I need to drill through a tapered cane,3/4 maple (at the tip), about an inch deep,dead center or close to it.With that 1/8 inch hole I’ll attach a brass tip, but I’m not sure how to drill the center.The cane is about 34″ and tapers from 1 1/2″ at the top to 3/4 ” at the bottom.
Any ideas?Thanks.
Replies
Jackplane,
The following method should be accurate enough for the job you are doing.
Take a combination square and extend the blade approximately 3/8 inch past the the square face of the head, the exact dimension isn't critical. Now place the square face of the head against the side of the tip and scribe a line on the tip face at the end of the blade. Rotate the cane 90 degrees and make a second line on the tip that crosses the first. Continue to rotate the cane, 90 degrees at a time, marking the tip two more times. The exact center of the tip will be "boxed" by the four marks.
Use an awl to make a center mark in the box and then start a pilot hole with a 1/16 inch bit. The starting hole only needs to be 1/4 inch deep. Now drill your final hole with the proper sized drill. Unless you have a drill press or a lathe, there is no simple way to make sure the hole is going straight down the axis of the cane, but with care you should come pretty close drilling freehand.
Hope this helps, John W.
Thanks. I'll look into that method. I have a drill press and I'll try to set it up for this job.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled