Drill Depth Stop to remove Nub

[Thomas Canfield]

I had hollowed out a green piece of Pecan a couple of years back down to depth of about 15.5" and had a nub about 3/4" H x 1/2" D that came to a point. The piece had some severe checks starting and I stopped and added some "biscuits" out of Mesquite to stop the crack developing. Now after 2 years drying, the Pecan is extremely hard and I was not able to get a scraper to work removing the nub. The thought came to me to use a Forstner bit to remove the nub but how to prevent over boring. I then came up with idea of adding a collar of 1" PVC the length of the 1" drill bit and extension to act as a stop to only drill down to a flush surface. It did work and the had to do minor work to smooth the interior to a reasonable finish and sand. Opening is about 3"D so not overly inviting to check the interior finish. 381595

[Tony De Masi]

Decent enough of a save. But if you are leaving a nub, center bottom, while hollowing then whatever bit you are using in that area is not dead nuts center.

[Thomas Canfield]

The nub was left with not getting the hollowing tool in dead center when hollowing and going below the original drill hole depth. The green wood hollowed out fairly easy, but then the checks started to open up as stated and I stopped hollowing and did not clean up the bottom while green.

[JohnC Lucas]

Does that not leave a hole from the drill center in the bottom. My method is to use a Hunter #4. I rotate the cutter so it's about 45 degrees to the right and use it as a bevel rubbing tool to cut the center nubbin out. I used to just use a scraper and come at it from the bottom. I learned this from a Demo by David Ellsworth.

[Thomas Canfield]

Yes, it left a small hole and also the outside cut line of bit, but it is 15.5" down inside the vase and less a problem than the raised nub. I tried again this morning to clean up some of the inside with scraper tip, but the "petrified" dried pecan was too hard and out of round. Decided that a good 80 grit flap sanding and disk on long extension was best it was going to get. The piece had opened up with the checking and out of round that it was too difficult to do anymore hollowing. Lots of lessons learned on this piece. Looks like it will be a 15# vase and not a 4 or 5#. It will still look decent on outside with all the accent biscuits and filled checks. Now thinking about a lid or finial to help keep prying fingers out but need to get it off the 6" faceplate to use on a 30" + platter.

[robert baccus]

I do a lot of deep hollowing for vases and urns. Does it really matter what is down there at any real depth?

[Bruce Schoenleber]

... Does it really matter what is down there at any real depth?

Only to the guy who turned it. It can drive him/her batty.

[robert baccus]

Learn to cheat yeah. A shot of flat black rattle can lacquer will hide anything.

[Thomas Canfield]

Had not thought of that. Wish I could still put in on lathe but turned off base Sunday. It really would need to be turning to spray in the quantity of paint needed. Have to remember that idea for next time.