hardwood

[catlad]

Can anybody please give me some tips advice on drilling into hardwood as have snapped/burned out a few drill bits plus screws, even with pilot holing first. thanks

 

[Burnerman]

Ordinary HSS jobber drill bits shouldn't have any problems with hardwood, but don't try to drill the pilot hole too tight - especially if its oak you are using.
Use some sort of lubrication for the screw thread, (drop of oil or dip the screw tip into some grease) and use steel screws before brass ones - if thats what you want to finish with.
John

 

[catlad]

Thanks for the reply. It is a decking project that I am doing for a member of the family, and he has bought some hardwood decking and posts and have been using normal wood bits augers and flat bits and it as snapped the tips of the of the augers. hss I thought were for steel.

 

[Burnerman]

HSS means High Speed Steel, and as the title implies, they are used for swift cutting in all materials, including steel.
Flat bits and the like are usually just carbon steel and they will work ok so long as they don't get too hot....the great advantage of course is that they can be sharpened with a flat file.
I buy my HSS drills in 10 packs from the likes of Screwfix and Toolstation - they are perfectly good quality.
John

 

[JohnD]

is the wood damp?

you mention augers. Do you mean the ones intended for a (hand driven) brace and bit?

 

[catlad]

Ok thanks I have some linseed oil would that be suitable for lubrication.

 

[ladylola]

Linseed should be fine if a little more difficult to handle than something solid such as tallow which is what I normally use even if it is sold in easily breakable tubs.

 

[gregers]

cobbalt bits will go through like a knife through butter,as above if its decent hardwood then tallow is the way.
make sure your using good quality screws/bits etc.

 

[catlad]

The wood was left outside JohnD so I guess it was a bit damp, but not as easy to tell with this exotic hard wood. The augers were normal modern ones. Ladylola I have some tallow also thanks. gregers it is hard wood and the stainless steel screws that came with it are self tapping for hard wood, but not not this hard wood apparently.

 

[JohnD]

damp material tends to make the drill jam.

in hardwood (and softwood if you care enough) you should pilot drill. The max size of drill you should use is one as big as the shank of the screw (not as big as the threads). Usually you can go quite a bit smaller, just big enough for the point to go in and start cutting, but deep enough for the whole screw or it may jam when it is nearly home.

Lots of stainless screws are very poor quality now and the heads may burr. You can wind in a hardened steel screw of the same size first to prepare the hole (this is also good practice before brass screws whch are very weak)

edit
I see Burnerman has covered it

 

[ladylola]

John is right about stainless screws. Most of my recent work was with stainless and they do chew up badly with standard bits but we did find that screwdriver bits specified for stainless steel work a lot better and are definately worth the money.

 

[JohnD]

haven't seen them, how are they different?

 

[Monkeh]

haven't seen them, how are they different?

I would imagine they're softer, to avoid cutting into the softer stainless steel like a hardened bit would.

 

[ladylola]

haven't seen them, how are they different?

I would imagine they're softer, to avoid cutting into the softer stainless steel like a hardened bit would.

Probably right. We were on a project that involved thousands of screws and after a week the site agent was getting fed up so contacted the suppliers who sent out the bits which were a big improvement although I can't remember any specs for the bits , sorry.

 

[catlad]

Thanks for all the replies, tallow made a difference.