On 2008-11-17 19:29:47 -0500, Wayne.B said:

You can drill SS with ordinary bits but you need a *lot* of pressure
to keep it from work hardening, easy in a drill press, not so much up
the mast on a rainy day with a battery drill motor. :-)

Been there, found that cobalt was considerably easier, finished the
part of our job that it could do as easily as drilling hardwood
(couldn't find 25/64ths in cobalt, so used a 3/8 cobalt to do the heavy
lifting and destroyed a few "soft" 25/64" HSS bits to finish up.)

Good bits are well worth the expense.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/