Dan Hulbert
01-10-2011, 11:36 AM
Some of you may have seen my earlier posting asking how to clear chips from mortises. Thanks to your feedback, I ended up flipping the board over, tapping out the chips with a dead blow hammer and then finishing the clearing with a shot of compresses air.
I had time over the holidays to work on the mortises. Knowing this was a big job, I ordered a new Premium Hollow Chisel Mortising bit and sharpening cones from Lee Valley. After trimming the bit to length, I stared suing it Christmas Eve. About 20 Mortises into the project, the drill bit broke off in the bottom of a mortise. Had to dig out about 3/8” of the bit. Nuts.
Checked the LV website and saw that their customer service center should still be open. Sure enough, Rob answered and after I explained my problem, he said they would ship me a new bit on Monday and asked that I return the old bit. After I hung up (doh) I thought, Rob at Lee Valley… could it have been Mr. Lee? Who else would work customer service on Christmas Eve?
Back to the shop after Christmas. Had an original Delta bit and put it to work. After sharpening, I managed another 20 mortises and the same thing happened. Drill bit broke, dug it out, started to wonder about my technique. Now I was facing days of shop time without the right tooling. I looked at the broken bit and wondered. If I drill out the mortise, can I use the chisel to square the joint? Then I looked again. If I sharpen the broken drill, would it clear the chips from the chisel? With nothing to lose, I filed the broken end of the drill bit to kind of an auger bit and gave it a test. Not only did it work, but it left smoother sides on my mortises than I was getting with the regular bit! Took a little more effort to plug the end holes, and I tried not to take too big a bite when clearing in between, but it worked!
Even though the new bit arrived from Lee Valley as promised (best customer service anywhere), I continued to use my “broken” bit and finished off the remaining 280 mortises with it.
Granted, I was making ¼” wide blind mortises, 1 ½” deep and 2” long in Poplar, but it worked!
I don’t think this qualifies as a tip or trick of the trade, but if you get stuck, don’t give up.
Now it’s on to final fit all 320 of the tenons. Perhaps I’ll finish by Easter?
I had time over the holidays to work on the mortises. Knowing this was a big job, I ordered a new Premium Hollow Chisel Mortising bit and sharpening cones from Lee Valley. After trimming the bit to length, I stared suing it Christmas Eve. About 20 Mortises into the project, the drill bit broke off in the bottom of a mortise. Had to dig out about 3/8” of the bit. Nuts.
Checked the LV website and saw that their customer service center should still be open. Sure enough, Rob answered and after I explained my problem, he said they would ship me a new bit on Monday and asked that I return the old bit. After I hung up (doh) I thought, Rob at Lee Valley… could it have been Mr. Lee? Who else would work customer service on Christmas Eve?
Back to the shop after Christmas. Had an original Delta bit and put it to work. After sharpening, I managed another 20 mortises and the same thing happened. Drill bit broke, dug it out, started to wonder about my technique. Now I was facing days of shop time without the right tooling. I looked at the broken bit and wondered. If I drill out the mortise, can I use the chisel to square the joint? Then I looked again. If I sharpen the broken drill, would it clear the chips from the chisel? With nothing to lose, I filed the broken end of the drill bit to kind of an auger bit and gave it a test. Not only did it work, but it left smoother sides on my mortises than I was getting with the regular bit! Took a little more effort to plug the end holes, and I tried not to take too big a bite when clearing in between, but it worked!
Even though the new bit arrived from Lee Valley as promised (best customer service anywhere), I continued to use my “broken” bit and finished off the remaining 280 mortises with it.
Granted, I was making ¼” wide blind mortises, 1 ½” deep and 2” long in Poplar, but it worked!
I don’t think this qualifies as a tip or trick of the trade, but if you get stuck, don’t give up.
Now it’s on to final fit all 320 of the tenons. Perhaps I’ll finish by Easter?