What Does the Term “Jobber” Mean?
The general definition of the term “jobber” is “a person or company that buys from manufacturers and sells to retailers”, most commonly used in the 1850-1950 period. At that time, manufacturers were mostly producing general purpose “for the trade” drill bits, not using specialized machining applications to make specific lengths or designs like today. These drills, were of medium length and suitable for a wide variety of jobs, coining the term “jobber-length”, reflecting the same concept of terms like “general purpose” and “multipurpose”. Today, jobber drill refers to the length of the drill itself.
What is a Jobber Drill?
Today Jobber Drills are manufactured in a number of different style to tackle a number of different applications. Jobber Drills still remain the most commonly found type of drill bit. A jobber drill bit has a long length compared to its diameter. The length of the flute is between 8-12 or 9-14 times the diameter of the drill, depending on the drill specifications. For example, a 1/2″ diameter jobber drill will be able to drill a 4-1/2″ deep hole because it is 9 times the diameter in length. Jobber drills are measured using a number of different systems:
- Fractional Sizes
- Letter Sizes
- Wire Gauge Sizes
- Metric Sizes
The size and measurement system you choose will depend on the application for which the drill will be used.
Jobber Drill Options Available at Tanner
- XL5 Heavy Duty Jobber Length Twist Drills
- HEX28 Hex Shank Jobber Length Twist Drills
- XGO Black & Gold Jobber Length Twist Drills
- 705 General Purpose Jobber Length Twist Drills
- 705C Cobalt Jobber Length Twist Drills