Drilling clean holes

[jimmyG]

Another Steve Good scroll pattern done.... Made me a little nervous making those two continuous cut outs...
I have a question:
How can I drill holes (for eyes) and have them crisp with no tear out?
Doesn't matter the wood I use they are never crisp even using new drill bits in a drill press also!

[dgman]

Nice work Jimmy! 
To cut clean holes in wood, you must use a sharp brad point bit. Don’t use a bit designed for metal. You have to have a wooden backup board, and you must use the correct drill press speed. Move the back board for ever new hole. The back board will support the work piece as the bit breaks through. Go online and search for a wood drill speed chart. Wood Magazine has a free downloadable chart that I have been using for years. 

[Bill WIlson]

Dan covered it.  Just adding my confirmation.

[Wichman]

I will add my confirmation as well. Pay attention to the speed for the type of wood you are drilling.

If you continue to have issues try Forstner bits, they are available down to 1/4". After that try drilling almost all the way through ( just until the point comes through ) the turn the piece over and finish drilling from the other side.

This is one area where inexpensive bits or bit sets just won't do. 

 

[Gene Howe]

A big second to Witchman's suggestions for the 1/4" Forstners. I build a lot of vehicles that require 1/4" axle holes. The Forstner gets a lot of use. Nice clean smooth holes.

[BadBob]

Here is how I do it using a drill press. I drill a lot of eye holes.

A sharp quality is essential no matter what type of bit you use.

I insert the bit and adjust the table height so the tip of the bit barely touches the backer board. The idea here is to get a tiny hole (forstner or brad point) or little bump (twist drill) so you can easily locate the hole position from the backside of the board.

Drill the hole with the proper speed. Faster speeds are better for small holes. Turn the board over. Find the small hole or bump and carefully drill from the other side. This is easy with brad point or forstner bits. It takes some practice to work well with twist drills. With twist drills, I hold the piece lightly while lowering the bit slowly into the wood.

To get a smooth hole, you need to let the bit do the cutting. I have watched many woodworking videos where they force the bit through the wood.

Softer woods require sharper, better-quality tools to get smooth cuts.

If possible, drill your holes before cutting on the scroll saw. I have broken many pieces by not doing this.

When buying forstner or brad point bits, buy the best you can afford.

Lee Valley Lipped brad point bits a great. Buy the sizes you need. With sets, I find that there are always a lot of bits that do not get used.

I like Freud or Fisch wave cutter bits for my forstner bits. However, I have a couple of carbide-tipped metric bits I purchased from Aliexpress that work amazingly well. They only come in metric sizes.

I always buy high-speed steel bits.

For twist drills, I use Harbor Freight bits. They may not work for steel, but I am not using them for steel. They are cheap and run true.

Harbor Freight brad point bits are junk. I bought a set to try them out. Only three of the bits were useable. The rest were ground off-center or were not straight.

 

The photo shows drilling the back side of the eye hole. Note the little wheel on the end of the bit. If you use the technique described above, you will see many of these.  Also, notice how smooth the hole edge is.

Here is a shot of what the wheels look like coming out of a larger hole.

Edited November 7, 2023 by BadBob
Added photo.