# It was going to be sooooo easy



## EndTuition (May 24, 2004)

Update on the never ending saga to drill my own duck call blanks.

As stated in a previous post I don't have enough travel in my drill press to drill the tall piece of the calls. So, I took the masters advice and ordered a drill chuck and a 3 jaw chuck (got both with #2 MT so I can swap ends). Being the patient person I am however I decide to see what I can find locally in a short 3/4 bit and low and behold I find this dandy little bit that looks like a combination of a three pointed brad point and an auger. It's short enough to work so I take a piece of Bocote and it drills through it like it was balsa wood ! Next day I take a piece of that Texas Ebony and in a single split second the auger portion screws into the blank, gets a hold and pulls the rest of the drill into it so far and so fast it just splits it in two. No problem, lesson learned, Ebony is too hard to drill with an auger type bit, got it. Put a piece of Cocabolo in there and the instant the bit hits the wood, wack! crack! same thing ! I guess I will wait on the chucks for the lathe and use the right bits. I'm running out of time and might just have to give out wooden blanks and a card good for a duck call at a later date! 
Bill, this is all your fault.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

Gently, TT...Gently.. With that hard stuff ya gotta relieve the hole about every 1/8th inch..LOL.. Seems like it takes forever to get a blank drilled, but those shavings and dust gotta go somewheres and if you force 'em down in the hole they are gonna take the nearest escape..and that is a full force blow-out.. Kinda PIA and take a lot more time, but you CAN get thru the blank with a little patience..and that's sumthin' I've got very little of...:wink: 

Dunno about the auger bit...that may be a bit much for a 1" blank.. Get a little advice from the experts on here...Still think you'd be better off drilling with the drill press and the press holder thingy..Just stop en route and slide the blank up on the bit an inch or two ..Works for me on them geminis...

Good luck....jd


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## Bobby (May 21, 2004)

Yea blame it on Bill 

I got a set of those bits your talking about and I used one of them and the reat are in the package. I have both the grill press and drill on the lathe. I much prefer the drill on the lathe. Lot easier and you have better control.


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## 3192 (Dec 30, 2004)

Bite the bullet and purchase a carbide tip Fostner bit. End of problem. gb

http://www.mcfeelys.com/forstner-bits


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## EndTuition (May 24, 2004)

I actualy have good bits but they are too long for my press. I have a set of forstner bits as well, but they are too short. As for easy does it, the auger portion just pulls itself in so fast there ain't no easy does it. As soon as it gets a bite,it's all over. The bit gets stuck, the chuck starts screaming and untill you power it off, it's all prety dicey. I thought I could go slow enough to keep the screw portion from getting a bite, but after two split blanks I conceded I was not going to master that any time soon. I found a chuck with a #2mt so I can mount the wood in the tailstock and the bit in the head stock if I want to. Since it will work both ways I went ahead and went that route. I'll post up what works best when I get the goods and have time for a shop test. FYI, the drill press and jig work super well for the short end so I'm pretty sure I'll always do them that way. FYI I bought a few of every kind of reed craftmakers sells and the single reed metal unit is a pretty nice sounding call. I like it and will probably just use it exclusivly in the future, or untill I master my own tone boards.


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## bill (May 21, 2004)

Don't blame me........I didn't do it LOL


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## EndTuition (May 24, 2004)

bill said:


> Don't blame me........I didn't do it LOL


Ya you did, When I asked you if any of you wood turners ever made duck calls you stood right there in the Academy parking lot and told me 'Sure, lot's of us do, IT'S EASY'. Yep, I blame it all on Bill. Got to go now, I think I just won a bid on epay for some more vortex stuff.


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## trodery (Sep 13, 2006)

Hey ET...how much travel do you need on a drill press? If mine will work for you, you are most welcome to come over here and drill all the blanks you need.


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

Maybe not a good thing, but I have used a flat spade bit before in my lathe with very good results. Not as strong a shaft as some more of the other better bits, but have used them before and worked quite well.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

Ya gotta pardon me, but.....what's wrong with using the "Drill Press" for "Drilling" and the "Lathe" for "Turning wood, etc. on the Lathe" ?? :headknock 

I'm sure you Pros know more than me about it...but it just looks a little obvious... 

Course, everybody but me sharpens 'free-hand'...and one of the boys, as I recall, hunts and fishes with a 'sharp stick' LMAO:rotfl: 



edit...pardon the old geezer..still a little woozy from the anesthesia today..but havin' a ball with it....everything seems funny..Oughta bottle and sell that stuff.


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## Bobby (May 21, 2004)

Tortuga said:


> Ya gotta pardon me, but.....what's wrong with using the "Drill Press" for "Drilling" and the "Lathe" for "Turning wood, etc. on the Lathe" ?? :headknock
> 
> I'm sure you Pros know more than me about it...but it just looks a little obvious...
> 
> ...


There is nothing wrong with using a drill press to drill with. I drill all my offcenter blanks on the drill press. But for just straight drilling I use the lathe. I have more control over the bit and the blank on the lathe. Which means I can use smaller stuff to drill and make pens out of. Which means less waste of wood.


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## biggreen (Feb 23, 2005)

ET, you can get an extension for the forstners. I got one at woodcraft for about $5. I needed to get a 1 5/8 hole through 6" of wood. It will work down to about a 1/2" hole I think. When I'm doing the deeper holes I just move the base of the drill press up for the last bit.

later, biggreen


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## Slip (Jul 25, 2006)

Jim, I also use the drill press exclusively for drilling blanks. I have the same gizmo you have and it works great and is easier to set up than using the lathe. My drill press also has more drilling depth than my lathe. I do however drill in the lathe on a very infrequent basis expecially when the object is turned first than needs to be drilled as the lathe makes centering more exact.


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## bill (May 21, 2004)

Oh my....I'm still so lazy...I'll put my bit in the hand drill and just get'er done LOL usually no problem as long as the blank has been cut and in a wood clamp


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## EndTuition (May 24, 2004)

bill said:


> Oh my....I'm still so lazy...I'll put my bit in the hand drill and just get'er done LOL usually no problem as long as the blank has been cut and in a wood clamp


You're not lazy Bill, you're efficient.









I on the other hand make everything as technically difficult as possible, then take great pride in solving the problem with as technically difficult a solution as I can find. It's how I roll.









PS 
I do use the method of just raising the wood up on the bit to get the last bit cut on the short piece, but that method does not work for the long piece as the bit is too long to start with and the wood will not fit underneath it on my press to even start the hole. Sorry if I was unclear about that.


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## EndTuition (May 24, 2004)

trodery said:


> Hey ET...how much travel do you need on a drill press? If mine will work for you, you are most welcome to come over here and drill all the blanks you need.


Thanks for the offer !
It's more a matter of room between the chuck(bit) and the table. I can walk a blank up the bit inch by inch if I can just get it underneath the bit to start with. One option I have is to get a shorter 3/4 bit or get the one I have cut down, but that also would mean I wouldn't have an excuse to buy a couple of new chucks. 
PS
I did find a short 3/4 bit but it had an auger point (screw) and that was how this whole thread got started. LOL


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## 3192 (Dec 30, 2004)

hmmmmmmm.....what would happen if you ground the screw bit off the auger? It might be one of those "don't try this at home children" but it may work. Keep us posted. gb


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## EndTuition (May 24, 2004)

galvbay said:


> hmmmmmmm.....what would happen if you ground the screw bit off the auger? It might be one of those "don't try this at home children" but it may work. Keep us posted. gb


I like the way you think !
I did just that and it would not bite at all after that. I tried a small amount at a time and when it got to the point it did not grab, it also would not drill the center. I actully put a three sided cut on the auger screw and even that did not suffice. I think if I drilled the center with a smaller bit first, the rest would cut just fine, but at that point I just started looking for a different solution.


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