How to Sharpen Masonry Drill Bits

A lot of the holes I drill tend to be into brick, masonry, or concrete, and I find that I am constantly having to change drill bits as they become dull and lose their edge.

For me this is a problem as masonry bits are not cheap so I looked at the best ways to re-sharpen them and save some money here’s what I found:

To sharpen a masonry drill bit you need a bench grinder, cold water, safety goggles, hold the drill bit in both hands horizontally on the machine stop keep it at 60 degrees to the grinding wheel. Press the drill against the grinding wheel, twist the drill clockwise, and drop the shank of the drill pushing the tip up the grinding wheel, repeat on the other side, keep the cutting edges symmetrical.

By sharpening my own masonry drill bits I have saved my self lots of time and money now that I don’t have to go to the store and buy new ones every time they become blunt or dull.

By practicing these techniques you can save time and money too but there are even easier ways to sharpen a masonry drill bit which I’ll show you at the end of this post, let’s take a look:

Setting up the grinder and your workbench

Find a space on your workbench that allows access to stand in front with plenty of space to move your arms and elbows, clear any tools or junk away. Move anything flammable away from the grinding area.

Set a small 8” or 10” bench grinder securely to your work surface, place it close enough to the edge that you can stand in front of it so that you can easily move your hands around without bumping the workbench or anything else.

The bench grinder should be bolted or clamped firmly so that it won’t move.

Make sure you have some clean cold water nearby, some bench grinders have a small container for quenching water, however, I prefer to use an old plastic ice cream tub as they are larger and the water will stay cooler for longer.

Parts of a Drill bit

There are several different parts to a drill bit the “Tip” this end cuts the hole and is made up of the cutting lip, chisel edge, and relief heel.

These are the areas that cut the hole when drilling and become blunt or dull over time and will need resharpening.

The length of the drill is called the shank these can be straight for use in most hand drills or have a morse taper for use in pillar drills.

Along the length of the drill, there are grooves called the flutes that allow swarf and debris to be removed whilst the drill turns. The outer surface along the flute length is called the land and this runs all the way to the cutting lip.

The flutes are cut two-thirds the length of the drill on a straight shank to allow the chuck to grip the shank fully.