What is a "Hollow Auger" ???

[John DeVan]

A friend brought this device into my office this morning to see if I could identify it. ... no clue. It came in a box with the title "Hollow Auger" manufactured by a company called "Merit" ... the number on the box is #4103. ... anybody have any idea? ... what's it used for?

[Rick Lizek]

It makes tenons. The one pictured is missing the shank that would mount in a drill brace. Popular tool with the rustic furniture makers. Say you had a branch of 1-1/2" diameter and you wanted to have a 3/4" tenon on it, you would set the hollow auger to 3/4". The other tool you need is a chamfering tool to put a starting chamfer on the piece. Hollow augers were also made with fixed sized holes. The one shown is adjustable.

[Mike K Wenzloff]

And popular with chair makers of the not so rustic variety.

The chamfering tool is called a "spoke pointer." You can use other means to chamfer the end of the wood going to be tenoned. For instance, a larger chisel, spokeshave or drawknife. The nice thing about the spoke pointer is the taper is nice and even.

The one in the photo will work best on green woods or woods which hold together well and cut cleanly, such as Maple etc. The cutter needs to be very sharp and set very fine for dry woods.

Take care, Mike