No 'Bite' today
"You've lost the bite in the bit!" my dad yelled. "Huh?" I was about nine and we were installing a swinging gate on our farm, drilling two holes in this gigantic post my father sunk into the ground in front of our tobacco barn. I was excited to be helping him, since I was a general doughy screw-up (his pre-conversion past time was calling me 'Lardy'). Anyway, I'd been using the brace and bit apparatus because we were probably 100 yards from the nearest electrical outlet. It was a neat hand tool: You basically put the drill bit where you wanted a hole, put your shoulder to the knob at the back, then turned it until you bored the hole desired.... ...unless, that is, unless the drill bit lost its 'bite'. The front of the bit had to be cutting fresh wood. Mine was spinning uselessly. There was little to do but withdraw the bit from the hole, clear out the debris, and begin again while pressing much harder. * * * All that to s...