Is there such a thing as an Egg Holder bit?

[Lex]

Hi all,

I hope someone can help.

I'd like to make an egg holder, so want to make lots of smooth curved holes in rows in a lovely piece of elm I have. I'll not be turning it, so they need to be drill (or maybe a router bit?), but I'm struggling to find any the right size. Something like a parallel spoon bit maybe, but the largest I can find is 19 mm.

Does something like this exist? I've searched on-line but to no avail, and its difficult without knowing what its called...

The only othr way I can think of is to carve them with a spoon knife, which is not impossible, but I'd like to know all the options so I can vary the design if possible.

Cheers in advance,

Lex

 

[marcros]

i think that a similar question came up earlier today. the suggestion was to grind a flat spade drill bit to the profile.

would something like http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... e_196.html work?

 

[marcros]

or a radius / core bit http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Onl ... x_202.html

 

[wills-mill]

Logosol sell 1, it can be fitted with different radius bits and can be used for making holes in serving boards for sauce pots as well.
I don't think it's online, but give them a ring, it was in their cutter catalogue recently.

http://www.logosol.co.uk/

 

[bugbear]

how-would-you-do-this-rounded-hole-in-wood-pic-inside-t98540.html

BugBear

 

[Lex]

Good morning all,

That's great. My first post on here and loads of helpful answers. I think the core box cutter is what I'm after.

Thank you all for your time,

Cheers,

Lex

 

[Homerjh]

i think the forstner and a rounded off top may work, but it isnt as pretty as a smooth one.

am waiting to see the outcome of someone using a radius core bit before i buy one

 

[oakmitre]

I was a bit hesitant to post about this. I made this yesterday on my pillar drill and then finished with a bit of 80g sandpaper by hand.

The initial hole was cut with a 12mm or so drill bit. The router cutter installed in the pillar drill bit is 1/2" shank Trend HW ( budget ) 38mm cove bit with the central bearing removed. Everything was clamped rock solid and I had one finger on the pillar drill lever only to ensure a very light cut. My other hand was at my side, I would never hold a workpiece like this in place by hand.

The chatter was fantastic with a fair bit of end grain tearout in the cut. I have done this before in soft LDPE plastic and it works a lot better than wood.

This is not a good way of doing it - only really suitable for a single hole.

I have a jig for a router, which I think is fairly safe - for use with a box core cutter or similar. I'm going to post it next.

 

[oakmitre]

**If anyone more experience than me sees a danger in this post (other than falling asleep ) - please feel free to point it out.


The jig picture below is one that I use for larger router bits. I made this jig to produce a couple of mini paint pallets in LDPE plastic.

I don't feel that such large bits are safe to use freehand,because they are impossible to plunge straight down in the same position twice which causes them to catch the side and kick.The hole also grows sideways in a random fashion. You also have no way to accurately determine the centre of the initial plunge position since the bit has no central point to it.

The jig shown is not exactly correct for cutting egg holes.It should be longer front to back with toggle clamps just above the workpiece to secure it. At the back would be a re-positional back stop made from a small block with a piece of steel dowel underneath.This can be put into a series of equally spaced holes at the rear.The back stop serves no role in holding the piece in place, only front to back positioning.Side to side positioning comes from the workpiece touching the sides of the 'tower' which is made to fit.

The router plate is a piece of 5mm steel plate with a 45mm hole cut out of it.Make sure any bit will fit through this before buying. This is a 1/4" and 8mm router and it is set on the lowest speed initially and can be very gradually increased to find the best speed for a clean cut.It does not have the mass advantage of a 1/2" router would with regards to chatter.It is a £25 router, and as such it is cheap enough to dedicate to being fixed permanently in this jig.

Height adjustment comes from the horrid twisty adjuster to the top left.Your hands should never come below the blue body of the router whilst in use. This is the only adjustment done during the operation.I stand to the side when operating this.

The router is shut off, the piece repositioned to the far left and clamped, cutting performed slowly mm by mm, shut off again and moved to the far right.Repeat.The back stop is then moved back a position, and the procedure repeated for left and right. This would give two columns of egg holes.

In my previous post I used a router bit in a pillar drill, please note you cannot do this the other way round with a drill bit in a router safely.

Thanks Matt.

 

[NazNomad]

As a smallholder with several chickens, I can confirm that eggs will not conform to the shape you decide to make in a piece of wood.

Far better to just have a straight-sided hole, to be honest.