solid carbide spade? bit for drilling spring steel saw blade

I need to drill some small holes, 3/16", in a spring steel woodworking saw blade.

I have read that there exists a solid carbide spade bit that is designed for drilling very thin spring steel that won't "grab" as it exits the back.

Has anyone seen such a thing?

You can drill it with a masonry bit 4.5/5mm but without the hammer action. I did this to drill the holes in a power hacksaw blade to mount it in a normal hacksaw frame for cutting vee way relief slots.

Edited By Pete Rimmer on 22/01/2022 18:44:29

Spade bits are more for drilling glass.

Any carbide twist drill will do

I’ve used spade type glass drills for opening up holes in hard steel. Very slow but it did the job. I’m not sure you’d be able to start a hole with one easily though?

What about using the old machinist's trick of putting a small piece of rag over the end of the drill whilst drilling. It certainly works for larger drills, say 6mm, but I've never tried it on anything as small as 3mm.

3/16 ball ended carbide mill for me

Edited By bernard towers on 22/01/2022 19:08:23

If you have the means to sharpen the tip of a masonary drill to use for a cheap alternative to solid carbide twist drills, then try it. Otherwise Bosch do sets of multipurpose drills, like these sets from Screwfix.

**LINK**

Clamp the blade between sacrificial layers - the bottom being a hard material, to support the blade and and slow the drill progress.

There are always new ways of doing something, I have a power hacksaw blade and had never thought of drilling extra holes in it to use it in a 12" hacksaw.

Bandsaw blades into hacksaw blades - an old trick - regrind a masonery bit to a cutting edge as a normal drill bit to make the holes. Noel

The spade bit seems to work extremely well. Very quick and without distorting the thin plate.

Here is an image, someone must have seen one before?

The handsaw is very thin, and a new one, I have had mine since the 80's, would cost over £155.

It would be nice to get it right first time. I always seem to distort thin plate when I drill it, even with a quality cobalt plate.

We had spade ends on thin wires for attaching bone fragments but on larger diameters such as 3/16th the pin end would be sharpened on three sides

this
https://www.kellmed.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/305.175s-IMG_0096-steinmann-pin.jpg

I thought the recommended method for making holes in spring steel was to use a punch and die??

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!