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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 03-26-2015, 06:42 PM
James Adams James Adams is offline
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Drilling Hardened Stainless

I am certainly new to making knives and am trying to make an oyster knife from a blade that has been hardened and need to drill some bolster holes. Can anyone tell me what I need and how to do this?
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Old 03-26-2015, 07:00 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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What you need is called a straight flute carbide drill. These drills are more expensive than the plain HSS drills but they will go through that hardened stainless like butter. There are many types of carbide drills and carbide tipped drills but there are also many reasons not to bother with them - get the straight flute carbide drill.

Now the bad news: you probably won't find them at your local hardware store. Unless you have a tool supplier in your area (some place that supplies tools to machine shops) you will need to order these drills from MSC at mscdirect.com or a similar supplier. So, if you're serious about drilling those holes then slow down, take a deep breath, and order the drills - you'll have them in a couple of days.

BTW, all carbide drills are very brittle because they are incredibly hard so wear eye protection. Don't force the drill, let it do the cutting. Be sure to clamp your knife blade down securely because its safer for you and less likely to break that expensive drill ...


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Old 03-27-2015, 09:19 AM
samuraistuart samuraistuart is offline
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Ray gave the best solution, I think. Carbide bits. They are slightly pricey, and very brittle, but can really get the job done.

There is another route you might be able to take. You may be familiar with masonry bits. There are some that have a carbide tip on them. You can use those carbide tipped masonry bits to go thru hardened steel. I haven't tried them on stainless but they will go thru hardened carbon steel.

The trick is to use speed and pressure. This gets the steel red hot, annealing it in the process, and the bit will go thru. Slight drawback....a 1/8" carbide tipped masonry bit will drill a slightly oversize hole than exactly .125".

I think that will work on hardened stainless. It works on hardened carbon for sure.
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