Drilling 1.2cm hole in oak

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Stooby

Established Member
Joined
13 Mar 2014
Messages
215
Reaction score
0
Location
Upwood
Hello, I want to drill some deep holes into oak to house 1.2 cm dowels. I have a 1.2cm Bosch wood drill bit. It is new so I thought it would be fine. I am not sure if I have the wrong but or wrong speed but all I manage to do is burn the wood and make a very shallow hole.

Any advice would be very welcome. Thank you.
 
Try drilling a series of pilot holes with increasing size. For this task, I'd probably use a hand-held plunge router fitted with a 12mm cutter (using a slow to moderate speed and multiple plunges to avoid scorching).
 
How deep is deep ?

You would need to pull the drill bit out every couple of cm or so of depth to allow the flutes to clear the waste material and reduce binding and overheating.

Cheers, Paul
 
As has been already said the best way is to drill a pilot hole first but even so a power drill should bore a hole that size straight off without a problem. I suppose you are drilling the right way - not backwards?
 
All good advice, backwards could be the issue. I rarely use anything other than my dremel for wood drilling. I will go give it all a go.
Thanks everyone.
 
Yes it was running backwards. I am so pleased that I didn't embarrass myself by asking anywhere public like on a forum!
 
Haha, was going to suggest that but thought no, that wouldn't happen :)

Did manage to fit a chain on my chainsaw back to front once though when I was distracted, noticed when it didn't seem to cut well !

Cheers, Paul
 
Stooby":cejjmavo said:
Yes it was running backwards. I am so pleased that I didn't embarrass myself by asking anywhere public like on a forum!
:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I picked up my 7 1/4" saw up to trim a door. It started to burn and I wondered why. The blade was in backwards. The curious thing is that I rarely use the saw (I loathe it ), I've not lent it to anyone and afaik I've never had reason to take the blade off. :?
 
I'm sure someone once posted about how badly there new chopsaw was performing, and after lengthy deliberation the member realised they had put the saw blade on wrong. Oak is easy to drill will heat up the cutters if you don't retract every so often

Adidat
 
I installed a groover on a router arbour backwards before, boy did that cut badly (and scorch everything). We've all been there!

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
 
Stooby":1whdjsm6 said:
Yes it was running backwards. I am so pleased that I didn't embarrass myself by asking anywhere public like on a forum!

I'm lazy, and use the drill to close down the chuck on the bit before final tightening (with a key, no less).
(this is only really safe/feasible on a modern-ish, vari-speed drill)

This has the happy side effect of ensuring the drill's running in the right direction.

BugBear
 
Stooby":37fh8fkq said:
Yes it was running backwards. I am so pleased that I didn't embarrass myself by asking anywhere public like on a forum!

I have to say that this was my first thought - but didn't dare ask it - and now my sides hurt from the laughter... sorry :lol:

Don't be too embarrassed though, I've done things far worse than that!
 
Back
Top