Thread: What type of drill bit?

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Truley do not think the master cutlers would tolorate a sloppy fit.
No more than you would on your blades,Oblong holes are caused by 100yrs+ of wear and tear,is an easy fix to bring them back as they were made orig.

Those deformed holes are found even on NOS or mint razor blades that have never seen water, foam or human skin grease. I've seen examples of that myself. So unless you can come up with a way for steal to disappear from within the pivot hole that also leaves the tang unmarked an unblemished, I'd say it was that way right after it left the hands of the cutler.

If you are drilling the pivot hole on the blade, you need a carbide drill bit. You can find them on eBay, but one rule of thumb. Use small files to get the hole as round as you can get it if it isn't already or you will break your carbide drill bit because they may be hard but they are brittle. The hole has to be as round as can be & start your drill as fast as it will go then make contact. I found that if you make contact while drilling slow can also break the bit. I've done this hundreds of times making oversized pivot bearings for out of round hole or larger than normal holes.

All you need is a file to get the hole as round as possible. Sometimes you can achieve that with just a file but if not then use a 1/8" carbide drill bit spinning fast & make contact & it will drill your 1/8" hole.

I would try a HSS bit first personally, the tang may not be very hard. As mentioned earlier, you could aneel the tang first as drilling hardened steel is no fun. To soften the tang without ruining the temper of the blade hold the razor with the blade submerged in a bucket of water and heat the tang to grey heat with a gas blow torch then let it cool naturally back to room temp.

Originally Posted by mikew

I would try a HSS bit first personally, the tang may not be very hard. As mentioned earlier, you could aneel the tang first as drilling hardened steel is no fun. To soften the tang without ruining the temper of the blade hold the razor with the blade submerged in a bucket of water and heat the tang to grey heat with a gas blow torch then let it cool naturally back to room temp.

I would not do that,is fraught with potential problems,JMO

Yeah, I have no idea what I'm talking about

Originally Posted by mikew

Yeah, I have no idea what I'm talking about

Was not being nasty,you could crack the tang, warp it etc.

Nah, it won't crack if you don't quench it and if it bends you can bend it back once it's soft.... Simple

Hey Rob. I just tried drilling two pivot hole with a regular 3mm drill bit, one worked a treat and one didn't even touch it. I tried filming it but I've had a couple of beers and it was just beyond me.

Good fun though.

This thread has thrown up far more responses than I expected - so thanks to everyone who contributed.

The good news is that I used a carbide tipped drill with some cutting oil and it worked well enough on very hard steel. I finished fitting the scales today and they look really good- ill post some pictures tomorrow.

There is obviously no real reason to do this other than the finished look - I could easily have made one piece scales and peened 1/16" rod as usual. However, I think that the trend for torx screws in one-piece scales has gathered enough momentum for it to be considered the norm rather than the exception.

Thanks again, Rob