Deep Endgrain Holes

[Dan Stuewe]

I'm looking into turning my own fishing rod handles out of wood and one of the concerns I have is drilling a 1/4" - 1/2" dia hole through the end grain of a ~12" long spindle. I have a drill press with ~4" travel and a Jet 1236 lathe (with drill chuck and Super Nova scroll chuck). The tailstock on the Jet travels around 3".

I have an extender that I've used for spade bits, but I don't recall the diameter of the "head". This could possibly work with a forstner bit? Would a long brad point bit give good results? I've got other ideas, but I thought I could get many more realistic ones here.

Thanks,

[Michael Stafford]

A lamp auger on the lathe would work if a 3/8" hole is adequate. If not you can use electrician bits to drill larger holes. I'm not sure what sizes are
available but I have two in 3/8" and 1/2" diameters.

You can drill deeper holes than 4" with your drill press by cranking up the table. You can also try the "Chunnel" solution and drill from each end and hope to meet in the middle. :eek:

[keith zimmerman]

Dan, if I remember correctly, the extender I have used was just at or just slightly smaller than 1/2". I seem to remember using a 1/2" bit with it while drilling access holes through double top plates for running electric wires.

The type of extender I used was 12" long and attached and secured to a spade bit with two allen screws. I doubt that this type of extender would work very well with a forstner bit. I do not know if they are available for smaller spade bits.

keithz

[Jamie Buxton]

I'd go after it with an electrician's bit, or sometimes they're called bell-hanger's bit. I've got several 12" long, and one 36" long! I wouldn't trust my ability to drill straight down the length of the handle. I'd start with a larger-diameter blank, bore the hole, and then use that hole to center the blank on the lathe, where I'd turn the outside to be concentric to the hole.

[Dick Howard]

If you are making your oun spindles, you could rout two grooves ,then glue them togeather beforeyou turn the spindle. Most fishing rod handles have a tapered hole to fit the rod taper.
Dick in Idaho

[Bob Smalser]

You don't say if you have a chuck or center steady fot your lathe...I'll assume you don't.

The cheapest way I can figure to do it perfectly is to buy a morse taper chuck from Sears...25 bucks:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=00929849000

Using bellhangers bits, drill a .25 hole in you rough stock and epoxy in a length of drill rod.

Mount the workpiece in the headstock chuck by the drill rod stub....and use the live center of your tailstock...turn your handle...dismount and heat the drill rod with 120 degrees or so of heat, breaking the epoxy bond. The epoxy still in the handle will bond well with your rod blank, even tho it's been heated.


http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5305809/67802832.jpg

Before turning the handles, I square up the ends of the rough stock and bore a small pilot hole for the drill rod blade mount, to be bored full size later. If I drilled the full-size hole before turning the handle, the hole would be too large for the lathe’s live center. A faster alternative is to fabricate and epoxy mount the drill rod before turning, using the drill rod stub to mount the turning square in the lathe’s 3-jaw or Jacob’s Chuck…but most woodworkers don’t own a chuck for their lathes, so I’ll do it without using a chuck.

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5305809/67802795.jpg

I turn the handles on the lathe using a sizing gage on the parting tool matched to the ferrules I’m using. Any brass or copper pipe the correct size will do, but these are ready-made brass ferrules used by larger hydraulic repair shops to fabricate hoses…they are readily available in an amazing array of 50 sizes for 5 dollars a dozen. Acquire your hardware first…I rarely begin a project before all the hardware is on hand, as I prefer to pick my own challenges.

[Jim Becker]

Using a chuck to hold the spindle with a steady will allow you to drill on the lathe using a simple handled auger bit or even a spindle gouge. And if your tailstock is hollow permitting use of a lamp auger as previously mentioned, you don't need the chuck and steady, although you need to make your blank longer so you don't engage the drive center. But do keep in mind that it's unlikely that you will be able to keep the drilling implement "exactly" on center over a 12" distance...there may be a slight deviation. But I don't think that will hurt any for your application.