Here’s a cribbage-board drilling method that’s more straightforward than the one offered by Charles Whitney in Fine Woodworking #92, p. 20. Start with a piece of 1/8-in.-thick flat iron long enough and wide enough to accommodate three rows of holes. Using a scratch awl, lay out lines on the iron that correspond to the locations of two rows of holes plus two registration holes, as shown above. Carefully center punch each line intersection. Drill the holes with a drill press and a thick-shank bit specially designed for drilling small holes (about 7/64 in.) in iron. Regular twist-drill bits have a tendency to bend out of line.

Clamp the iron template to your cribbage blank, and drill the first pair of rows. Unclamp the template, and move it over so that the registration holes are right over the two end holes on the previously drilled rows. Use pegs to register the template, and then reclamp and drill the second pair of rows. Repeat for the third row pair.

M. E. Woodbury, Orangevale, Calif.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, October 1992 No. 96