What bits for a hand brace?

[Sheffield Tony]

I just bought some larger sizes of brad point drills from Wealdens. Reduced shank, ~£4 each, very nicely made in Austria. Well worth the time saved grinding IMHO.

 

[xy mosian]

Hi ED65, from long memory I believe the point angle of 'standard' twist drills is 118 degrees. What is the best angle for wood?

Something lower than this, i.e. a steeper bevel. The precise angle can't be that important given a 118° included angle works all right and I've seen recommendations for 60°, 75° and 90° for wood in various places. The main thing seems to be for the bit to have a more pronounced point.

For anyone who wants to give this a try on a spare bit or two, there are numerous good guides to grinding bits on YouTube. The one that unlocked it for me was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wXBbbDVksk from That Lazy Machinist. Fair warning, the audio isn't the best on this because it was recorded in a large echoey machine shop, but it breaks the freehand method down into the simplest, easily remembered and repeated steps.

Thanks for that Ed, strangely that is the exact image I found last evening. The different point angle, for wood, is mentioned now and again, but I admit this is the first time I have sought to find the answer. I must grind some drills when the workshop/garage warms up.
Luckily I am old enough to have been taught the joys of regrinding drills at school. These days anything below about 4, or 5, mm can be a bit hit and miss but I'll give it a shot. I don't recall seeing any sets 'For wood' for sale, perhaps someone is missing a trick.
Thanks again, xy