Old drill bits?

[paulc]

Food for forging something? Never see them mentioned so probably not?

Paul

[dylanholderman]

So long as they’re not carbide they should be fine to forge, but not really worth the trouble.
Getting the flutes untwisted and flattened out is a lot more work than it looks like and is a lot of trouble for unknown steel, not to mention some bits are high-speed steel which can cause trouble in forging and heat treating.

[Mesophilic]

I just use them to teach my kid and her friends about forging basics.  We use 1/4" and up, and draw out only the shank portion of the drill bit in to a little knife.  Usually a blade not much bigger than a scalpal. 

If I get some time today I'll post a pic of our current batch we just heat treated and cleaned up a little.  I may have a finished "knife" or two laying around as well.

[paulc]

Love to see what you've done...I had this idea I could somehow make some Damascus type steel :-) my first smithing project...🤣🤣🤣

[Mesophilic]

Almost forgot.  Pic quality isn't great from the phone but you get the idea.   I just drill into a block of wood, glue the "tang" in, and let the kids shape the handle.

[Hawkdancer]

Ready made tangs! . I bet the kids get a bang out of shaping their own knife, and learning how to keep the metal cool!
Hawkdancer