Drill Refurbs

[Richiew]

I recently bought a lathe and got quite a few tools in with the deal. Amongst it all the seller gave me a box of rusty old morse taper drills and morse taper sleeves.

I had a little bit of time this afternoon and decided to start to tidy them up. I am really pleased with the outcome. The drill in the picture below took less than ten minutes to clean up. I don't have a before pic as I didn’t expect such pleasing results but it was the same as the rest of the batch and I have taken a picture of it next to another drill of the same batch of the same size.


I used a crimped wire cup brush in a grinder on the taper only and then used a hand wire brush and some WD40 on the cutting parts of the drill as it is much kinder to the cutting edges.



It is like therapy when they come out like this.




I am so pleased with the outcome. I now know what I will be doing tomorrow and I am looking forward to it. I may have to search out some more rusty bits and pieces in the next few months if they all come out this well. I cleaned up some morse taper adaptor sleeves earlier and they came out really well too. They are pretty much impossible to damage when a bit of common sense is applied. I will be leaving my lathe untouched though.

 

[Kent]

yep, very saveable things and worth the time when you look at new prices

 

[Istayinalot]

Agreed definitely worth the effort, dread to think how much new ones are that size.

 

[Richiew]

The rest of the drills got done today. I will never look at a box of rusty tools in the same light ever again. It got a bit tedious by the end though.

One of the bigger drills is quite chewed up so will be used to learn how to sharpen drills on the grinder as it's no use as it is. There's also a small drill which has lost the tang at the end of the taper. The drills are all English and Imperial sizes from 1" to 1/4". The brands are mainly FB Tools but there's also some Presto drills which I think are quite a good brand. I did a double take as the two bright shiney drills are Richard W Carr Company.

 

[phill d]

very nice set of drill you have now, once you sharpen them youl be able to make tons of swarf, I make lots of swarf and sawdust now
its only recently that I managed to sharpen drill bits good, and what a difference I am finding with my own sharpened bits.

it wont take you long to master the art of sharpening them up, I find the bigger bits much easier than the little ones.
although I do have just the one 1/8th bit that's is now brilliant, but about 200 that are crap.
anything from about 1/4 up I find easy to do.



phill

 

[Richiew]

Cheers Phill,

There are plenty of drill sharpening video on Youtube and I've been watching a selection of them this evening. I need to learn to grind lathe tools too so I will be having plenty of quality time with the bench grinder shortly.

 

[phill d]

the first couple of sharpenings might go wonky but stick at it, its so nice to have real sharp drill bits.
I can honestly say that all the new bits I have ever bought were not as sharp and good at cutting as mine are now.
it seems like its all going real bad, then bang you have the knack for it and its just so therapeutic to know your doing something so good.
with all those drill bits you have nice and sharp youl be able to cut into anything, just remember to give them a quick touch on the grinder when you have used them.
and make sure you lay them flat and not put upright in any tins or boxes, as with sharp bits you cut your hands to pieces (How do I know ? ).

there is also some very exotic types of sharpening on the net, im still on the normal and finding drilling into stainless is easy now.

internet is so good for learning stuff.

phill

 

[mechman]

I priced a 28mm drill a while ago and it was around the £60 mark

 

[phill d]

£60 !!!!!!
its a big shock when you go to good drill bits .

.

 

[brightspark]

£60 !!!!!!
its a big shock when you go to good drill bits .

.

not if u buy them all from autojumbles quality taper drills anywhere round the inch mark 6 quid and sometimes cheaper

 

[phill d]

yeah that's probably right if you live up in the north pole area, but not down here.
to even find a good secondhand drill bit is a miracle.

what I need to find is an adaptor to take taper drills and then go to normal 1/2 chuck.. can I find one ? no
.