Sharpening brad point drill bits

  • Does anyone sharpen his own brad point drill bits?
  • Is it worth the time (probably not, but is a challenge!)?
  • How do you go about it (wheel / stone / file/ ...)? Thx
Reply to
Max63
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I sharpen my own bits, on a grinder. I don't find it hard at all, but then again when I started cabinet making you couldn't by them so had to grind your own from high-speed steel bits. I still do the same. I have tried purchasing a few but have found that they invariably need touching up before use so have just stuck to making my own. Like all things it takes a little practice to do it free hand. In the early days I had to grind a few bits off square and start again to get them right. John

Reply to
John

On Sun 12 Dec 2004 04:16:03a, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Max63) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

I've been wondering that myself. I found this:

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if you can fix the line wrap, points to an extremely small article saying: "A brad-point bit has a center cutting point called a brad, and a pair of cutters with outside points called spurs. Sharpen the spurs and the inside edges of the cutters with a triangular saw file. Keep the pairs of cutters and spurs at the same height, and take off as little material as possible when sharpening."

And there's a couple pictures. You're doing it by hand and by feel. But you have to keep those spurs at exactly the same height.

Drill doctor website says it'll sharpen 'em - if you don't mind turning your brad point into a regular bit.

I've found a few entries in some woodworking forums. All of them say they throw the bit away when it gets dull, so they take great care with the ones they've got.

I've found references to some attachments for something or other that claims to sharpen brad point bits. Haven't found the thing yet, but some of the references indicate it's really expensive.

Bottom line is, either you go at it with a small triangular file and be really careful and probably mess up a few bits before you get good at it (that's been my history with such things, anyway), or you get a new bit. There might be professional sharpeners out there. Haven't found one yet.

Dan

Reply to
Dan

Darex says this will do it;

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then you could buy a lot of brad point bits for the price of the sharpener.

Bernie

Reply to
Bernie Hunt

On Tue 14 Dec 2004 08:24:08a, "Bernie Hunt" wrote in news:yICvd.600$ snipped-for-privacy@fe08.lga:

:-) When they say "Call or email for prices", I pretty much figure it's out of my budget range.

And since so far, I don't even _have_ any brad points dull enough to either sharpen or replace, I don't think I'll be getting that one.

Reply to
Dan

That model is about $3000.00. we have a lesser model (390) at work that is $1000.00. They are the same process as the drill doctor, just no plastic parts.

John

Reply to
John T

If they are really cheap bits, the file is a good way to go.

If they are good bits, though, you won't have much luck - they are probably high speed steel which the file won't touch.

You should be able to find a sharpening shop that can handle the brad points, but unless they are large expensive sizes it may be cheaper to buy new ones.

John Martin

Reply to
JMartin957

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