Well, I ain't no kind of machinist, although I have machined a bit of stuff in my time, and I ain't much of a mechanic, although I have been wrenching on some thing or another most of my years; I have always used what I had on hand, and found that ideally, a tap with larger flutes, eg: a two or three flute vs. a four flute worked a bit better because it carried the "schmutz" out of the threads a bit better - more space for it in the tap, easier to flush out with a blast of air or pressurized lubricant. Also, a bottoming tap is nice; but, I have sometimes done the grooving thing on a bolt like John says, and for cleaning out, that works pretty well. In my experience, a thinner lubricant also seems to work better than a heavy type for cleaning out, especially blind holes. Of course, when you have to keep tight control of chips and other "schmutz", like spark plug holes, grease is the best lube, and an easy, light touch on the tap wrench.

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