Drilling holes through wood

[Capt Augustus]

I have a real basic question. I am drilling holes through a piece of maple, similar to a loading block. The problem I am having is the wood tearing between the holes as the drill goes through the wood. I guess I should have paid attention in shop class. I was able to eliminate most of the tearing by putting a piece of wood under the piece I was drilling and drilling into the bottom piece. Any help would be appeciated.

 

[mazo kid]

When drilling holes that need to be smooth on the back side as well as the front I use Forstner or brad-pointed bits. I like to drill so that the point of the drill just pokes through the back and then turn the piece over and finish drilling the hole from the back.

 

[mikemeteor]

.. or sandwich your workpiece between two pieces of scrap, one on top and one on bottom. Clamp them together very firmly. Drill slowly.
Make sure you mark and position the top scrap piece correctly, so the holes go through your workpiece in the right place. :thumbsup:
And yes, Forstners will help.

 

[omarick1948]

All these idea's should work fine, but I have solved this problem by just taking a piece of clear packing tape and putting on the bottom of the board I'm drilling...then just remove tape after drilling!

You can also drill a small pilot hole, say 1/16" and drill half through wood with Forstner bit. Turn over and finish drilling from other side of
wood.

 

[ladysmithtrading]

and make sure your bits are sharp!

 

[BadHeart]

The best way to prevent tearout such as on a loading block is to drill from both sides. I was a cabibet maker and I would drill from both sides on some high dollar lumber to prevent tear out. as was metioned earlier drill a small pilot hole and then that is your mark for the other side. A drill press works best for this. by going from both sides your hole meets in the middle and there is NO tearout. the tear out from your pilot hole is taken care of when you drill with a larger bit from the back side. Try it on some scrap wood to see how it works. Good luck

 

[FPDoc]

Absolutely, also make sure you're using bits designed for the job. Either Forstner bits or very sharp spur-point (not "speed bits") that are specifically designed to bore lovely holes in wood (they score the wood before cutting the hole). There is a list on this forum somewhere that gives the drill bit sizes for different caliber bullet blocks. The Forstners you can buy individually or in kits. Grizzly tools is a pretty good place to get import tools worth pretty much what they cost. www.grizzly.com/products/category.aspx?key=170030