A Slow Boat To Nowhere

[beeg]

What size was the drill bit? How about chipping out SOME wood around the bit, then grab the stub with a needle nose pliers to twist it out?

[algale]

Thanks everyone. The bit was a WL Fuller general purpose # 8 tapered bit (set up for use with one of their countersinks). According to this chart http://wlfuller.com/html/taper_point_drills.html, it was 11/64th (presumably at its thickest).

[algale]

Well, it wasn't 100% bad news today. While I wait for the epoxy to dry on the second deck so I can shape it and the gunwales, I set up a line to see if the maple stripes on the decks lined up, and they come pretty close.

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[JPG]

Long tension pin with id > bit od.

Grind teeth on one end(use thin cutoff wheel).

Looks like Ed's suggestion.

[shipwright]

You could chip away enough wood to expose the end of the bit use it as a locating pin to drill out the material around it with the counter boring part of the original countersink drill assembly. .... if it is the countersink that I'm thinking of. Then, after removing the broken bit, you already have the plug to fit the hole.

[algale]

Thanks again, everyone. Even if I have ignored some of the perfectly good advice I have received on the Forum during this build, I have appreciated all the helpful advice and supportive comments each of you has offered.

Now, if I didn't already have the countersink/counterbore and matching plug cutter for this bit, I'd be inclined to go with Ed's or JPG's tools -- but I had been thinking along the line of Paul's idea already and will give it a try.

Another mistake yesterday: I cut the yoke too short! I completely forgot about the tumblehome and I foolishly took my measurement with a measuring tape at the inside edges of the hull showing through on top of the gunwales rather than taking a measurement below the gunwales. To make matters worse, I cut the ends square, rather than beveled, to follow the tumblehome.

The yoke ended up about 1/2" too short immediately under the gunwale and maybe 1" too sort at the bottom of the yoke. Stupid! Fortunately I made the initial cuts with a band saw using a thin blade and the cutoffs went right back on with some thickened epoxy and using some really long rubber bands to apply a little clamping pressure. The glue line from the reattached cut-offs should be completely hidden under the gunwales and shouldn't interfere with the attachment bolts, either, so I guess I should count myself lucky that I didn't make an even worse mistake.

Today I will try again -- only this time I will be using some measuring sticks to get the length exactly right and a bevel gauge to follow the hull more closely.

Building this canoe is a heck of a learning experience.

[algale]

Success! I started with a box knife to expose the end of the drill bit. Then I took the countersink/counterbore and twisted it by hand until there was enough wood removed that the counterbore was "seated" on the drill bit. Then back into the drill to make the counterbore. This exposed the drill bit enough to put the needle-nose pliers on it.

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Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get all the drill bit out because it snapped deep within the counter bore.

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But now I should be able to cut a sapele plug with the matching plug cutter and cover it.

Thanks, everyone!

[JPG]

Well Thank You! I have learned my new word for the day!!!





So ya gonna place a 'dummy' plug on the other side to match?

[algale]

Well Thank You! I have learned my new word for the day!!!





So ya gonna place a 'dummy' plug on the other side to match?

Not sure what the new word was.

But to answer your question about dummy plugs on the opposite side, nobody can see both sides of the canoe at once anyway so there's no need to match them up. I'll just put maple in the hole that has the proper spacing and sapele in the extra hole. There are a couple of places where either screws broke off or stripped and I had to put another screw in next to the stripped/broken screw and I just try to hide the extra hole with sapele and keep the maple with even spacing.

[rjent]

Why are you having so many screws and bits break? Is the wood THAT hard?

BTW, I am learning a lot from this as well