:thumbsup:good job and wise money management all in the same project. Oh how I miss blacksmiths. When I was a youngster there were blacksmiths in every town and some in between. The last two around here closed up about 20 years ago. Their apporch is heat metal one or more times to certain stages,cool at certain rate between heats,work the metal then reverse the process to restore.
Well, they're a brazed on carbide. I have never tried to sharpen masonary drills. Seems like a lot of work. Bolted connections dont really need to be machined. A torch with a grinder touch up would have been my choice. You need to buy a cheap Victor set up and some tanks. Did you try to resharpen the originL edge?
Most cutting edges are T1 or AR400 or one of the other low alloy quench and tempered steels. Plain carbon 1055 would wear out pretty quickly. Victor makes a powder torch. It would need to be special ordered and needs acetylene.
I applaud your follow through. You are one tough dude.
I know this is an old post but for those in the know, when using a wood hole saw on metal, don't you need to use some kind of oil? I've heard transmission oil is a good cutting oil but is that true? Or some other oil.