Shopsmith Forums

robinson46176 wrote:Wondering about using a decent quality set of hole saws to remove a lot of meat before final drilling?


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Since he is not drilling a through hole you would have to chop out the waste with a chisel. It is not something I would do.

This may seem like a silly question, but do you have the walnut thoroughly clamped? At that diameter, nearly any wood movement would cause binding even at very slow speeds.
We made votive candle holders for a charity project and ended up using a much smaller bit to nibble at the edges of the hole and hog out what we could, then used a fancy Freud bit for the final drilling. Very time consuming (350 candle holders with 5 holes per holder ), but it was the only way to get the material out. Had made a jig so we would do the first hole in each piece then move it for hole 2, etc.
Good luck.

Be well,
Ben

jsburger wrote:

robinson46176 wrote:Wondering about using a decent quality set of hole saws to remove a lot of meat before final drilling?


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Since he is not drilling a through hole you would have to chop out the waste with a chisel. It is not something I would do.

I was just thinking in terms of him still following with the Forstner bit, just removing some material to make that easier. Forstner's can pull pretty hard but a good hole saw cuts easily. Breaking the waste out would be OK if it were not end grain but would be silly hard in end grain. I had considered all of those things before I posted. We do not all work alike nor do we have to...

JPG wrote:Any time drilling with large bits it is easier/safer/quicker to drill smaller size and work up to final dimension.

Works on metal drilling as well. Final size should be removing very little material.

I agree with this. And with a Forstner bit, you don't have to worry about the fact that there's nothing supporting the center.

When I was drilling the through holes through end grain walnut for those 12” pepper mills I found my standard Freud forstner bits were very inadequate. I have a set of carbide forstner bits from Grizzly and they were fair. I ultimately tried a “wave” cut forstner and it cut through like butter. It was very impressive and almost effortless.
Paul

masonsailor2 wrote:When I was drilling the through holes through end grain walnut for those 12” pepper mills I found my standard Freud forstner bits were very inadequate. I have a set of carbide forstner bits from Grizzly and they were fair. I ultimately tried a “wave” cut forstner and it cut through like butter. It was very impressive and almost effortless.
Paul

I totally agree. The Fisch wave cutter bits ( made in Austria ) that I got in January are very impressive. I have not used them a lot but I don't expect any different performance than I have all ready seen.

You could also use your Forstner bit to make a pattern in a less challenging piece of wood. Then use the pattern, along with a router and pattern bit, to create the circles in your final workpiece.

I’m impressed that your drill chuck can handle more torque than the drive belt can deliver. Using my conventional headstock, I’ve had problems with Forstner bit shanks slipping in the chuck. Are your shanks round or hexagonal?

jsburger wrote:

masonsailor2 wrote:When I was drilling the through holes through end grain walnut for those 12” pepper mills I found my standard Freud forstner bits were very inadequate. I have a set of carbide forstner bits from Grizzly and they were fair. I ultimately tried a “wave” cut forstner and it cut through like butter. It was very impressive and almost effortless.
Paul

I totally agree. The Fisch wave cutter bits ( made in Austria ) that I got in January are very impressive. I have not used them a lot but I don't expect any different performance than I have all ready seen.

There is always something else that we need (or at least need to wish for).
I had not heard of these. I have not been to a woodworking show nor taken any woodworking magazines for several years and find that not seeing the ads regularly is letting me become unaware of what new things are available.
Were these particularly expensive compared to older style Forstners or just a reasonable amount higher. I understand that "reasonable" is subjective...


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Good question. The answer is yes fully clamped. As you say, really important

Rectangular