Previously, I showed you how to construct a dockside bait tank out of a plastic 50-gallon drum. I made mention then that the hardest part of the entire project involved drilling and sanding the myriad of holes you need to drill in the drum. The bit I was using turned out to be way too small and ended up leaving a jagged edge. We didn't think it was big deal at the time, but when we pulled out the first batch of bait stored overnight in the big blue condo, a lot of the pilchards had wounds around their mouth and eyes from trying to squeeze their heads through the jagged holes. 
 
Since I didn't feel like spending another minute sanding out the 1,000 holes in the damn barrel, I headed to the hardware store to see if they had a solution. The first fellow I talked to knew just what the job called for: "You need a beveled countersinking bit." Hot dang, my hands were saved!
 
This little jewel made short work out of that barrel and the next, creating perfectly smooth holes in the tough plastic and saving our precious baits in the process. The bit has the size of the hole labeled in the cutaway section, so I just added a black line with a permanent marker on the outside to show me where to stop pushing.

Walker Holcomb
Maitland, Florida