2" hole Neander style - help

[John Schreiber]

I'm making a log bench for a friend from a tree that was cut down on their property earlier this spring. I made up legs with 2" round tenons from some branches and I figured I'd drill 2" holes with an adjustable bit. Unfortunately, even after sharpening it, I can't spin it in my 8" sweep brace.

So, using some scrap aluminum and construction lumber, I made up a handle like I've seen on the wall at Cracker Barrel. I don't know what they are called, but it has a 20" sweep.

0709001534-1.jpg

This works, but it is extremely slow going and requires that I put a fair amount of body weight behind it as I turn.

I know one possibility is to buy a 12" or 14" sweep brace, but that costs money. Another is to buy a 2" Forstner bit and use an electric drill, but that costs money too and I was looking forward to doing this all Neander.

Any ideas?

[James Taglienti]

i have never drilled such a hole bu i've a couple of suggestions.

you could get a beater chisel at 2" or maybe a bit smaller and chop in the hole a bunch of times, in the shape of an asterisk *. a lot of the resistance comes from the planing action of that bit. chopping in the hole gives the wood a place to break, and lends it a bit of a chipping action. it's kind of the same principle as cutting a hinge mortise.

I'd also consider drilling a number of smaller holes inside the range of the larger hole so it looks like the cylinder of a revolver handgun, but leave that meat in the middle. that will let the little screw tip feed into something, and the bit will have less work to do.

sometimes the nicker on those bits is obscenely long and the screw draws it very far into the wood before the actual bit starts cutting. that could be causing friction. i wouldnt know how to remedy that but i might put some wax on it.

hope that helps.

[Ted Calver]

2" hole saw and a chisel??

[Jeremy Dorn]

Honestly the easiest answer going neander is simply to go out and find yourself that 12 or 14" brace, they wont cost you more than 15-20 bucks and you'll get a lifetime of use out of em.

But, if spending money is not an option, do you by chance happen to be a weight lifter? If so you might go find yourself a few 25 LB or higher plates off your weight rack and lay them on the top of your man made 20" sweep handle. This would likely give you an added help with the amt of downforce needed to make the bit work.

it sounds as though your lead screw on your adjust-a-bit might be dull though, it really should be pulling the bit through the wood with little actual downforce required (assuming the cutitng edge of the bit is sharp of course)

JD

[Jim Koepke]

There may be a few things happening here.

To try to get a better feel for this, a journey was taken out to the shop. Lately, there has been so much work in the greenhouse, garden and yard that not much time has been spent in the wood shop. Looking at my expansion bit indicates it is a bit of wishful thinking to drill a large hole with one of those. The bar has a spur on it, but it does not look like the edge of the bar can be sharpened. The central part does have an edge that can be sharpened, but that only goes out to about 3/4". My expansion bit cuts a maximum hole size of 1-3/4".

My largest standard bit is a #22 or 1-3/8". I gave this a try in my 8" brace. Only one of the lips was cutting and that made it hard to turn. After a few minutes of sharpening, the lips were close to evened out and it worked much better and was easier to turn with both lips sharing the work.

This gave me the impression that the expansion bit might be much tougher to turn with just one spur and only one lip cutting the hole. Also, the expansion bar looks like it is not really made to cut as much as it is there to extend the spur and help clear the wood as it is broken out.

If the screw is small, that may be why it strips out and requires some extra weight to get it to cut. My standard bit has a fairly big lead screw and it is my practice to drill a small pilot hole for the bigger bits to keep them from causing the work to split.

[Derek Cohen]

Make the tenons narrower...... say 1" diameter.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Steve Thomas]

^ Aussie's, always looking for the easy way out!

[Jim Koepke]

Make the tenons narrower...... say 1" diameter.

Regards from Perth

Derek

That would be my way of doing it also.

Unless there is a need for a larger diameter.

jim

[Eric Brown]

If the holes are close to the edge you could bore a smaller hole and then use a turning saw followed by a half-round rasp.

Eric

[Randy Bonella]

I'll have a similar problem in about 1 week when my wood vise screw arrives from Lake Eire Toolworks. I'll need to bore a 2.5" hole through a 5.75" thick leg. Preference is do it the Neander way but will resort to a large Forstner bit if necessary.

I'm keeping my eye on this thread and will be doing some research on best method. So far the best comment I've heard is bore many smaller holes around the perimeter saw and then rasp out the edges until smooth.

There has to be a way, I'm thinking boat builders would need to bore some pretty sizable holes.... hummm....

Randy...

[David Keller NC]

I'm making a log bench for a friend from a tree that was cut down on their property earlier this spring. I made up legs with 2" round tenons from some branches and I figured I'd drill 2" holes with an adjustable bit. Unfortunately, even after sharpening it, I can't spin it in my 8" sweep brace.

So, using some scrap aluminum and construction lumber, I made up a handle like I've seen on the wall at Cracker Barrel. I don't know what they are called, but it has a 20" sweep.

0709001534-1.jpg

This works, but it is extremely slow going and requires that I put a fair amount of body weight behind it as I turn.

I know one possibility is to buy a 12" or 14" sweep brace, but that costs money. Another is to buy a 2" Forstner bit and use an electric drill, but that costs money too and I was looking forward to doing this all Neander.

Any ideas?

Well, this is sort of outside your original design parameters, but I'd consider squaring up the tenons on the legs with a spokeshave/chisel, and chopping square mortises in the benchtop. You can saw a kerf down the middle of the squared tenons on the legs, and wedge it from the top. The action of the wedge will make a precise fit unnecessary.

[John Schreiber]

. . .you could get a beater chisel at 2" or maybe a bit smaller and chop in the hole a bunch of times, . . . also consider drilling a number of smaller holes inside the range of the larger hole so it looks like the cylinder of a revolver handgun, but leave that meat in the middle. that will let the little screw tip feed into something, . . .

That was worth a try and I tried a couple of variations, but the uneven surface kept the lead screw from biting in properly and since the bit is asymmetric it wouldn't keep going straight.

Honestly the easiest answer going neander is simply to go out and find yourself that 12 or 14" brace, they wont cost you more than 15-20 bucks and you'll get a lifetime of use out of em.

You are right. A bigger brace and a regular auger bit in a 1 1/2 or 2" size is probably the real solution. I'll watch for what I can find at a price I can afford.

. . . it sounds as though your lead screw on your adjust-a-bit might be dull though . . .

The lead screw is sharp, but it's too fine to get traction pulling that big inefficient cutter.

. . . .Looking at my expansion bit indicates it is a bit of wishful thinking to drill a large hole with one of those. . .

I think this is the main problem. It's a multipurpose tool which doesn't do anything well. An achievement in marketing instead of craftsmanship.

. . .This gave me the impression that the expansion bit might be much tougher to turn with just one spur and only one lip cutting the hole. Also, the expansion bar looks like it is not really made to cut as much as it is there to extend the spur and help clear the wood as it is broken out. . . .

Looking at it critically, I can see a bunch of reasons why it won't work well. The head itself is over 3/4" wide so chip clearance is a problem. Having just one blade makes it want to turn asymmetrically and pull against the lead screw. The extension blade has to be shaped like a snow plow so even if the edge is sharp, the geometry makes it hard work. There's a gap between the extension blade and the blade on the body where chips get caught. The nicker is much bigger than it needs to be and causes extra friction.

I have a 1" auger bit and I chucked that up in the 8" sweep brace and had true neander joy. It happily pulled itself through the wood.

Make the tenons narrower...... say 1" diameter. . . .

Smart guy! If I can't get the appropriate tools, I'll do exactly this. My gut feeling is that 1" would not be strong enough to support the log bench, but if need be, I could put in some 3/8" all-thread for reinforcement.

[John Schreiber]

Well, this is sort of outside your original design parameters, but I'd consider squaring up the tenons on the legs with a spokeshave/chisel, and chopping square mortises in the benchtop. You can saw a kerf down the middle of the squared tenons on the legs, and wedge it from the top. The action of the wedge will make a precise fit unnecessary.

That's got possibilities. Since this will be an outside bench, I had thought that it would be best if I can keep from putting any holes in the top so that water wouldn't drain into the tenons and cause shrink/expansion rotting problems. The log itself is greener than the legs, so I am hoping that just making them a tight fit will cause the log to shrink onto the legs.

[Jim Koepke]

Do you have any gouges?

I have cut large roundish holes using gouges.

jim

[Joel Goodman]

Sandy Moss has a 12" Stanley 923 brace listed for $35.