# draw bore pin



## Jacob (30 Jul 2013)

Blacksmith made. 5/8" diameter. Round rod drawn out to a long thin taper and at the other end drawn out and turned into a knuckle. It has to be long so that it'll draw the pieces together slowly - too steep a taper and it could break through the tenon instead. It has to be long enough to leave room for a hammer swing so you can hit behind the knuckle and pull it out again.







A string to newel is the classic draw bore situation, pieces impossible to clamp but not so tight that you can hammer them together. A good push fit which means hammering won't close the joint as it tends to bounce open. The draw bore pin works perfectly just with hand pressure and gently closes the joint up tight. If ready to glue up then hammer it in the last bit and you can then take it out and put your pegs in. Ideally these too need to be long and gently tapered so they don't break the tenon.

A dry fit:












I was really pleased with that - I haven't used it for years. Such a simple and effective device. Better to have 2 or 3 on the job but I've only got one. The joint has to be a good fit in the first place or the draw boring can go wrong - it's only intended to nip the joint up tight, no great force involved or the tenon might break and the process be difficult to reverse.
Holes offset about 1/16" in 4" newel post with 5/8" tenons.


----------



## matthewwh (31 Jul 2013)

Nice one Jacob,

I haven't come across that type before but it's a clever design and clearly works very well.

Presumably it's a concentric taper rather than the egg shaped one found on pairs of pins?


----------



## Argus (31 Jul 2013)

Agreed.

I have a couple of pairs of those, but not as long as that - about 10 - 11 inches, I think.

All were blacksmith made, long, long before I got them - with the forge marks still visible. I used them for making gates in Oak.


.


----------



## bugbear (31 Jul 2013)

matthewwh":24p1lduz said:


> Nice one Jacob,
> 
> I haven't come across that type before but it's a clever design and clearly works very well.
> 
> Presumably it's a concentric taper rather than the egg shaped one found on pairs of pins?



Here's an elegant design for a "hook pin" (old tools have lots of names)

http://pegsandtails.wordpress.com/2010/ ... sus-dowel/

Lighter "draw bore" pins, don't have a hook, since they're only driven (and withdrawn) by hand pressure.

Described nicely in The Mechanic's Companion by Peter Nicholson, 1831, page 41.

http://www.wkfinetools.com/mlibrary/Nic ... n-down.asp

And good old Moxon:



Moxon":24p1lduz said:


> § 6. Of Hook-Pins, and their use.
> 
> The Hook-Pin is described Plate 8. F. a the Pin, b the Hook, c the Head. Its Office is to pin the Frame of a Floor, or Frame of a Roof to∣gether, whilst it is framing, or whilst it is fitting into its Position. They have many of these Hook-Pins to drive into the several Angles of the Frame. These drive into the Pin-holes through the Mor∣tesses and Tennants, and being made Taper, do with a Hammer striking on the bottom of it knock it out again; or they most commonly strike under the Hook, and so knock it out. Then if the Frame lie in its place, they pin it up with wooden Pins.



BugBear


----------



## G S Haydon (31 Jul 2013)

:shock: It's a beast . Nice shoulder line BTW.


----------



## Jacob (31 Jul 2013)

matthewwh":14qgvo18 said:


> Nice one Jacob,
> 
> I haven't come across that type before but it's a clever design and clearly works very well.


Bog standard joinery issue as far as I know, for stair cases and other geometric problems difficult to clamp. There was/is probably a lot of these around, but unrecognised, perhaps seen as large tent pegs or something. Could be worth examining your fireside pokers too. This one was given to me by an old British Rail joiner who told me all about it


> Presumably it's a concentric taper rather than the egg shaped one found on pairs of pins?


Roughly concentric, as I am sure they nearly all were - expensive versions, clever egg shapes etc being just another bit of tom-toolery!
NB the idea isn't to force joints together as you can with clamping, but only to nip up the last 1/16" or so of an otherwise well fitted joint.


----------



## Richard T (31 Jul 2013)

Very interesting. I've been asked if I could make them more than once and I was 'sure' that drawn out would not be smooth enough - convinced that they should be taper turned. 

I might give it a go now. (hammer)


----------



## Jacob (31 Jul 2013)

You can see in the top photo that it's hammered flat in parts - roughly facetted. No cunning design detail just simply made. The high points would need filing or emery papering a bit smooth. that's all. Could be on to a winner if you made a few! 3/4" to 1/4" in 1/8" steps?
There's a rumour that they are long forgotten but this isn't so - we had them just the same as my one, on my bit of training I did in 1982. Presumably stair makers and framers of one sort or another, must still use them.
Steel fabricators use a similar device called a podger - shorter and usually with a spanner at one end.


----------



## bugbear (1 Aug 2013)

Reading up in the book pile last night, I discovered something odd. 

Amongst the technique manuals drawboring
is really not mentioned for cabinetmaking, is mentioned a fair bit for joinery, but is considered pretty
much the default option for carpentry. All very much as expected

But, on reading (via the index) most of my larger catalogues from various periods, only ONE
advertises draw bore pins for sale.

Melhuish, from 1925





Now, some of these catalogues offer tools and machinery for a wide range of trades, so I don't believe
draw bore pins were too specialised for them..

Further, some of these catalogues most certainly offer items for sale that are easy
or cheap to improvise or make yourself (blackmiths tongs, shooting boards, work benches, tool chests).

So - it draw boring as a technique was common, and (on my survey at least) the tool dealers
weren't offering the pins for sale, what was being used as the pin?

And the technique certainly isn't lost - a google for Jacob's example gives a rich vein
of modern day usage;

google search for drawboring


----------



## Phil Pascoe (1 Aug 2013)

I saw a Marples one at a car boot a few weeks ago, which made me think - old sharpening steels are dirt cheap when you can find them - they're not much different in size and taper, and they're already handled.


----------



## chipmunk (1 Aug 2013)

There's a good article by Christopher Schwartz here...

http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/cschwarz/z_art/drawboring/drawboring1.asp

...including a suggestion to make your own pins from cheap taper punches. I did a quick search for suitable alternatives on this side of the pond and found this set of cheap chisels and punches at Toolstation.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Han...s/Punch+Chisel+Set+12+Piece/d10/sd3302/p62023

...although these do not seem to have a long enough taper TBH.

The Marples 1938 catalogue AndyT posted the link to the other day https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums...ogue-available-t72086.html?hilit=marples 1938 has them on page 20 but there is just a single size 10 x 1/2" - which supports the theory that they were for pretty heavy duty use.

Jon


----------



## bugbear (1 Aug 2013)

chipmunk":3iulio6a said:


> There's a good article by Christopher Schwartz here...
> 
> http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/cschwarz/z_art/drawboring/drawboring1.asp
> 
> ...



Darn - I meant to look in that catalogue, and forgot! Good find. They're all much smaller than Jacob's example, which is curious.

Things that would work abound:

http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/Heel-Bar-4 ... aley-AK882

http://export.rsdelivers.com/product/br ... 22195.aspx

http://www.tinmantech.com/html/marlinspikes.php

http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Steel- ... 2581?Pos=1

BugBear


----------



## Jacob (1 Aug 2013)

bugbear":8jwi3ctp said:


> Reading up in the book pile last night, I discovered something odd.
> 
> Amongst the technique manuals drawboring
> is really not mentioned for cabinetmaking, is mentioned a fair bit for joinery, but is considered pretty
> much the default option for carpentry. All very much as expected


For two simple reasons; 
1 Scale. The bigger it is the harder it is to clamp.
2 Bigger constructions tend to be fixed with pegs or bolts. A tapered pin pulls the holes into alignment and at the same time provides a temporary fixing whilst the permanent ones are being inserted elsewhere.



> They're all much smaller than Jacob's example, ......


because they are intended for metal work.

They probably don't appear in catalogues because they are very simple and your local blacksmith would be first choice. Local blacksmiths were still common when ah worra lad in the 50s, every village had one, but disappearing fast


----------



## bugbear (1 Aug 2013)

Jacob":oj32um74 said:


> Roughly concentric, as I am sure they nearly all were - expensive versions, clever egg shapes etc being just another bit of tom-toolery!



According to Ray Iles, a blacksmith currently making draw bores, he didn't invent the offset/egg idea.

He's dealt in s/h tools for years, and the *old* draw bores he saw had this feature.

He just copied it!

I think the small, wooden handled, ones have the eccentric shape so they can be tightened by twisting, whereas
the eyed/hooked ones just have a taper, since they can be hammered to provide force.

BugBear


----------



## AndyT (1 Aug 2013)

All good stuff. I look forward to seeing more pictures of your stair building Jacob.

Just for the sake of thoroughness, here's the relevant picture from my Marples catalogue, which makes it a little clearer than the Melhuish one what their two different patterns (handled/eyed) looked like:


----------



## bugbear (1 Aug 2013)

AndyT":2tdaxtjy said:


> All good stuff. I look forward to seeing more pictures of your stair building Jacob.
> 
> Just for the sake of thoroughness, here's the relevant picture from my Marples catalogue, which makes it a little clearer than the Melhuish one what their two different patterns (handled/eyed) looked like:



I bet the handiest tool to put through the eye was another draw bore pin!

BugBear


----------



## Jacob (3 Sep 2013)

I had 3 more made up by a blacksmith (£15 each). You need at least 4 for staircase.
As I've said before - they aren't for force (breaking through tenons), they are for gently nipping up a joint with only the lightest tap from a hammer, so it's got to be a good push fit joint to start with. 
But if you just apply hand pressure whilst using a mallet on the structure itself, the pin will slip in further with each tap and you may not need to hit it at all. Just a detail!


----------



## twothumbs (3 Sep 2013)

A good one Jacob. My tuppence worth is....blacksmiths made many tools and were the first stop for builders, masons, etc. I am familiar with the podging bars for steel erectors and scaffolders. They used to be used by commercial vehicle garages for lining parts up. They must have been used for heavy joiners work (carpenters in England) for Belfast trusses, King post, etc., Shoring and temporary works like centering, etc, canal lock gates, boat building and harbour works...along with scotch hand augers to drill first (which must have been hard work in itself). A good thread. Thank you and best wishes to everyone.


----------

