I've been getting a handle on things...

[Dan Forman]

I found getting a straingt hole to be somewhat of a challenge. My blanks wouldn't fit under my drill press, so I did them on the lathe after roughing into a cylinder. The blank was held in a 4 jaw chuck, while the bit was held in a jacob's chuck in the tailstock, and pushed into the rotating wood. The problem is that you can't drill the hole all in one go, because the drill can't clear all of the chips, they tend to get jammed up.

[Dan Forman]

I found getting a straingt hole to be somewhat of a challenge. My blanks wouldn't fit under my drill press, so I did them on the lathe after roughing into a cylinder. The blank was held in a 4 jaw chuck, while the bit was held in a jacob's chuck in the tailstock, and pushed into the rotating wood. The problem is that you can't drill the hole all in one go, because the drill can't clear all of the chips, they tend to get jammed up.

I drilled the first hole undersized by 1/32", this could usually be done in a couple of passes. Then replace the undersized bit with the correct size, and take out the remainder. However, by this time the handle often doesn't line up perfectly anymore, so you might get a little slop. That may have been prevented with a brad point bit, most of my larger bits are twist bits. The only time I had a serious problem though, was when I tried to enlarge the hole with a hand held electric drill. That one went in the "try to make something useful with this later" bin.

Dan

[Rasmus Petersen]

i drilled into the square stock using my sanding thingy plate on the toolrest. with the drill in jacobs in the headstock. Next im thinking of doing a spacer on the drill and using the drill as a friction drive. then im shure that the hole is centeret..

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Lovely handles, Dan!