How to drill a square hole?

[keith zimmerman]

I need to drill a square (rectangular) hole through a piece of 1/2" walnut for the insertion of a cut nail. The point where the nail passes through the walnut will be visible on both sides.

I was thinking of drilling a pilot hole, then using a small file to make it the shape I need.

Anyone have any thoughts about other methods I could use to accomplish this?

keithz

[Brian Weick]

I usually just drill out as much as I can with a Fostner bit, depending on the size of the channel , then use one of my wood chisels to square the corners (make sure the chisel is very sharp) ~It's not hard to do and fairly straight forward Keith.
Brian

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Maybe a mortiser will work. Depends on the size.

Bruce

[Lee DeRaud]

Brian's method will work fine, but it's a bit dodgy for something as small as a nail hole. (I for one don't have chisels that small.)

How about:
1. (hard way) Chuck up the nail in a drill and file down a round portion the thickness of the wood, then cut the nail in half. You can then insert the pieces from both sides into normal round pilot holes.

2. (easy way) Drill an undersized round hole in the walnut and let the square nail take care of the corners when you drive it in.

[Phil Sanders]

This is just a guess on my part,

For 1/2 inch hardwood---
- Pilot hole, as you suggested
- Coping saw, or more specific a Jeweler's Saw with Adjustable frame

(the kind of coping saw that uses 5 inch pin-less scroll saw blades. As a suggestion Look at Constantines.com Item JFS15. Other web sites carry similar fret saws or Jewelers Frame saws that use 5 inch scroll saw blades. Look around the Internet and you may find a deep throat version; just be sure saw uses pin-less blades.)

- #2 "crown tooth" Olsen scroll saw pin-less blades, or other "two-way cut"
so you get a cut with push and pull stroke since the square hole will be tight fit.
{normal coping saw blades with a pin won't fit in pre-drilled hole, IMHO}

Or borrow a scroll saw

Now, lets see what other suggest.

Phil

[Andy Hoyt]

DeRaud #2 would be my way.

Moving this to GWW to get more eyeballs on this.

[Jesse Cloud]

DeRaud #2 rocks!

If for any reason that won't float your boat, I saw an article in Fine Woodworking a few months back where the author used square key stock for pulley keys (at any good hardware store) to square off a round hole. He ground the leading edges somewhat pointy and ground a groove around the top to help with extraction. Intended for square wood pegs...

[Lee DeRaud]

DeRaud #2 rocks!

There's only one of me: if there were two of me, I'd make the other one do all the work.

[Allen Neighbors]

My vote goes for the mortiser.

[Dennis Puskar]

I would have to use a mortiser to. That would be the best way.

Dennis

[Richard M. Wolfe]

DeRaud method #2.

[Ray Gardiner]

How big is the nail?

[Cary Swoveland]

On some days, for some projects, here's how I'd do it: cut the walnut into three pieces, then glue it back together, leaving a rectangular hole of the desired size.

Cary

[Frank Drew]

Keith

If Lee DeRaud's common sense second suggestion doesn't work, and if you mean an 8d or 10d equivalent cut nail, you won't find a mortiser that small so I'd suggest getting a small chisel, say an 1/8", to custom fit a drilled hole (or two small, side-by-side drilled holes). The modern cut nails I'm familiar with are both rectangular and tapered, slightly complicating your job, but maybe you're using an old nail which is more square in section.

Can you explain a bit more what you're aiming at, why you need to see the nail's entry and exit holes?

[Paul Engle]

Take it down to your locale friendly machine shop and have em broach it .... well just an idea ... really they make square drills