oval hole

[Dave Fritz]

Chefware kits has a fish spatula and the directions call for an oval hole. How does one drill an oval hole?

Confused about this one.

Dave Fritz

[charlie knighton]

oval chuck

[John Keeton]

If you use a forstner bit and angle the stock, the hole will be oval. Not sure that will work for your situation, but it will produce an oval hole.

Or, drill the hole and cut a piece from the stock at an angle.

[Michael Gibson]

Drill a larger hole then cut it in half through the center of the hole, sand the sawn sides until you have the correct size oval hole.................

[Dale Miner]

I looked at the instructions, pretty sketchy.

In the instructions, it calls for a 9/64" oval hole. That is just over 1/8". The picture of the spatula shows a tang that appears to be about a half inch wide, so a guess would be the tang is 9/64" one direction, and approx 1/2" the other. To make that hole, drill the handle with a bit that is the same or just slightyl smaller than the wide part of the tang. Turn a dowel that is the same diameter as the hole, and then slit the dowel lengthwise leaving a 9/64" wide slot running lengthwise through the center of the dowel. (It is best to leave a square portion on the dowel to facilitate holding). Do not slit the dowel full length, but leave a portion on one end to keep the pieces together. Now, cross cut the split dowel at the length of the drilled hole. This will leave you with a pair of fillers that will go into the drilled hole, and result in a 9/64" x approx 1/2" wide oval hole. Epoxy the tang and fillers into the hole in the handle.

Panko bread crumbs are very good on fried fish.

[Dave Fritz]

Thank you Dale. Excellent solution.

Dave Fritz

[Fred Belknap]

Looks like it would be easy enough to carve and sand off 1/16" on each side of a 9/16" dowel.