A hint that I use a lot when trying to drill a horizontal hole is to put a
large washer on the drill bit. (Using brace and bit) If the washer moves
toward me as I drill, the bit slopes down, if toward the work, it slopes up.
I can usually get the other direction accurate enough by eye. Works quite
well.

Walt C


"graham" wrote in message
...
I've got my neander bench base almost built, hurrah!, just need to bolt
the stretchers to the legs. (Common knock-down construction: 10mm hole
through leg into stretcher end grain, with a perpendicular hole in the
stretcher to take a nut (tapped pieces of 8x18x35mm steel)).

Anyway, how do I make sure I drill this long leg-and-stretcher hole
straight?

The only way I've thought of is (1) drill the holes into the legs first.
Don't know how I'm going to ensure it's perpendicular to the leg - trestle
legs too big to put on a pillar drill;
(2) use the holes in the legs as a guide to drill into the stretcher end
grain. What sort of drill bit do I need to use here? Is there any danger
of it wandering off course in the end grain?

Or is this simpler than I'm making it and that actually judging it by eye
and using a long twist drill straight through from the leg in one go is
sufficient?

Insights gratefully received

graham.