A spoon drill bit is a great wood drill bit for chairmakers and smoking pipe makers. Due to its wide concave shape, it can use to cut circular cutting paths easily. Spoon drill bits are old drill bits that were invented in Roman and Viking civilizations.
Most of spoon drill bits can operate with hand tools due to its brace shape shank. Spoon drill bits should resharpen without changing its circular shape.
What is Spoon Drill Bit?
The spoon drill bit is a wood drill bit that is mostly used in woodworking. Most of the chairmakers use spoon drill bit in order to have a wider drilling hole. Its shape looks like a spoon, and the edges have sharpened in order to cut and remove the wood material.
The spoon drill bit does not have a sharp cutting point. It is circular or parabolic in shape. Hence this can give a smooth and semisphere bottom drilled hole, which is essential for chairmaking.
Most of spoon drill bits can be used on hand tools, and it need more thrust for the drilling process.
What is Spoon Drill Bit Use For?
Spoon drill bits are used by the chairmakers for two reasons,
1. It can drill a round-bottomed hole that provides maximum blind-hole depth in a chair leg.
When you use a brad point or spur drill bit, you can’t have this kind of hole due to these points’ shapes.
2. In a single operation, it can drill an accurately sized and positioned hole at an acute angle.
How Deep Can A Spoon Drill Bit Drill?
A spoon drill bit drilling capability will depend on the drill bit length. Normally, a spade drill bit can drill about 5-7 inches to the workpiece.
How to Sharpen A Spoon Drill Bit?
Normally, Brand new spoon drill bits do not need to sharpen. It comes ready for use. But when you resharpening, work only the outside of the end of the bit.
Start with a 1000x stone and work the end of the bit with a sweeping motion, as if sharpening a carving gauge. Progress to a 4000x or higher stone. Finish
by drawing the bit backward on a leather strop charged with honing compound.
You should AWARE this.
Do not hone, grind, file or abrade the sides of the bit in any way or you will
change the overall hole size.
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Spoon Drill Bits?
Spoon Drill Bit Tips
When you use spoon drill bits, it can be a little bit strange in some operations. These tips will help you to drill accurate drilling holes every time.
01. Always start the hole perpendicular to the workpiece
02. Apply sufficient feed pressure to control hole depth and rate of material removal because there is no sharpening edge or screw to drive inside the material.
3. For an angled hole, tilt the brace over while drilling. (As with positioning the bit, practice will improve results.)
04. Do not push much, it can cause to brake the drill bit to easily.
Care And Maintenence of the Spoon Drill Bit
For the long life of a drill bit, it should care and maintained properly. Else its sharpness and accuracy will lose with time. So let’s see how you can care for and maintain the spoon drill bits.
- Spoon drill bits are made with forged steel. So it can break with sudden knocks. Hence do not drop the spoon drill bit on a hard surface such as concrete.
- Store in a dry place; it can rust if it opens to moisture and humidity. As well as you can use some wax or oils to prevent rusting easily.
- You should resharpen the drill bit. But don’t use files and grinders, which can change the shape of the spoon drill bit.
