Are drill bits consumables?

I say Yes! I proved it yesterday. They are resharpenable of course but I broke a small bit in half.:faint:
 
After 50 years of not being able to sharpen worth a damn, I bought the 3/4" Drill Doctor. Wish I had bought it years ago. Had 3 big coffee cans full of bits. Took a couple of weeks to resharpen all to 118 degrees. Some of the more popular bits, I have maybe 50 of them. I sharpen 1/8" and above and buy all smaller ones. The Drill Doctor paid for it self in a couple of days. If a drill doesn't cut right, it take a few seconds to repoint it.
My two cents.
 
Other advantages to sharpening in the shop...

  • Lets you adjust the tip geometry for the material you're drilling. Say you have a bunch of critical holes to drill in brass. You can adjust the cutting lips to reduce the chance of the drill grabbing and/or self-feeding.
  • You don't have to wait for replacement drills. If the letter-size bit you need for a tapped hole is dull, you know you are going to find it when the stores are closed. It is so much better just to touch it up and get the job done rather than wait for a replacement.

Craig
 
As Mr. Widmar my high school shop teacher said as he started his demonstration on how to sharpen drill bits, "If you don't master sharpening drill bits, don't ever tell anyone that you were in my class!". I'm proud to say that I was in his class.

I feel that tossing a drill just because it's dull is a waist of resources. JMHO

Richard
 
Are drill doctors repairable? Or are those consumables? I really haven't had time this week to look into them much. I see there are x500 x700s I don't even know what that means yet.
 
Drills are consumable
I rarely sharpen bits less than 1/4”
I keep dozens of new cobalt 1/8” and 5/32” drills on hand. I use them as starter drills.
When they break or get dull, they get deposited into a repurpose bin for use later.
Larger bits get resharpened by hand on the 6” or 8” bench grinder

Broken or dull bits get repurposed as drive pins, pin punch tips, boring bars, scratch awls and the like
 
HoboMachinist77 said:
Are drill doctors repairable? Or are those consumables? I really haven't had time this week to look into them much. I see there are x500 x700s I don't even know what that means yet.
Click to expand...
Mine was disposable, but it's been at least 15 years and they don't even look the same now, so perhaps the new ones are better. The tiny grinding wheel was/is replaceable.
 
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