[Favorite tips] Better drilling

Recently I ran out of small drill bits, having a good assortment of
glovers needles( 3 sided needles) on hand from years of leather work
I put one large neelde into my dremel, this “drill” worked better
than almost any drill I have tried in the past, I was drilling deer
antler and the speed was astounding!

Yes, we just think that we need the spiral flutes. VERY good drills
can be made fom any good steel (think needles) that is heated,
flattened, filed to a spade point with some clearance, and
rehardened. Standard Procedure with the old watchmakers. tom

   Yes,  we just think that we need the spiral flutes.  VERY good
drills can be made fom any good steel (think needles) that is
heated, flattened, filed to a spade point with some clearance, and
rehardened.  Standard Procedure with the old watchmakers. tom 

G’day Tom Holes, etc; I think perhaps you are both right and
wrong. I have made and used spade drills forged from needles and in
fact, when I was a lot younger, spade drills were almost as common in
the tool shops as the smaller twist variety - especially for use with
the archimedian ‘pump’ drill braces which one rarely sees now. But I
suggest that although the spade drills are excellent for use with
thin and sheet materials - say up to 2 mm thickness - the spiral
fluted ‘high speed steel’ twist drills work far better for thick
material. The flutes are there to assist removal of swarf, literally
pumping it up from the cutting edge of the drill to the surface, and
plentiful lubricant helps with this. If this clearing action does
not take place in a deep hole then either the drill no longer cuts,
or jams in the swarf and breaks - or both of the above.

Finally, on the subject of needles, the triangular section of
glover’s and sailmaker’s needles makegood broaches for opening out a
small hole to a taper. – Cheers for now,

John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua Nelson NZ