I had a few small pieces of damascus I forged and formed them into tear drops for my sister to use making jewerly (the pieces are about the size of a dime). My problem is drilling a hole in them. I used a NEW 3/16" colbolt drill bit and it did not go through. I used cutting oil on the drill bit but after about 10 sec. it started to squeel and smoke. I did not heat treat the damascus after forging but did annealed it. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help. William

what steel did you use?

William,
In Australia there are drill bits available that are capable of drilling through a file without dulling the drill bit. They look like a masonary drill bit with the tungsten tips but are only good for drilling to about 5mm depths (almost 1/4")
I've seen them in a size range from 4mm to 12mm (3/16 to 1/2")and sold seperately from $4 to $16. They must be available in the states.
I had to drill a hole through the centres of 5 x 2" ball bearings that even a centre punch wouldn't touch. I stuck it in the coke forge at the end of the day, heated to just above cherry red covered fire with kapol wool (refractory lining) and shut the air off. I checked it 3 hrs later and it was still cherry red but it did cool off overnight. I drilled holes with standard HSS drill bit and reheated and quenched to regain hardness. It should work for the Damascus - lets see what the Damascus Gurus have to say before proceeding with trial and error.
Cheers :)

What steel and how did you anneal it? Some steels harden when you use the annealing process of other steels---especially in small pieces.

When I had to drill a hardened patternwelded knifeblade once I used a solid carbide drill bit *very* *carefully* (only had one at the fleamarket for $1).

Annealing something that small may be a task as it loses heat so fast that it does not cool slowly enough to lose its hardness. Not knowing what you used I suspect it contains an air hardening steel. We could be of more help if you give us specifics as to what steels and how you annealed....

look at advanced annealing methods in the knife section, its one of the sticky's

Sorry I should have though to list my steel types, my bad.
The steels used are 1085 and L6 (band saw blade) and ended with about 176 layers. I annealed by heating to cherry red and shutting off forge the gas forge enclosing front and back with fire brick and leaving over night. When I shut the forge down the inside was glowing bright yellow so I know it took a while to cool down.

If it's a small piece I'd try the anneal again with a 1/2 or so plate under the piece. That might give it enough massto cool slowly enough.
Or you could hot punch.

Heat a large piece of seel and the piece you want to soften lay them side by eah so they are touching in a thick bed of vermiculite and cover with another thick layer. Leave overnight