Conventional drilling in carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites uses cutting tools optimized to minimize damage to composite laminates. The dominant modes of composite damage at drilled hole sites include ply push-out at laminate exit, ply pull-up at laminate entry, fiber fraying and pullout at hole surfaces, delamination surrounding the holes, and hole surface and size irregularities. The brittle nature of thermosetting polymers and toughness of carbon fibers make them suitable for abrasive cutting methods including diamond blade saws and abrasive populated waterjets. This paper presents abrasive hole drilling for composites using core saw drills, diamond sintered conical bits, and fabricated diamond coated friction flow drill (FFD) bits. Polymer bonded abrasive drill bits were designed, fabricated and tested for this purpose. The effect of feed rate, spindle speed, cooling, hole preparation, and abrasive grit size on hole roughness, tool-workpiece temperature, visible damage, thrust, and torque are quantified and compared against conventional drill bits, sintered diamond abrasive coated bits, and polymer bonded diamond abrasive bits. Results show that it is possible to achieve quality holes in CFRP laminates using abrasive drilling with optimized process settings and sufficient cooling to minimize thermal damage and debris removal from the drilling site. Bearing tests of specimen drilling using conventional and friction drill bits are also compared.