"proper" Way To Store Drills In An Index (?)

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Flutes up. Better to deburr when you discover it.

 

[KarlB]

Flutes up, I agree with removing the burrs right away.

 

[Round in circles]

I usually put a drill back sharpened if it has lost it's keenness, that way I always have sharp drills to hand when I want them . I no longer have the old metal mild steel or broken plastic boxes the drills came in donkeys years ago .
All my twist drills now reside laid along side others in one of three heavy plastic open topped boxes inside a drawer on heavy duty ball bearing slides ... heinous or is it ?

I'm still able to look at most of the hundred or so drills I have and say what sizes they are .

Very few of my drill have chuck slip marks let alone burrs on them as I always tighten at all three of the key holes on all the chucks of the various drilling devices that I have.

For precise holes like tapping the various thread forms I do mic the drills just to be sure .

One box has all the below 1/4 dia 6. mm in it , the next to it is 1/4. 6.4 mm to 3/8 plus the metrics & the other is all those sizes above up to 16 mm .

The Morse tapers live on double thicknesses of old towel laid out in size order inside some shallow open wooden trays as I only have about 20 of them all told .

 

[4GSR]

Ok, I took one of my drill stands and put the flutes down on the drill bits. I will admit, it's easier to grab a drill and pull it out with out the fear of slicing open your fingers on the flutes of the drill bit. Now to do this the the other 86 bits I have here.

 

[Mr Ron]

A tool maker named "Wally" (Bob Waller) picked up a Harbor Freight 29 pc. fractional drill set that was setting on my desk. He looked at the drills, looked at me, dumped them in the trash and left with my index. He came back with the index full of cryo bits. I asked why he put them in the index up side down. Wally always put drill bits in the index with the shank end up for a couple of reasons. First, if you burr up the shank by spinning a bit in the chuck, it still goes back in the index. Second, your fingers aren't on the sharp/hot end of the bit. Guess I hadn't put too much thought into it at the time, but his logic makes sense. That's how I store them now. How about you guys?

Bruce

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I have been using drill bits for 70 years and have never cut my fingers on the flutes of a drill. Besides the HF drill bits, I would have tossed the index also.

 

[Mr Ron]

My Huot drill index hinges on the left and the large bits are in the rear.

 

[WalterC]

My hands are so hard and callused, heat and sharp stuff don't seem to bother me either way.

 

[Denis M]

I prefer not taking a chance on cutting my fingers. So I keep them shank up, along with my milling bits that are stored in a box.

 

[High-Side]

Flutes up, unless it's dull. Tip/flutes down reminds me which ones need to be touched up.

 

[kd4gij]

Laying on the bench in front of the index.