[AT] Drill bits for drilling our old tractor steel and iron.

[John Hall]

I've been buying all our tooling at work for the last 25 years (I'm in a 
job shop style machine shop with 20 people).
For drills 1/2" and under we run cobalt--whether its in a hand drill, 
manual machine, or in our CNC machines. The ones I am stocking now are 
made by Nachi. I have also used PTD, Greenfield, whatever name brand you 
can find. I suggest anyone needing drills for the home shop to look at a 
basic set of jobber length drills from MSC (look them up on line). Their 
Made in USA grade should be sufficient--the last time I suggested this 
one of you guys arrogantly suggested of course they would be. Most 
tooling is NOT produced in the US, don't know why some of you think that 
only American made cutting tools are the way to go. Having said that, I 
stay away from no name imports---its junk. Also, you don't need any 
special coatings for your home grade drill bits. Bright finish or black 
oxide is fine. Regarding resharpening, its not cost effective on small 
tools in a paid environment. We toss anything that's under 5/16", gets 
broke, burnt up, or has a damaged shank. Larger drills we sharpen in 
house usually--on a floor model drill sharpener. Over 1 5/16 we sharpen 
by hand.

If you rarely use them, Lowes, Home Depot, Harbor Freight may have 
something decent, but its a gamble for sure.

John Hall

On 10/25/2019 3:06 AM, deanvp at att.net wrote:
>
> The closest drill bits I have that I would call decent are a set of 
> reverse direction drill bits made by Irwin that are Cobalt.  I’ve used 
> them for removing broken off bolts, etc. but even those are not worth 
> writing home about.  On grade 5 bolts they are ok but on really hard 
> stuff they don’t cut the mustard. Cobalt drill bits do have a negative 
> and that is they are very brittle. But…  what brand and version of 
> drill bits have you guys found that are better than the average bear 
> and work good on our old iron which seems harder than the current 
> stuff. I’m fed up with my multiple indexes of drill bits that might 
> work in wood if I was patient. On steel a nail might work better. :-) 
> I know its going to cost and I’m prepared for that. What is the 
> “Snap-On” of drill bits?  What have you had a long and successful 
> relationship with.  However, I am convinced that no matter how good 
> they are I will break anything less than 1/8”  So a set from 1/8 to ½” 
> in 1/64^th “  increments is about my style. Or as an alternative. What 
> drill bit sharpener do you recommend? I do have a lot of drill bits 
> that could be sharpened. Not sure some of them are worth it though.
>
> Dean VP
>
> Snohomish, WA 98290
>
>
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