Some time back I used a drill press to drill into steel, and got nothing but little chips of metal. Over the weekend I drilled (different project, 3/8" hand drill with a different bit) and got chips while the hole was shallow, but as the hole got deeper, got curly turns. It got to the point that I could tell when the bit was about the punch through when I saw the curlies.

Anyone notice this, or know what causes chips vs. curlies? Do the curly turns indicate more efficient operation, or something?