Need to drill hole in Terra Cotte pot

[Don Morris]

A neighbor asked me to drill a hole in one of her large Terra Cotte pots. I don't want to crack it. Anybody with experience doing that operation? Best type of drill bit...brad point, forstner...??? Thanks for any input.

[mark page]

Possibly a masonry bit????

[David Epperson]

I thinking more along the lines of a diamond abrasive coring bit. How big of a hole are we talking about here?

[Ryan Myers]

I have never drilled that specific material. Depending on the size of hole a glass/tile bit would probably due the trick. These bits will drill ceramic tile like butter. Just go slow and easy. The material is probably baked in an oven which makes it very hard. So it is likely it will quickly dull most bits.

[Daniel Mercuro]

I have drilled a few drain holes in flower pots before and all you need to know is don't push, just let the bit do it's job. Terra cotta is soft and crumbly, so a masonry bit works well but any thing will work.(I wouldn't use a good brad point or forstner).

[Don Morris]

She said the hole needs to be about the size of a finger. So I'll just use one of my ordinary 1/2" drills. Slow sounds good! I thought about masonry drills, but that seemed too rough for such a soft material. That's when I thought "Oh boy I'll probably crack her large pot and all my neighborhood credability will go to hell". Thanks for the input guys!!!

[Rick Levine]

I drilled the hole in the side of this pot with a masonry bit. Do take it slow and it will work out fine and you won't ruin one of your standard bits. I've also used a masonry bit on some harder porcelain pots successfully but again go slow.

By the way, this is a smoker I made which will handle three racks of baby back ribs at once or a whole turkey or a couple of pork butts.

For scale, note the 12" rule on top.

[dan moran]

id suggest a masonry or a tile/glass bit (either wll work),

i just wanted to add to a few of the above post that say to go slow in that you should go slow while the bit sholud be going pretty fast..

speed= high / feed = low...

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

You can start the hole with a small drill bit say 1/8" or so. High speed or carbide will do

You can enlarge the hole with a carbide burr, or you can tweak it to final with a triangular file by hand slowly rotating it. I'd not use a 1/2" drill of any sort 'cause I am most certain you'll crack the pots. If I absolutely had to use a big two flue drill I'd grind a flat on the cutting edges to slow the bite rate. and then I'd consider turning it in a brace and bit - by hand.

[Don Morris]

Job Done!

Sounded like a masonry bit was the consensus to use so I used one. Went slow. No problem. Needed to enlarge the hole slightly. Tried to wiggle the bit in the hole to enlarge it and chipped the edge a little. But since the hole is in the bottom it's not a cosmetic problem. Whew! Stopped. Put an arbor band with an 80 or so rough grit paper on the drill and enlarged it with that which worked reasonably well. Neighbor happy! Reputation intact! Thanks to all of you at SMC.