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McMaster drills wont drill.....

Yeah. Sharpening a drill, is pretty basic tech...

In line with every other tool you want to actually cut (exception to follow!). you need to have the actual cutting edge, be the first part to reach the work.

As fella that used to post under the moniker of tubalcain, back when usenet was still a thing, described 'the bionic Darex', which essentially meant squeezing the drill bit so that it formed your finger tips to the grooves of the bit, so you could set you hand position, and get a precise 180 degree turn of the bit when you released pressure, and flipped it to the other side, minimizing the need to individually fiddle and moan trying to get both edges more or less equal.

I can, and have, sharpened a LOT of smoothly curved drill faces, but for smaller bits esp., I resort to four almost flat facets, it's quick, and effective.

The exception. Drilling larg(ish) holes in brass. Take a diamond file or a stone, and stone a flat, across the cutting edge of the drill bit, doesn't need to be very large, you just want the face you are creating, to align with the axis of the drill bit. I watched a guy bloody himself repeatedly, trying to make a brass putter head for golf, and when I suggested that there might be an easier way, he basically sneere at me and said "What would you know, you are just an aircraft mechanic!" No arrogance there, eh? The other guy in the shop was a bud, I showed him what I was trying to show the other guy, and demoed it with the same brass bar that previous guy ha been using. One of them went home with band-aids on several fingers, the other went home with a new trick up his sleeve...

By stoning the edge flat o the drill for brass, it scrapes (which brass actually does seem to behave well with) rather than digging in and forcing the drill to grab even more, often to the detriment of the work, or the hand holding same
 
How I came up with my method is really just a mashup of a lot of different ways I've been shown and watched over the years. With one Original idea (at least I think it is....) It's always great to see how others do things, and there really is many different ways to skin the cat in this trade.

My secret is to squeeze your finger tips before flipping to create a perfect fixture to align the next side. Don't move anything, just a good squeeze and you'll make a perfect indent to rotate the drill 180*. Everything else locked, elbows tight to your side, etc, you're just about as rigid a fixture as you can get.
 
And just like that, I learn that even though I figured that out by playing around one day, I wasn't the one that came up with it originally lol. I'm always fascinated by how many things get "reinvented" over the years by curious minds and fidgety hands. Blows my mid we were typing that at the same time as I've never seen anyone else teach drill sharpening that way with the finger squeeze method.
 
Dan Dubeau said:
And just like that, I learn that even though I figured that out by playing around one day, I wasn't the one that came up with it originally lol. I'm always fascinated by how many things get "reinvented" over the years by curious minds and fidgety hands. Blows my mid we were typing that at the same time as I've never seen anyone else teach drill sharpening that way with the finger squeeze method.
Click to expand...
Yep! Not very many NEW tricks, just a lot of the ones that "Everyone Knows!", that get lost and rediscovered.

The guy I mentioned, died of cancer shortly after I discovered UseNet, but he was an able teacher, wrote out what he was telling very well and clearly, and was a diminishment to all when he was lost, so his 'lessons' lived on for years after he was gone, as guys had the quotes saved to refer back to, when they needed to, as well as to post up when a newb was looking for some help that was covered by his writings.

I worked with some guys that were just downright misers, when it came to sharing information and skills. They were some of the people I least respected, in my career.
 
Ya, there really isn't many "new" ideas out there. I can just imagine all the tips and tricks lost and rediscovered, or simply lost over time because there was nobody to pass them onto, or they were unwilling to share them. Industry changes, machines and methods move on. Old hands retire without passing hard fought knowledge that may or may not still be applicable to current practices.

I worked with a lot of guys (too many) that wouldn't show you anything and I never wanted to be that way when I too got old and grumpy 😀

I've always said I'll teach anybody that want's to learn everything I know, and if you're a quick learner we'll be done by noon lol.
 
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