Subject: Re: drill bits

From: [email-masked] (Katana ---/-----------)
Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 03:16:35 GMT

>I would not spend much money on any drill sharpener. For some reason 
>sharpening drills looks hard to some, but it's not. Just follow the angles

>that are there. You have to have enough clearance behind the  
> 
Amen to this. I have learned to sharpen a small (1/4" or so) drill bit in
about 30 seconds. Doing this also enables me to grind shallower angles for
hard steels and sharper angles for plastics and woods. To me, part of the
fun, and challenge of blacksmithing is to use what you have. Learn a skill
to replace some of this machinery first - our forerunners certainly didn't
have little gizmos that substituted for skill. Learn how to sharpen drill
bits, and then go buy a machine to do it for you, if you must. If you need
a drill bit sharpened, say at a hammer-in or event and you don't have your
trusty little sharpener, I'd be glad to do it for ya. :=) 
-- 
               Bill Wyant 
   Swordsmith / Art Blacksmith 
Avalon Ironworks, Ft. Wayne, IN 
    [email-masked]

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From: Michael Spencer <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 7 Aug 96 23:53:17 EDT

Bill Wyant wrote:

> If you need a drill bit sharpened, say at a hammer-in or event and
> you don't have your trusty little sharpener, I'd be glad to do it for
> ya. :=)

Hummm... Well, I've never met Bill and he probably *can* hand-sharpen
a drill slicker'n melon pits.  But what sent me out for my $20 gizmo
was that when I was just getting started, this "old geezer" was in the
shop when I had a really bunged up drill in hand and he says, "Hey,
gimme that! I'll show you how to fix it right up. Been doing it for
years!"  ANnnd....brrrrrpptz grrrzzzt toink bzzzt on the bench grinder
and "There she is! Try that!."

Hmmm... eccentric chisel point, way too much relief and a recessed
cutting edge on one side.  Wouldn't cut crunchy peanut butter on a
warm day. There *were* a lot of retired tool and die makers and
machinists in the neighborhood and it was reasonable to guess that I
was about to learn somthing. Learned that a $20 widget would get me
there with minimal agravation.

Since then I've made a working twist drill bit from scratch in the
forge but the widget filled in a long time and still does.

BTW, Bill, does this cute, minimalist ASCII art:

> X-Pipegcos: (Katana ---/-----------)

in your posts hint that you make traditional Japanese swords?

- Mike
-- 
Michael Spencer               (902) 543-8375
[email-masked]
URL: http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/mspencer/home.html
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