Sharpening Brad Point drill bits.

[keray1234]

Does anyone have experience with sharpening brad point drill bits?

[Wood Butcher]

There's a good article on sharpening all kinds of drill bits in AWW Feb 2000 pg62.

Rick's Index to the rescue!

Art

[Andy Dingley]

Yep, stick them in the Drill Doctor and convert them into commonplace twist drills for drilling metal.

To sharpen a brad point you can either fool around with diamond slipstones for ages, you can buy a _very_ expensive tool and cutter grinder with a lot of different tiny stones, or you can go and buy some new ones.

My old hand augers I lovingly sharpen by hand. My powered brad points that I chuck around in a power drill I just use until I've broken or lost them, then buy a new set. They're only drilling wood so I blunt them very slowly, sets are cheaper then a handful of individuals, and I can lose or snap them faster than I ever need to worry about really sharpening them.

[John B]

I sharpen mine on standard grinder. I also have never bought a Wood bit, I make my own from HSS twist bits. To make your own takes quite a bit of practice but It's quite simple to touch them up. With the grinder off, set the bit against the wheel in the correct location and angle. This gives you an idea how to position it. Start the grinder and touch up the bit. Use a large bit to start (practice) with and once you get the hang of it do the lot. Have fun regards John

[max]

I use a diamond hone. The ones I have are mounted on a plastic backing. I file the flat, (on a chisel it would be the back) and then touch up the bevel and they work really well. max

[Australopithecus scobis]

I think you posted these instructions a while ago. I wondered then, and wonder now, are you touching up bradpoints with spurs? (I don't think so.) Or are you grinding a twist drill to have a brad point and flat cutting edge?

[John B]

All of the bits have spurs. Your wheel has to have relatively sharp corners. If you place a manufactured bit up against the corner of a grinding wheel you will see how it's done. It's hard to explain. I was shown how to do it while still an apprentice. (When I had to walk 10 miles to and from school, up hill both ways and sharing one shoe with my sister) ;) I'll take some photos if I remember, when the temperature drops below 40 and the shed stops being an oven. regards John

[John B]

I have posted some pics on abpw if you would like to take a look. regards John

[Bugs]

Also, . . . Moto tool. Bugs

[Lawrence Wasserman]

If you can find Patrick Spielman's book on sharpening he shows how to resharpen a regular twist drill into something that is close to a brad point. It involves using the "corner" of the grinding wheel, i.e. the side and circumference at the same time. I may have mispelled Spielman, he is best known for scroll saw work.

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 21 Dec 2005 05:57:49 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, max quickly quoth:

Please don't top post, Max.

Grizzly has a $6 diamond hone cone which works well if you don't have one of Lee Valley's auger bit files. The diamond works on wee bits.

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