I recently needed a clean-cutting bit to drill through some old Douglas fir molding. Lacking the funds to buy a good bore, I purchased a cheap spade bit and remodeled it with a flat file, as shown.
First, I used the corner of the file to make two V-cuts near the edge of the bit. Then I removed the area between the base of the new cutting spurs and the pilot with the edge of the file. The resulting bit produces a remarkably clean cut.
—Duff Bogen, Seattle, WA
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #8
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I find it hard to believe that inexpensive spurred spade bits are unavailble in Seattle. Or maybe this 'tip' has been stuck in a time capsule for the last 25 years?
I Agree with J_prime, I "Doubt" I "Can Buy" a Spade Bit anywhere that Needs this "Modification"!
"Where" did You get this Bit? Maybe from an Ancient Toolbox?
Maybe, C/O the "Other" Antiques in "Your Toolbox," some of them "Might Be" Very Valuable "Somewhere" to a Collector?
Ease up, guys.
This tip has come in handy in a pinch.
Btw, My "ancient" tool box includes some stubby Marples chisels that started out as 6" tools. My great grandfather bought them new, and passed them down. They just don't make that good Sheffield steel anymore, and they beat anything that y'all are buying at the big box stores, so keep your ignorance to yourselves, and get an education.
I have old treasured tools. I've also had to make do with less than perfection in a pinch. I just bought a set of six great quality very effective new boring bits for $5 at a big box store. The thing is tools have value in different ways and at different times, and it's not always a question of using the perfect one. This poor guy has probably been lucky to move on, just like the rest of us. But this tip saved his butt once upon a time.
If you need it now, 10 minutes with a file could well beat taking an hour to go to the big box and back.
And, it wasn't in a time capsule for 25 years, actually it was 35. Issue 8 was May 1982. This is a "treasured" antique tip.
Spending time on these cheap bits is why you don't have money for good ones...