Have started turning some wood grips on my lathe, and have a couple of questions

1) where do you find brad point bits in longer lengths (8 inch)? Or should i use another type of bit to bore out blanks for the mandrel.

2) i have practiced on some aspen wood, and i like the finished product. It is light and very abundant where i live. I haven't seen or heard of anyone using aspen for handles or reel seats...is there a reason? I know some of you have used basswood or balsa, is the softness of the aspen its drawback?


As always, thanks for the help, have a great weekend.


Carrington Tate
Durango, CO

Woodcraft sells 10" long brad point bits. They only have 7 sizes but as soft as Aspen is that should actually be OK. For Aspen, you may want to consider finishing it with 3-4 coats of thick CA. It will make it harder and somewhat more durable. You can use steel wool to knock down the gloss on CA if you want. I don't know if Aspen is softer than Juniper, but Stan Grace has had very good luck with his Juniper grips.

Wood grips are only as boring as you make them!

Whoops....That is not the question is it.

I am just beginning to work with wood grips myself and have given up on trying to bore the completed grip. I am instead fitting each ring ( I am making my grips from rings) and any spacers by hand and then glueing up and finishing on the rod. This takes time, is very frustrating, and have no room for error, but I can get it to work at least some of the time. All mt rings are cut with the same hgole saw bit with a .25" center drill bit so I chuck up the cut rings on a allthread rod and do all of the rough shaping FIRST and then fit each resulting ring to the rod.

Does this make sense? My GF MADE me drink DECAF this am.

Derek

p.s.........Get a woodburning set and experiment.....Trust me on this!



Derek L. McMaster
Rohnert Park, CA

Born to Fish, FORCED to Work

In most instances, you do not want to attempt to bore a wood grip in one pass - the oils from the wood, along with the chips, will clog the flutes of the bit and the result is heat. A lot of heat. At that point, the wood swells and splits.

After doing a few you'll learn to instinctively know when to back the bit out and clear the chips. You can tell in the way it sounds and in the way it cuts. Depending on the wood you're boring, you may be able to bore a couple or more inches at a time, while with others you may find yourself having to withdraw the bit every inch or less.

...........

Hi Carrington;
Personally, I don't think aspen is a very good choice for grips, tho it may be great to practise on. Aspen doesn't hold up to water very well at all and if any gets thru the finish you put on the grip it will discolor badly. you can get long auger bits in many diameters at Home Depot, I would use a large enough piece of wood to make up for any inaccuracy in drilling, then mount it on a mandrel and turn it to shape, then mount on the rod. Check with Las Animas Wood Products for scraps, I got a nice piece of Spanish Cedar from them for nothing a few months back. It's a very lightweight wood, very resistant to rot and smells great. Payne used to use it for reelseat inserts because it is lighter than cork.
john
(give me a call if you need more help)

When you are boring with the 10" bradpoint bit back out and clean the bit often and bore at low speed as Tom says once you clog the flutes you build up heat. As the flutes begin to clog the bit will start to squeak. I try to clean often and avoid the squeaking even if it means drilling only an inch at a time. Clogged flutes build up heat and cause swelling problems but they can also move your dfrill off center and leave you with an off center drill hole with a slight bend that can create mandrel problems as well. As a rule keeping your drill bit cool, clean, and sharp gives you the straightest bore holes.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

I'll 3rd what Tom & Stan said! Slow and back out often. I use the long bits from Woodcraft. Easiest for me is to bore the square stock out first, mount on one of Andy's new type mandrels and turn. The reason I do it this way is that if my hole is a little off center, it won't matter because when I turn it on the mandrel, it will turn it concentric around the hole.

Derck, you're a lot braver than me!!!!!


Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2006 02:39AM by Mike Barkley.

Just visiting this site and found the question about boring wood handles to be interesting. I build/repair pool cues and have similar problems. There are air drills (they are hollow) that will remove the chips as you drill but they are expensive. Otherwise look for three or four flute bits, they help eliminate walk off. If making the handles in sections is what you want to do check out Atlas Billiard Supply they have good selection of rings and other hardware that would enhance your handles. There are also many "exotic" wood suppliers that cater to the "cue" industry that can supply about any type wood you would like and from what I've seen, considerably cheaper than the "rod parts" suppliers.

Carrington, I use 135 degree split point parabolic bits, as with all bits they all will clog up, the split point bits will drill the straightest holes, especially when you are dealing with knots and or burls, main problem is to go slow. You can get 135 degree split point bits from Vermont american, they go all the way up to 9" on 1/4" and up with the bigger bits, just go slow and keep cleaning them out. Parabolic bits are the best as they cleanout the best, but the 135 degree point bits do not need to be center punched and will always start straight even on metal. As was mentioned before, I drill the holes on the square stock, use a mandrel and turn them that way, even if you are off a little it will always turn on to true center. Just my take on the subject.

Thanks for all the help fellas. John, thanks for the insight on the aspen, sure would hate to have that happen after mounted on a rod. I will just use it to practice on, or make other projects on.

Carrington