[Source] Drill bit sharpening jig

I found this good explanation of sharpening tiny drills on a
machining web site. Sounds interesting, and thought I’d shaRe:

I had to drill 1428 holes @.022 diameter in some Brass sheet. I
found, that even with a Dumore Sensitive drill (17 K) I was breaking
drills after 2 to 3 holes. I tried 3 different brands and by the
time I reached 25 holes, I thought I was going to go nuts, These were
brand new drills… and all failed. So I resharpened them by hand
without any special equipment. My first drill went 25 holes…I was
on to something. My Drill times were easily cut in half (or better)
and I got 100 holes per drill. I personally think the factory micro
drills are not sharpened properly ! No tooling other than a pin
chuck!

To sharpen: Get your self a small stone (1/4 x 1 x 3), like a
Arkansas or medium fine India. Also get a pin chuck. Mine was from a
hobby shop, made by Xacto, that will clamp down to.000 Take the chuck
head, which is the size of a pencil end, and mark two side with red
paint at 180 degrees from each other. Put the drill in the chuck and
draw it perpendicular accross the stone 3 times. Inspect the results
with a 10 power glass, You should see a perfectly flat bottom drill.

Have you ever seen a Left handed person write with a pencil. They
sort of curve their hand so the pencil hooks back towards their
wrist! Thats what you wan! But first, while you have the mag glass in
your hand, loosen the pin chuck and rotate the drill bit, so the
flute lines up with the paint mark. That way, you DO NOT need to use
a glass while sharpening.

Set the stone in front of you…straight outwards, on the bench. Rest
your hand on the bench,while holding the pinchuck like a Lefty (
backhanded)! so the drill point is aimed at you mostly. BUT in your
right hand ! Make sure the paint mark is at 90…towards your
wrist…sideways.

Now set your pinky finger against the side of the stone, and draw
the cocked drill accross the stone towards You about 1 to 2 inches.
Try a 45 degree angle in X and Y to start with to see results! Use
Light pressure! Use your pinky as a guide, so when you return your
stoke back, all relationships stay the same. Do not flex your hand
and make only 3 strokes (!) Now without twisting or moving your
hand,spin the drill chuck (roll ?) so the other paint mark comes
into the same position, and stroke 3 times.

If you had the drill inclined with the point towards You( !) and
angled sideways, you will have a perfectly sharpened drill bit. The
toughest part, is setting the flute to the paint mark, as you may
find you are off target.

You will quickly see what angle to grind/ hold your hand, and
believe it or not, the grind is very symetrical. I saw spiral chips

I know this all sounds complicated, but I tried to explain for
someone to follow. Try it guys…you will be amazed…guaranteed !.
and best of all, it takes only a few seconds to do, once you
understand how to hold your hand, while drawing it accross the
stone. No rollers, no fixtures, and no tooling other than a pin chuck!

My first drill went 25 holes....I was on to something. My Drill
times were easily cut in half (or better) and I got 100 holes per
drill. I personally think the factory micro drills are not
sharpened properly ! 

Well, I guess I could follow Jamie’s method. My usual method is what
some others have said - separating disk/diamond wheel, which is less
precise tan a stone.

More generally: sharpening is a trade-off between sharpness and
durability. You can sharpen an axe to an edge like a scalpel, but it
will self-destruct on the first blow. You can sharpen a scalpel like
an axe and it will last forever but won’t be very sharp. There is
much to know about sharpening in general… Most commercial drill
bits are sharpened for general purpose use: “We don’t know what
anybody’s going to use it for, so we’ll give them a generic edge”.
There are bits you can buy that ARE made for certain uses - metal,
wood, titanium, aluminum. Most of those are 1/8" and up. I’ve found
that Bosch drill bits are wickedly sharp, in those sizes… When I
sharpen my wire-sized bits, I always steepen the angles from how the
began, which makes them considerably sharper. But you need to be
careful with them, too.

I had to drill 1428 holes @.022 diameter in some Brass sheet. I
found, that even with a Dumore Sensitive drill (17 K) I was
breaking drills after 2 to 3 holes. I tried 3 different brands and
by the time I reached 25 holes, I thought I was going to go nuts,
These were brand new drills.. and all failed. So I resharpened them
by hand without any special equipment. My first drill went 25
holes....I was on to something. My Drill times were easily cut in
half (or better) and I got 100 holes per drill. I personally think
the factory micro drills are not sharpened properly ! No tooling
other than a pin chuck! 

Sharpening a small drill is an important part, but even an ideally
sharpened drill will break. Industrial guides of how to sharpen
drills are not much help, because they are written for drilling using
drill press and when feed, speed, and lubrication are controlled. Not
much help for a goldsmith. Technique of drilling with small drills
is as important, as sharpening them.

Sometimes broken drill can be extracted without much damage to the
piece, but at other times it could mean starting from the very
beginning. In my DVD Eternity Ring, I demonstrate how to use small
drill, when breaking the drill is not an option.

Leonid Surpin

You can make very fine drill from ordinary sewing needles.

Take a fine sharpening stone and oil it.

Make two flat sides of the pointed end with a few strokes - these
should not be parallel and the point is… to shelve them down to
the point!

Then, hold the needle at 90 degrees to the flat sides and then tilt
it to 45 degrees. Cut the two planes.

Voila! A fine drill.

Us a slow drill speed or an archimedes drill.

They won’t last very long but they are cheap, accurate and you can
make one in a few moments once you get the hang of it.