I have a piece of weathered heart pine that I want to make a lamp out of,
it has three forks that come down to a common trunk.

I welded a 3/8" spade bit to a 30" rod and set up an angle iron guide
to rest the drill in.

Even though I missed my exit mark a little, it turned out nicely.

Drilling consisted of running drill with one hand and holding drill stem
with other to prevent it whipping around, and pulling entire bit out
after every inch or so of drilling.

You can see the results here.

http://www.woodwrangler.net/lamp.html

--
A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse

Looks good. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Not being a welder, I wouldn't have readily access to angle iron as a guide.. I would have used a 1/2" galvanized *pipe, if the bit fit inside.

*Might be easier to rig a jig for holding the wood and pipe in best alignment, but you likely know more about that metal bracing aspect than I.

Pine roots are nice. If you ever find an ER cedar root, you'll love it. I have several and they look nice just by themselves. I'll have to dig to find them, but will show some pics when I can. I once was a nut for driftwood root scavenging.

The Morganza floodway, drainage for the Miss. R. near New Roads, LA., has tons of all sorts of great driftwood finds, all washing down from half or more of the USA. I used to go collect truck loads and sell them to the florists.... weekend jaunts, good quick extra money when in college.... and sometimes beyond college, too.

Sonny

On Sat, 18 Aug 2012 15:59:54 -0700, cedarsonny wrote:

Looks good. Can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm still thinking about what to use for a base, maybe something
smooth and finished, maybe a disk of ER cedar.

Not being a welder, I wouldn't have readily access to angle iron as a
guide. I would have used a 1/2" galvanized *pipe, if the bit fit
inside.

A couple of 1x4 screwed together would have worked as well.
I used the angle just to rest the drill motor on, the bit
ran free except for steadying it by hand.

*Might be easier to rig a jig for holding the wood and pipe in best
alignment, but you likely know more about that metal bracing aspect than
I.

I think what drift I had was more attributable to the spade bit
than alignment.
I considered buying a length of drill stem and grinding brad
point tip on it and would have if I had been working on
something irreplaceable.

Pine roots are nice. If you ever find an ER cedar root, you'll love it.
I have several and they look nice just by themselves. I'll have to dig
to find them, but will show some pics when I can. I once was a nut for
driftwood root scavenging.

I actually have a lot of Cedar stumps, logs etc, I have one large stump
that I would like to trim all the roots to the same lenght and
use it upside down for a pedestal/support for a glass top table.

The Morganza floodway, drainage for the Miss. R. near New Roads, LA.,
has tons of all sorts of great driftwood finds, all washing down from
half or more of the USA. I used to go collect truck loads and sell them
to the florists.... weekend jaunts, good quick extra money when in
college.... and sometimes beyond college, too.

Nice resource, it's amazing how naturally beautiful some of this
stuff is.
Most(all) of the rustic things I have made over the years, I give away,
If anyone comes around and says they like it, they have to leave with
it. I had some chairs made of poplar poles and a friend of mine
kept after me wanting some like them, I just give them to him.
More room for other stuff.

Sonny





--
A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse

On Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:40:40 GMT, basilisk
wrote:

On Sat, 18 Aug 2012 15:59:54 -0700, cedarsonny wrote:

Looks good. Can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm still thinking about what to use for a base, maybe something
smooth and finished, maybe a disk of ER cedar.

Not being a welder, I wouldn't have readily access to angle iron as a
guide. I would have used a 1/2" galvanized *pipe, if the bit fit
inside.

A couple of 1x4 screwed together would have worked as well.
I used the angle just to rest the drill motor on, the bit
ran free except for steadying it by hand.

*Might be easier to rig a jig for holding the wood and pipe in best
alignment, but you likely know more about that metal bracing aspect than
I.

I think what drift I had was more attributable to the spade bit
than alignment.
I considered buying a length of drill stem and grinding brad
point tip on it and would have if I had been working on
something irreplaceable.

Pine roots are nice. If you ever find an ER cedar root, you'll love it.
I have several and they look nice just by themselves. I'll have to dig
to find them, but will show some pics when I can. I once was a nut for
driftwood root scavenging.

I actually have a lot of Cedar stumps, logs etc, I have one large stump
that I would like to trim all the roots to the same lenght and
use it upside down for a pedestal/support for a glass top table.

The Morganza floodway, drainage for the Miss. R. near New Roads, LA.,
has tons of all sorts of great driftwood finds, all washing down from
half or more of the USA. I used to go collect truck loads and sell them
to the florists.... weekend jaunts, good quick extra money when in
college.... and sometimes beyond college, too.

Nice resource, it's amazing how naturally beautiful some of this
stuff is.
Most(all) of the rustic things I have made over the years, I give away,
If anyone comes around and says they like it, they have to leave with
it. I had some chairs made of poplar poles and a friend of mine
kept after me wanting some like them, I just give them to him.
More room for other stuff.

Sonny
You want to try drilling 12 feet through inaccessible 2X10 floor
joists to pull power cable through. I put a 2 1/8 inch forstner bit on
the end of a piece of 1/2 inch water pipe, 4 feet long - then just
kept adding lengths as It went in. Had a hex drive welded to a
reducing nipple to drive the whole thing with 1/2 inch drill. When I
got through to the end, where I had a hole in the floor to install the
circuit access box, I took off the forstner, tied on a pull string,
and dragged it out with the pipe. Then tied the bundle of cables to
the pull string and dragged it all in.

On Sat, 18 Aug 2012 22:47:19 -0400, clare wrote:

On Sat, 18 Aug 2012 23:40:40 GMT, basilisk wrote:

On Sat, 18 Aug 2012 15:59:54 -0700, cedarsonny wrote:

Looks good. Can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm still thinking about what to use for a base, maybe something smooth
and finished, maybe a disk of ER cedar.

Not being a welder, I wouldn't have readily access to angle iron as a
guide. I would have used a 1/2" galvanized *pipe, if the bit fit
inside.

A couple of 1x4 screwed together would have worked as well. I used the
angle just to rest the drill motor on, the bit ran free except for
steadying it by hand.

*Might be easier to rig a jig for holding the wood and pipe in best
alignment, but you likely know more about that metal bracing aspect
than I.

I think what drift I had was more attributable to the spade bit than
alignment.
I considered buying a length of drill stem and grinding brad point tip
on it and would have if I had been working on something irreplaceable.

Pine roots are nice. If you ever find an ER cedar root, you'll love
it.
I have several and they look nice just by themselves. I'll have to
dig
to find them, but will show some pics when I can. I once was a nut
for driftwood root scavenging.

I actually have a lot of Cedar stumps, logs etc, I have one large stump
that I would like to trim all the roots to the same lenght and use it
upside down for a pedestal/support for a glass top table.

The Morganza floodway, drainage for the Miss. R. near New Roads, LA.,
has tons of all sorts of great driftwood finds, all washing down from
half or more of the USA. I used to go collect truck loads and sell
them to the florists.... weekend jaunts, good quick extra money when
in college.... and sometimes beyond college, too.

Nice resource, it's amazing how naturally beautiful some of this stuff
is.
Most(all) of the rustic things I have made over the years, I give away,
If anyone comes around and says they like it, they have to leave with
it. I had some chairs made of poplar poles and a friend of mine kept
after me wanting some like them, I just give them to him. More room for
other stuff.

Sonny
You want to try drilling 12 feet through inaccessible 2X10 floor
joists to pull power cable through. I put a 2 1/8 inch forstner bit on
the end of a piece of 1/2 inch water pipe, 4 feet long - then just kept
adding lengths as It went in. Had a hex drive welded to a reducing
nipple to drive the whole thing with 1/2 inch drill. When I got through
to the end, where I had a hole in the floor to install the circuit
access box, I took off the forstner, tied on a pull string, and dragged
it out with the pipe. Then tied the bundle of cables to the pull string
and dragged it all in.

I remember you posting about that job, I'm glad it worked out,
there is always a way to do what needs to be done.

basilisk



--
A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse