I needed a couple of tapered red oak face grain plugs for an upcoming repair job. I didn't want to spend money on a plug cutter that I'll probably never use again, and I didn't really have time to order it or plugs anyway, so I thought about how I could make them. Here is what I came up with.
I started with a piece of 3/4" stock, drilled 7/32" holes about 1/4" deep, and cut them to rough circles on the bandsaw.
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Next I threaded a 1/4" bolt into the holes.
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This allowed me to easily thread them onto a piece of 1/4" threaded rod that I chucked into a drill. This drill has provisions for a side handle that can be threaded on on either side. I used this mounting hole to attach the drill to a plywood platform that would ride on my stationary belt sander. Hopefully you can see the bolt attaching the drill to the platform. A plug blank also is threaded onto the 1/4" threaded rod.
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IMG_6265.JPG"Turning" the plugs turned out to be surprisingly easy. I held the chucked plug at a slight angle against the rotating belt, running the drill in the opposite direction, so in my case forward. I watched the circle I had drawn on the end of the plug until it just disappeard and then checked the diameter at both ends with a set of calipers. I wanted 1" dia. plugs, and found when I got them about 0.02" under and the other end about that much over sized they fit nicely in a test hole.
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I also used this piece of scrap to cut off the end with the drilled hole, leaving me with a tapered plug about 1/2" high.
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Once I figured out the process, it only took a couple of minutes to make a plug, and you can make plugs of any size with any species of wood. I'm sure a little more thought to improve the concept would allow me to dial in the taper angle precisely as well as the finished size of the plug, but I only need a couple so I didn't go that far. But I'm all set now for that repair job. Thanks for looking.
John
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