I witnessed an electrician the other week struggling to drill a hole in a joist with his modern bit and cordless power drill which seemed to take him ages. I asked him what the problem was and he complained his bit was blunt and he had to get another from Screwfix. Obviously i just said can’t you sharpen it but by his reaction it’s clearly not something he’d ever considered.
Anyway, speaking to my son who is a relatively new electrician who went to college and now deemed as fully qualified said he had never been taught how to maintain them. I’ve never used the modern type of flat bit but showed him how to easily sharpen them with a file. Now even when it was sharp i tried it in my drill and this still seemed to be slow and required a lot of effort.
Straight after I got out my trusty brace and put in a double spur bit the same 1″ size and used it and the difference was immediately apparent due to the screw end pulling the bit into the wood reducing the effort needed.
I wondered why this has happened and then it dawned on me, they simply do not understand how they work or how to maintain them. I also asked about dormer bits and the response was the same which I really can’t understand this because having the ability to sharpening them when out on site is essential, i’d have lost so much time over the years without this skill let alone the extra cost of buying more to replace them.
It seems some things aren’t for the better, power tools have their place on the modern site but so are the basic skill of sharpening drill bits as every time you use them they have the potential of becoming blunt. I know it’s a throw away age but surely its not come to this where young tradesmen can’t sharpen such a simple tool.
My brother in-law is also a seasoned electrician and my sister wouldn’t trust him with flat pack furniture. Come on electricians it sounds like a little woodworking as a hobby might just help your work place as well as at home.
