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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).<br>
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.<br>
<br>
If you rarely use them, Lowes, Home Depot, Harbor Freight may have
something decent, but its a gamble for sure. <br>
<br>
John Hall<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/25/2019 3:06 AM, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:deanvp@att.net">deanvp@att.net</a>
wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal">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<sup>th “ </sup> 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.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dean VP<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Snohomish, WA 98290<o:p></o:p></p>
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