Hand Drill For Beginners Tutorial
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On the one occasion I had opportunity to be involved with beginners at hand drilling I noted that it was difficult to tell if they were getting much downward pressure. So I thought I would try drilling on my bathroom scales to see what sort of weight goes through the drill at differnent stages and with different woods.
I used a rough surface commercial pine hearth board to have good friction contact with the scales so my foot did not need to stablise it.
a) With an approx 8mm diameter buddliea drill I found I was using weights of between 4lb and 14 lb. I used about 8lb pressure getting up to smoking point. Then I hovered around 4lb intermittently to keep it smoking gently on and off while the wood dried out and finally used pressures up to about 14 lb (or occ slightly over) in the final effort. So that was 8, 4 and 14 in the 3 stages.
With an approx 12mm diameter buddliea drill I found is was 10, 8 and 14 in the 3 stages.
b) With an approx 10mm mullein drill it was approx 6, 3 and 12 but the spin rate was higher.
c) With an approx 10mm climbing rose it was about 8, 4 and 14.
I was going to try with a hardwood board as well, but the blister told me to wait a few days.
Anyway, I wonder if a set of scales might come in useful for teaching hand drilling?
I used a rough surface commercial pine hearth board to have good friction contact with the scales so my foot did not need to stablise it.
a) With an approx 8mm diameter buddliea drill I found I was using weights of between 4lb and 14 lb. I used about 8lb pressure getting up to smoking point. Then I hovered around 4lb intermittently to keep it smoking gently on and off while the wood dried out and finally used pressures up to about 14 lb (or occ slightly over) in the final effort. So that was 8, 4 and 14 in the 3 stages.
With an approx 12mm diameter buddliea drill I found is was 10, 8 and 14 in the 3 stages.
b) With an approx 10mm mullein drill it was approx 6, 3 and 12 but the spin rate was higher.
c) With an approx 10mm climbing rose it was about 8, 4 and 14.
I was going to try with a hardwood board as well, but the blister told me to wait a few days.
Anyway, I wonder if a set of scales might come in useful for teaching hand drilling?
Here's my slip collar thumb loop contraption for mullein shafts. When you wear out a shaft just cut another
The mullein hand drill spindles have a natural taper, so I just slide the collar down the shaft until it gets snug. When one shaft wears out, just pop off the collar and slide it onto a fresh spindle. The collar weighs nothing and packs easily in a pocket.
Did I mention that Jonny Crockett over at Survival School now has mullein spindles and basswood hearthboard sets available.
Did I mention that Jonny Crockett over at Survival School now has mullein spindles and basswood hearthboard sets available.
Nice picture Jeff! Like always thanks for sharing with everyone Amigo!
Best wishes to you :You_Rock_
Alberto
Best wishes to you :You_Rock_
Alberto
I have only seen Storm's photos of this. Typically the tip of my mullein spindle will become concave during the spinning and I think the core may be too oxygen starved to catch.
Hello Jeff
If what you mean is a coal at the tip of the drill? Yes while using cattail as a drill on a few occasions just for fun. Just last week while trying out a new horse weed drill I accidentally had a coal with out a notch! I only wanted to try the new horse weed hand drill but next thing I new when I remove the drill from the fire board I had a little coal that for fun I blew to flame!
Best wishes
Alberto
If what you mean is a coal at the tip of the drill? Yes while using cattail as a drill on a few occasions just for fun. Just last week while trying out a new horse weed drill I accidentally had a coal with out a notch! I only wanted to try the new horse weed hand drill but next thing I new when I remove the drill from the fire board I had a little coal that for fun I blew to flame!
Best wishes
Alberto
Hola Jeff
When you get some cattails if you like I will be happy to give you some advice on how to use them! Cattails can be fragile and a little tricky to use.
Buena suerte Amigo!
Alberto
When you get some cattails if you like I will be happy to give you some advice on how to use them! Cattails can be fragile and a little tricky to use.
Buena suerte Amigo!
Alberto
Alberto Hernandez said:
I was tempted to have a go at drilling with cattails earlier this year. Those strong bullrushes standing in the local pond looked so tempting. A couple looked the worse for wear, so I harvested them, dried them and stripped off the outer leaves down to the stem. Not very woody, delicate. Tried drilling 2 or 3 different ways. I usually use a fair bit of downward pressure when I drill but those stems would not stand that - the tip just broke up. So it was speed needed. Also, if I drilled into a significant depression from a previous drilling it also mashed up the tip. What eventually worked was to drill into a shallow depression with load of speed.
Since then not had an opportunity to repeat the trick
Hello Rich
Yes when it comes to cattail spindles you got to be a little more careful with down ward pressure. The cattail stem has to be nice and dry and you need to be careful what part of the stem you are going to mate with the fire board! It must be strong, usually the thicker the stem when it comes to the cattails the more fragile it is!
Good luck!
Alberto
Yes when it comes to cattail spindles you got to be a little more careful with down ward pressure. The cattail stem has to be nice and dry and you need to be careful what part of the stem you are going to mate with the fire board! It must be strong, usually the thicker the stem when it comes to the cattails the more fragile it is!
Good luck!
Alberto
storm
On a new journey
spindle coals (on the tip of the spindle) formed often when i was working with woods in the Redwood forests of NorCal. i have info on this phenomenon, as well as a bit of bathroom scale hand-drill experimentation, on my website, which i'm expanding soon--just upgraded to 100 pages...
since teasel is square in cross-section, i've had more success using it in conjunction with slightly harder hearthboards, thereby the corners of the spindle get rounded off quickly as it bores through the hearthboard.
since teasel is square in cross-section, i've had more success using it in conjunction with slightly harder hearthboards, thereby the corners of the spindle get rounded off quickly as it bores through the hearthboard.
I have some teasel on a piece of land I have access to. I find that only the bottom few inches is anything other than a thin shell. When drilling with teasel onto an elder hearthboard I found I was making almost no impression - just a shallow saucer that wouldn't allow the teasel to burn in with a nice tight fit. I think elder was probably just too hard.storm said:
