# Driftwood Drilling



## taffytyke (Feb 10, 2009)

:thumbsup: Hi,

New member just joined, living in West Wales. Collect plenty of drift wood down the road at pretty isolated beach. Looking for simplest (and cheapest !) method of drilling holes in the wood approx. 40 m.m. diameter and 25 m.m. deep to accept tea lights.

Thanks,

Roger.


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## BHOFM (Oct 14, 2008)

Welcome,

I would say, a hand drill and a spade bit is the simple
and cheap way to drill a hole that size.

I think you would want some kind of clamp to hold the
piece while drilling??


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## Sawduster (Dec 30, 2008)

I'm sure someone will point it out if my idea isn't safe so here goes. 

You're probably going to drill the driftwood at all sorts of odd angles.
A hand drill with a flat or spade bit. Drill a hole 8mm in diameter near the end of a piece of hardwood and put it over the shank of the bit before putting it in the chuck. Hold the wooden handle with one hand and the drill in the other to control the bit.


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Taffy,
Welcome to the forum. I don't know what you have in the way of tools, but I was thinking if the spade drill doesn't work for you, I would try a drill press with a forstner bit as long as you have a vise to hold the wood. You should be able to clamp the piece of wood in the vise at different angles and raise or lower the table to get the bit close enough.
Mike Hawkins


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## Gary Beasley (Jan 21, 2009)

I second the Forstner. A spade bit will likely bind and twist out of your hands or worse when drilling into an odd shape like driftwood.


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

I third the motion on a Forstner bit. You can use it with an electric drill, or on a drill press as Mike suggested. The forstner bit will leave a nice clean, flat bottomed hole. Word of caution. Make sure your tea light is well insulated from the driftwood. They can get pretty hot.

Gerry


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## taffytyke (Feb 10, 2009)

Thanks will take up your advise, hopefully show you acceptable result,

Roger


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