On 12/1/2019 8:59 AM, rangerssuck wrote: First: Big shout out to my
Drill Doctor. I had to drill three #19 holes in cast iron yesterday and
all I had was my set of HF TiN drills. Had to sharpen the bit for each
hole, but I did get through the job OK. Drill Doctor made quick work of it.

Second: Enough is enough already. I have had enough screwing around
with garbage bits. I'm looking to buy my last set of drill bits.
Generally the 115 piece sets (1/16 - 1/2, A-Z, 1-60) fit my needs. I'm
not looking to break the bank, but I don't want to cheap out, either.
So, I'm looking for suggestions. If you were looking for a complete set
of drills, what would you buy?


I have several HF Sets and a few good quality sets. Hertel, Precision
Twist, Chicago Latrobe, etc.

I've had questionable grinds out of the box on all of them except
amazingly the HF drills. They may be only good for one hole, but they
come out of the box sharp. My 3 facet hand grind tends to hold better
than their grind though.

I've gotten to where I do something different now. I do try to maintain
those sets for one off projects, but for sizes I use all the time like
7/21/D/F I buy multiples at a time from McMaster and have bins near my
drill press for just those sizes. I do resharpen (mostly freehand), but
I never want to have to stop mid project when I am finishing something
up because of it. McMaster doesn't list the brands for their loose
drills, but I've had good luck with them. I mostly buy stub length
screw machine drills from them.

Before you say you can't hand grind a #19, I just hand ground a #21 not
20 minutes ago. I do keep a magnifier lamp over my grinder though. It
helps a lot.