How would you drill a 3" hole 3 Feet deep into a upright tree stump?

[John C Bush]

How about welding a plate(as large as reasonable) on the bottom of the pipe and lagging into the top of the stump. Coat or flash the fop of the stump to manage water access and enjoy the sculpture until the stump gives up the lags.

[andy bessette]

Ship's auger.

[John K Jordan]

So.....if you had to drill 3 feet deep into a stump from the top heading to the bottom and the hole is 3" wide.......how would you do it??

First, does it have to be 3' deep? Seems like 8-10" deep would be enough to hold a galvanized pole unless it was very tall. Another option might be to construct a strong base from steel, weld the pole to it, and hold it to the stump with big lag screws.

Perhaps cut the stump shorter first.

I agree with the others that a stump is not the perfect long-term foundation for a structure. It will soon enough rot away and the pole my come down at an inconvenient time. The bark may fall off far before then and look less than beautiful.

The friend may be after an interesting artistic statement, but for a more permanent stump lamp I might consider making a fake stump from rebar and concrete and use dye and a mold or carving to make it look like a stump. Zoos do this all the time.

JKJ

[Malcolm McLeod]

You fellows do know that 3" pipe is 3.5" o.d.

Cluttering up a perfectly good project with FACTS. ...How rude!!

[Steve Peterson]

First, does it have to be 3' deep? Seems like 8-10" deep would be enough to hold a galvanized pole unless it was very tall. Another option might be to construct a strong base from steel, weld the pole to it, and hold it to the stump with big lag screws.

Perhaps cut the stump shorter first.

I agree with the others that a stump is not the perfect long-term foundation for a structure. It will soon enough rot away and the pole my come down at an inconvenient time. The bark may fall off far before then and look less than beautiful.

The friend may be after an interesting artistic statement, but for a more permanent stump lamp I might consider making a fake stump from rebar and concrete and use dye and a mold or carving to make it look like a stump. Zoos do this all the time.

JKJ

I agree. Why drill 3' down. I would also consider mounting the pole similar to how street lights are mounted. Start with 4 bolts spaces 8-12" apart. There is a base on the lamp that allows you to adjust the pole to be perfectly level.

You would never get me on top of a scaffolding with a large 2 man power drill. Have you ever seen the Youtube videos where one guy looses his grip and the other guy is spun around like a merry-go-round. You wouldn't want to see that from the top of a scaffolding.

Steve

[Bill Dufour]

You could always heat the pipe and burn a hole.
Bill

[keith micinski]

That would literally take two years. Kind of surprised how much negative feedback there is over simply drilling a hole. If it works great if it doesn't who cares. I would actually suggest using a hole saw for as much as you can. You can usually bottom the holesaw out and then smack the plug and it will snap on the grain and then you can pull the piece up but not always unfortunatley. I don't think drilling it relitively straight will be that hard. You will just have to make adjustments as you go.

The biggest problem no one has mentioned is that in a vertical hole there is no where for chips to go. If you have ever tried drilling downwards through three 2 x 4's on the top plate for an electrical line you'll know what I'm talking about, trying to remove the bit is damn near impossible I can't imagine trying to pull up a 3 inch bit 2 foot deep in a stump to get rid of some of the chips. That's why ships auger are fluted their entire length but I'm not sure you can find a 3 foot long ships auger

[johnny means]

Your biggest challenge is going to be maintaining a vertical and straight hole. I would drill a substantially larger hole then set the pipe vertically using cement or sand.

[Mike Cutler]

One thing I haven't heard mentioned is speed, in RPM. You need lower speed and high torque.
For about $80.00 you can buy the bit and extensions at Lowes. It is the drill that will be problematic.
The speed of a normal drill will cause the bit to catch and jerk the drill, BTDT. A 1/2" Milwaukee with a right angle attachment, or a speed changer, will do the job. You don't need two gorilla strong guys either.
What he wants to do is easy. Go slow and clear the debris with an air hose and vacuum and you'll be fine.
Don't overthink it. Just drill it.

[Lon Crosby]

Boy, we need to educate people. Start with a shell auger lampbit in a power drill (https://woodworker.com/38-shell-auger-bit-mssu-153-314.asp).Not expensive and not risky. You’ll need to put an extension on to get to 3’. Thenyou need to find a pipe auger bit (or a pump auger bit) to get to 3+ inches. (http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=112)You’ll run across these in antique shops, typically for not a lot of moneyunless you are going for big ones. Because you are drilling vertically, use ashop vac to pull the chips/shavings out. The key is that these bits aredesigned for cutting end grain. Because you have a straight pilot hole from thelamp bit, you could also weld up a spoon bit that could be powered.