Hi All, I'm having trouble drilling an accurate hole through the blocks of wood that I'm using for fly rod handles. I need to be able to drill accurately through approx 7 inches of wood.
any help appeciated. I've got a basic drill powered lathe and the basic tools available.
cheers
David

This was fully covered in a recent issue of RodMaker Magazine.

I won't go into all the details here. You have several options. One is to bore the block first and then turn, or you can turn it first and then bore. If the latter, which is fairly easy on the lathe, you'll need to leave shoulders on the grip so that you have something to chuck onto. You may also need a steady rest to help center the grip, but as the article shows, the bit itself, if used correctly, will tend to do this on its own. Done carefully, you can swap the grip end for end and get a clean bore with no sign of where the two boring operations meet.

A good bit is a must. A center point or true brad point bit will be best for boring through figured wood without wandering.

Perhaps list your current procedure and we can move forward from there to avoid trouble spots.

.................

David,
I've only bored up to 6" blanks, for reel seat inserts, but think the process I use will also work out to 7" and beyond on larger diameter blanks.

First I draw an X on the one end of the blank, and use a center punch to create a hole in the center of the blank’s end.

I use a four jaw chuck mounted on my headstock to center the square blank in the jaws. The blank is loosely mounted into the four jaw chuck. On the tailstock I mount my collet chuck, but I believe a stationary drill chuck would also work. My 3/8” brad point drill bit is inserted into the collet chuck. I slide the tail stock toward the wood blank and loosely insert the tip of the brad point bit into the centered hole. Now I tighten the jaws of the four jaw chuck, and lock the tailstock in place.

I set my lathe to the slowest speed setting to rotate the wood blank. If the blank I’m boring is more than four inches long, I first bore three quarters of the way with a five inch bit (withdrawing the bit periodically to clear the bit of shavings). Then I switch to a ten inch bit for the remainder of the boring. The reason I don’t use my 10” bit for the entire hole is that the bit is deeply fluted, and wobbles somewhat if I have nine inches of bit between the collet and the stock. I use light pressure while advancing the bit into the rotating stock, and take care to ease the bit out of the end of the blank, trying to avoid blowing out an irregular hole. I feel fairly confident boring a three eighth inch hole in three quarter inch stock (though I prefer a larger diameter stock).

Hope this helps,
Jeff Shafer

In addition to what Jeff said, I like to use a very very short bit when making the initial hole. By having a very short bit, the end of the bit is very stable, and is able to lock the hole into the end of the block with a great degree of accuracy.

Jeffs point about the use of a pilot bit for making the hole is a good one as well. Pilot bit drills use a long sharp point to get a perfectly centered hole.

Then, as the hole gets deeper, go to a longer drill bit.

Take care
Roger

many thanks for the help,
David