The advantage of this drill is that it is cheap. It doesn't stay very sharp. I've drilled 20 holes in half inch oak and it's almost done. By this time there was a lot of gunpowder in the shavings and the blade was turning black and blue. I think if you sharpened it it would last longer, but it's not very good steel so sharpening probably won't do you much good. I give it 4 stars because it did its job for me. 20 holes was all I needed and didn't want to pay more for higher quality.