How To Sharpen Spade Bits? – By Hand, Dremel, and Grinder

You can sharpen the spade drill bit by using hands, dremel and using a bench grinder. When you sharpen the spade drill bit you should sharpen all of the 3 main parts such as cutting edge, center point, and spurs.

When you sharpen the spade drill bit by hand you will need a file, vise, and angle gauge. Sharpening the spade drill bit by hand takes time, but it is highly accurate. If you need to sharpen a spade drill a bit quickly, you can use a grinder or Dremel. For professional service, you can use a drill bit sharpening machine.

How to Sharpen Spade Bits By Hand?

What Tools Need to Sharpen Spade Drill Bits By Hand?

When you sharpen spade bits by hand, you will need these 3 drill bit sharpening tools.

1. File
2. Vise
3. Drill bit angle gauge

What are the Steps to Sharpen the Spade Drill Bits Using Hands?

1. Sharpen The Cutting Edge Using File

1. Secure the bit in a bench vise and use a smooth single-cut mill file to touch up the two cutting edges.
2. File on the push stroke (above), tilting the handle down slightly to match the angle of the cutting edges; between 5° and 10° is typical.
3. Then, touch up the cutting edges on either side of the point the same way (inset), taking care not to alter its taper.
4. Do not remove too much metal at the base of the point, as this will weaken the bit.

2. Sharpen The Center Point Using a File

Spade drill bit center points are two types. Forced spade and self-driving spade points are them.

1. When you sharpen the spade bit center point, check, how much is that wandering. When you see the center point has a blunt, you should resharpen it. Self-driving spade points need a small file.
2. Normally, the spade bit center point also has a cutting angle between 30 degrees to 40 degrees. You can use a file to sharpen the center point.

3. Sharpen the Cutting Spurs Using Small Size File

All spade bits do not have cutting spurs. Cutting spurs helps to cut clean at the edge materials.

When you sharpen the spade bit spurs, you must use a smaller size file. If you try that with a grinder, that will be damaged easily.

How to Sharpen Spade Bits with Dremel?

Dremel is a great tool to sharpen the spade drill bits. It is lightweight and consists of many parts that help to grind, or sharpen the spade drill bits. Not only Dremel you can use for sharpening tasks but also you can use these drill bits sharpening tools easily

1. Sharpen The Cutting Edge Using Dremel

The cutting edge can sharpen using the Dremel drum. Before you use that, make sure the drum has made with harder materials rather than your drill bits. When you sharpen the cutting edge do not push much. If you push too much, the edges will be wavy. This will give a wavy bottom.

2. Sharpen The Center Point Using Dremel

When you sharpen the center point using Dremel, you should turn it along the cutting path. If you use it perpendicular to the cutting edge, the sharpening corner will be curved. Hence, be careful when you use this.

The self-driving center-point can be sharpened using cutting bits.

3. Sharpen the Cutting Spurs Using Dremel

Using a small size drum, you can sharpen the spade drill bit, cutting spurs. Do not use a , larger drum.

How to Sharpen Spade Bits With a Bench Grinder?

1. Set the tool rest at an angle of 8° to the horizontal, with the higher end facing the grinding wheel, and tighten a stop collar on the shank of a spade bit so that when the stop bears against the edge of the rest, the bit’s cutting lips will bear against the wheel face.
2. Hold the bit flat on the tool rest and apply a cutting lip, bevel facing down, to the wheel face.
3. When one lip has been ground, flip the bit to grind the other lip. To grind the bevels at the edges of the spur, swing the bit at about 90° and guide it against the wheel freehand (inset).
4. Flip the bit to grind the opposite spur edge, taking care to grind both edges equally so that the spur remains centered.
5. Remove burrs on the spurs and lips with one or two light strokes of a whetstone on the flat faces.

How to Sharpen the Forstner Drill Bit?

You can sharpen the Forstner drill bit by using these 5 essential tools such as round slip stone (file), mini diamond hone, triangular slip stone (file), Dremel, and abrasive grinding cone. You should follow the below 4 steps to sharpen the Forstner drill bit.

1. Identify the Type of Forstner Drill Bit
2. Sharpening Inside Bevel
3. Sharpen the Chip Lifters
4. Sharpen the Point Angles