff of course. Now they are dull and we lost our bit sharpener gentleman in our small town. Drill Doctor doesn’t work good either.

I’ve been thinking about cobalt bits and have been researching the subject a bit. Seems the hardware brand cobalt bits (China, India, Mexico) are all 5% cobalt whereas the good stuff is 8%…not available around the corner at your local hardware store. Apparently the 3% difference is significant.

I was drilling handle cutouts to lighten the blades this morning and the blades won the fight…big time. Fully annealed steel…no heat treat yet of course. Two brand new Milwaukee cobalt bits from Ace were just pathetic. The blades just ate them for breakfast.

Blade forum Illuminati, what do you guys use?
 
Learn to sharpen them on the bench grinder. Makes a world of difference. You can choose your own angles, relief, web, etc. touch ups take seconds to do. I rarely buy bits because I just sharpen mine as needed

May not be the answer your looking for....
 
What steel are you drilling? I have used many HSS bits from Ace and they have all worked fairly well. Maybe issue is your drilling practices and not the bits.
 
I was drilling annealed files today. Small bits for the mosaic pin holes worked fine. Bigger bits for lightening the handle didnt
 
What type of drill were you using, hand, drill press, mill drill, mill?

Did you drill a starter hole?

What diameter holes were you drilling?

What RPM?

Did you use lubricant and/or cutting fluid?

Chuck
 
I use Cobalt bits from Rocky Mountain Twist. Machine screw bits for steel and jobber bits for handle material.
 
I use cobalt bits, too. Like many other shop supplies, all cobalt bits are nor equal. I got mine from Amazon - search MACXCIOP Cobalt Drill Bit Set, 115 Pcs. M35 High Speed Bits for hard metals.
 
Agree with AVigil AVigil ....I buy Drill Hog cobalt by the multi-pack for common sizes (1/8",3/16", 1/4", 3/8"). Cheap enough, made in the states, never had trouble with performance at all. Had one with runout in one shipment...replaced with no questions asked.
 
Alpha Knife Supply said:
What type of drill were you using, hand, drill press, mill drill, mill?

Did you drill a starter hole?

What diameter holes were you drilling?

What RPM?

Did you use lubricant and/or cutting fluid?

Chuck
Click to expand...
Dress press at 300-350 rpm. Drilling half inch holes. Usually a snap for me. I use cutting fluid religiously.
 
godogs57 said:
Dress press at 300-350 rpm. Drilling half inch holes. Usually a snap for me. I use cutting fluid religiously.
Click to expand...
300 is probably a little fast for your set up and it’s possible you’re burning the drill. Cut that number in half and you may get along better.

That and a split point drill if you don’t have one already.
 
The normal black oxide Hss-r bits are fine for any steel we use, with the right machine and technique.
Hss-co are even better though, of course.
 
Cobalt for me too. I use Norseman from usaknifemaker, but I also use bits from McMaster Car and even some dewalt bits from Lowes. The bits from harbor freight were (as expected) crap. One thing I noticed is if you are drilling anything larger than say, 1/4 inch, it helps if you step up in size. (1/4, 5/16, 3/8....).
 
Contender Machine said:
300 is probably a little fast for your set up and it’s possible you’re burning the drill. Cut that number in half and you may get along better.

That and a split point drill if you don’t have one already.
Click to expand...
I’m going to slow it down. Drill press needs two new belts. I’ll get them today and be back in business.

Backyard said:
Learn to sharpen them on the bench grinder. Makes a world of difference. You can choose your own angles, relief, web, etc. touch ups take seconds to do. I rarely buy bits because I just sharpen mine as needed

May not be the answer your looking for....
Click to expand...
Backyard, I need to learn how to do this. I’ve not met a single person who could do this correctly. Bet YouTube has a few videos. I’ll be practicing on some of my bad bits.
 
A big improvement for a drill press is to change the motor to either 3-phase or DC. Add a matching controller and it is now VS. This allows slowing it down or speeding it up with the twist of a dial.
For most of knifemaking purposes a 3/4HP motor will work fine.
The 1KW VFDs are now around $60-70. 3/4HP 3-PH motors can be found for $50-70.
You can sometimes find DC motors and controllers very cheap.
You want a standard frame motor that will fit the foot plate on the drill press. Usually, 56C with foot plate.
On a drill press, you do not necessarily need a TEFC motor. OF will work fine.

You can also add an RPM readout with a cheap tachometer kit. Those Hall Proximity tachs are less than $20 now.

The above improvements can be done on many shop tools - band saws, lathes, sanders, buffers, etc.
You can use one VFD to run several tools if they are close to each other ... or make the VFD plug-and-play to move from machine to machine.
 
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