Stainless Steel W/DEEP CRYOGENIC TEMPERING (-305F).

H

Harborg

Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Messages
1
am having trouble finding a drill bit to go thru these blade blanks.
What kind of drill bits will work.
 
Please let us know what size/number of holes you need to make & what they're used for (placing pins, lightening the tang, other?).

For drilling hard materials, Bad Dog bits from the link below might work for you. They aren't likely to work for high-precision drilling, though. So if that's what you need, you may need to look elsewhere.
http://www.baddogtools.com/drillbits.htm

Slow speed & cutting lube are your friend. ;)
 
One method of drilling hardned steel is to us a carbide drill, but these are expensive, and easly broken. A cheeper solution is to use a carbid tiped masonary bit.. Will drill several holes for about a buck................M. Lovett
 
Harborg said:
am having trouble finding a drill bit to go thru these blade blanks.
What kind of drill bits will work.
Click to expand...

If you have a drill press, even one of those rigs you clamp a power dtill in. Get yourself a solid carbide drill bit. I bought a .125 bit the other day for about $8 bucks. I drilled 21 holes in a hardened steel blade (about .080 thick) in about 5 minutes. Drill at a slow speed and use light pressure. My drill press' slowest speed is 600 rpm. Use a cutting fluid like Tap-Matic to lube the bit while drilling. (just a drop or two.) Hand held drilling is a no no with solid carbide. Solid carbide bit's don't flex they snap. They will last a long time and seem to stay sharp forever.

Get yourself a special container like a plastic cigar tube to store your carbide bits so you don't accidentially mistake them for regular high speed steel and chuck them in to your cordless drill and break a $10 bit drilling a hole to hang a shelf bracket for your wife.

Drew
 
Welcome to Shop Talk Harborg! This is a good question and you've been given some workable answers. One thing that has worked for me is to spot-anneal where I want to drill. You can clamp aluminum or something to the blade to act as a heat sink while you heat the tang; get the spot to drill a bright red with your propane torch and hold it for a while then use the torch to let it cool slowly. I've done this several times and it saved me having to wait while I ordered carbide bits. (I have em now though. ;) ) If using something other than the ideal size bit, just make sure you drill an oversized hole.
 
ddavelarsen said:
One thing that has worked for me is to spot-anneal where I want to drill.
Click to expand...

I too have done this but only with carbon steels. Stainless steels typically have to be annealed with a very long soak cycle where the temp drop is very slow and very steady. If not done properly there is a high probablility of embrittlement taking place. I'd try it with some scrap first and see how it responds. Best bet by far is just use carbide bits.
 
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