Sharpen Your Drill Bits

Step 6 Width and angle of the cutting edge

Notice the angle of the red line. If there is too much overhang in the previous step, the red line will approximate the cutting edge at the tip of the bit. It is too wide and the bit profile will be too flat. The bit will skate on a metal surface and the hole will be hard to start. You can reduce the bit's overhang quite a bit, but be careful. If you reduce it too much, the tip you adjusted in step 4 may come into contact with the grinding wheel and you will damage your sharpening guide.