3/4" dogs in 20mm dog holes

[Rick Potter]

I bought one of those Armor 1 1/2" thick predrilled tables from Rockler. Turns out the holes were about 1/32" shy of being 3/4 (sorry, don't speak metric). A true 3/4" dowel would not go in the hole, but a HD metric 3/4" dowel fits. I ended up using a 3/4" metal working twist bit, and ran it through a few of the holes, came out fine. My drill bit was a cheapie, from a show, and has about 3-4" useable depth.

You might consider doing every other hole, to keep options open.

[David J Blackburn]

Can't you go as deep as possible with the parf system (or whatever), then drill a narrower hole in the middle of what remains, and then take a long trim/pattern router bit (I always forget - whichever one has the bearing on the top) to flush the roughed out/narrow bottom to the correct sized smooth top of the hole?

Even if you don't have a long enough bit, you could then finish it from the bottom with the other type of bit (pattern/trim).

I mean, that's tedious I suppose but it'd work.

[Mike Holbrook]

The LV 20mm that says it is 6" long with 3 5/8' of fluting may work if it actually is 20mm, but it is $34.80. I can buy two Wood Owl Ultra smooths, 7.5" fluted more of the way for less. The 18" Wood Owls around that size are less too. 20mm is about .787" so it isn't far from .75. 19mm (.748) is very close to .75. Some of my Veritas hardware sort of work in the 19mm holes, will work better with use/work on the holes. Longer shafts seem to have more trouble.