An earth-boring bit has a bit body that includes head sections, each having depending bit legs with a circumferentially extending outer surface, a leading side, and a trailing side. A bearing shaft depends inwardly from each of the bit legs for mounting a cutter. The bit includes a beveled surface formed at a junction of the leading side and the outer surface of each bit leg. The beveled surface is angled relative to a radial plane emenating from the axis of the bit. The angle of the beveled sur...

An improved braze alloy is microalloyed to include about 0.0005 wt % to about 0.5 wt % of at least one aggressively surface acting element selected from tellurium (Te), selenium (Se), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), and gallium (Ga), or any combination thereof. The braze alloys may include at least about 30% by weight of at least one base metal selected from the group of silver (Ag), copper (Cu), gold (Au), nickel (Ni), or aluminum (Al). In one example, a silver braze alloy suitable for brazing a c...

Drill bits comprise a plurality of steel cutting teeth each having a crest positioned at a tip portion of each tooth, a first flank surface extending from the crest to the cone, a second flank surface opposite the first flank surface and extending from the crest to the cone, and edge surfaces extending from the crest to the cone and interposed between the first and second flank surfaces. Each cutting tooth includes corners that extend from the crest to the cone that are defined by the interface ...

Roller cone drill bits are provided with cutting elements and cutting structures optimized for efficient drilling of soft and medium formations interspersed with hard stringers. The cutting elements and cutting structures may be satisfactorily used to drill downhole formations with varying amounts of hardness. The cutting elements and cutting structures may also be optimized to reduce tracking and increase wear resistance.

An asymmetric gage row insert provides a larger amount of wall contacting surface thereby decreasing the wear on the gage insert and increasing the ability of the earth boring apparatus to maintain a full gage hole. The insert has a shape prior to assembly onto the earth boring apparatus that includes a base integrally joined to an asymmetric head. The base is mounted in a socket in the earth boring apparatus. The head projects from the earth boring apparatus and includes an extended gage cuttin...

An insert for a rock bit that includes tungsten carbide particles, and a cobalt binder disposed around the particles, wherein a grain size of the tungsten carbide particles and a content of the cobalt binder are selected to provide a fracture toughness of at least about 18 ksi (in).sup.0.5, a wear number of at least about 2, and a hardness of 85 to 87 Ra is disclosed.

An abrasive wear-resistant material includes a matrix and sintered and cast tungsten carbide pellets. A device for use in drilling subterranean formations includes a first structure secured to a second structure with a bonding material. An abrasive wear-resistant material covers the bonding material. The first structure may include a drill bit body and the second structure may include a cutting element. A method for applying an abrasive wear-resistant material to a drill bit includes providing a...

A drill bit including a bit body having an upper end adapted to be detachably secured to a drill string and at least one leg at its lower end, each leg having a downwardly and inwardly extending journal bearing, at least one roller cone mounted on each journal bearing, at least one cutting element disposed on the at least one roller cone; and a hardfacing overlay on at least a portion of at least one of an inner surface of the at least one roller cone and a surface of the journal bearing, wherei...

A rolling cone drill bit is provided that has gage inserts on the first row from the bit axis to cut to full gage diameter that have a cutting portion enhanced with a layer of super abrasive material. The gage cutting surface has a center axis that is canted to be more normal to the gave curve such that its point of contact at gage is away from the thinner portion of the layer of super abrasive material.

An earth-boring bit has a bit body that includes head sections, each having depending bit legs with a circumferentially extending outer surface, a leading side, and a trailing side. A bearing shaft depends inwardly from each of the bit legs for mounting a cutter. The bit includes a beveled surface formed at a junction of the leading side and the outer surface of each bit leg. The beveled surface is angled relative to a radial plane emenating from the axis of the bit. The angle of the beveled sur...