Fast, slow I dunno. Helping wife building her famous Santa Clauses and drilling through some of these boots is torturous. I'm using cobalt drills with little success. Any advise??

Slow speed, lot of pressure, oil for lube. Cobalt should get through it. New bit? What size hole?

Start small first.

Hole size and material thickness
would be nice to know.
Regards, Jack

Slow speed, machine oil for cooling.

3/16 size hole, depth varies as each pair is different. The ones I'm working on now seem to be the thickest yet. They look like combat boots.

Tap magic ,new bit ,slow speed.

How deep is varied? What's the deepest?
Do you have a drill press?

Bob

This is gonna sound crazy, but hear me out.
I had a project for a friend who needed 16 stainless steel holes drilled.
Could barely get a punch to make a dent to start with. Dulled all the carbide bits I had and hardly made a dent.
Enters BACON GREASE.(go ahead,... roll your eyes). Believe it or not I made it through all the holes with a single carbide bit that I sharpened myself. That in itself says something.
I am not saying that it will help with spring steel, but give it a try.
What do you have to loose.

I have a drill press which is a good idea for next year. Problem is that she has already Great Stuffed the boots onto the wood legs, so I have to go up through the bottom with this group. Don't have any bacon grease handy.

I was going to second the "start small" comment. But 3/16" is where I would usually start. Anything smaller than that and you risk breaking the bit. Can you take them apart so you can use the drill press? Might be the best option.

Edit: Just realized the "Great Stuff" might make disassembly difficult.

quote:

Don't have any bacon grease handy.

Hmmm, this seems like a 'problem' that could be easily rectified...

Real boots? Having the boots filled is a separate issue for sure, but if you can take the temper out of the steel with some heat it'll cut like butter.

If it's real boots, that leaves the question of how to get to/cover up the steel afterward. Not catching leather on fire is a good thing too. The simplest (not necessarily the easiest, though) answer is to strip the leather off a patch, poke your holes, and fill/paint it back level. There are a number of products intended for auto body work that would work wonderfully for filling level. Spray paint and clear coat to get it color matched. Do the whole boot to avoid an obvious repair. If you've got the skills and are feeling adventurous, you could even go in and dry brush "wear" into the new paint.

I have found that the step drills get through sheet goods much easier than regular twist drills. If you need depth in your holes, maybe not the best bet, but maybe worth a try.

quote:

Originally posted by vulrath:
Real boots? Having the boots filled is a separate issue for sure, but if you can take the temper out of the steel with some heat it'll cut like butter.

And then he's got to re-temper it. Seems entirely unnecessary, just drill the hole.

quote:

Originally posted by vulrath:
Boot making advice.

He's helping his wife out by drilling some holes. If you like telling your wife how to do her projects, then maybe that works out differently for you, but in my experience, that doesn't go very well. Doubly so when you start with "some guy on my forum said...." Considering he stated "her famous Santa Claus boots," I'm guessing she's more than got a method figured out by now.

These are the thickest ever, I'm 3/8" in and still going. Most are 1/8" thick. She thinks I should give up this year as we are running out of time. Show is Columbus Day weekend.

Next year they are getting predrilled on the drill press for sure!!