Weekend projects: drawbore pin & chisel hammer

[ydb1md]

After constructing a couple of projects using mortise & tenon joints with drawboring, and not being able to afford (justify) the expense of antique drawbore pins, I decided to make my own. I did learn that I could drawbore without the pin but I destroyed a few oak dowels where a drawbore pin would have told me to modify my joint a little. Following tips from Christopher Schwarz, I went to my sears store and picked up their punch and alignment set 94285. The alignment pin that I used had a beginning diameter of 5/32" and is 7" long. I ground the flat,blunt tip on my grinder to better mimic the profile of classic drawbore pins.
I used alcohol to clean off the machine oil and a "rust eraser" to take off the black oxide finish. The handle is made of some maple scrap that I had lying around. The hole in the handle begain as 3/8" which I enlarged to allow the pin to fit. The pin required a 7/16" hole but I only had a 3/8" and 1/2" to choose from. So, not wanting to go oversize, I used the 3/8" bit and wiggled the workpiece to enlarge the hole. I could have heated the pin red hot and plunged it into the wood but I decided not to go pyro and burn myself or my bench/shop. I used some 60 minute epoxy to secure the pin in the handle. The handle is roughly oval in shape. I knocked off the corners with the bandsaw and finished up with a rasp, card scraper and sandpaper. The finish is 1 coat of BLO and 2 coats of wipe-on poly.

This weekend I also made a chisel hammer. It's sort of a blend of both of Glen Drake's chisel hammers. I used some 1-1/8" brass rod to make the head. One end is slightly domed, the other is flat. Once again, the handle is maple with a BLO / wipe-on poly finish.

 

[ydb1md]

 

[ydb1md]

 

[Philly]

Love the stubby hammer, Dave!
Good Work,
Philly

 

[ydb1md]

Thanks Philly! They're not pretty but they feel good in the hand.

 

[Anonymous]

That hammer looks reeally nice to hold. Definitely on the tuit list. Nice work Dave

 

[MikeW]

Way cool Dave!

I too love the hammer. Fine job.

Take care, Mike

 

[ydb1md]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

I bought the brass rod a while ago and have been waiting for some time to make a hammer. I want to make a set of three with one being lighter and one being heavier than my first. I'm also working on improving my skills w/ the rasp -- not too pretty right now.

When I'm happier with my end result, I might use a bit of a cocobolo slab that I recently bought to make some proper (and prettier) handles.

 

[mr]

Hi all,
exuse my ignorance but how do you use the drawbore pin, Dave you say you learned that you could drawbore without the pin but had better results with. What's the purpose of the thing? Seems to me that careful measuring, an eggbeater and mallet would have the desired effect , what am I missing?
Thanks
Mike

 

[ydb1md]

Hi all,
exuse my ignorance but how do you use the drawbore pin, Dave you say you learned that you could drawbore without the pin but had better results with. What's the purpose of the thing? Seems to me that careful measuring, an eggbeater and mallet would have the desired effect , what am I missing?
Thanks
Mike

Hi mike,
The pin just helps you verify that your drawbore alignment is ok by pulling the joint tight and, by nature of its taper, telling you how far offset your tenon hole is.

I had a couple of joints where the dowel bottomed out against the tenon rather than threading through the hole and I kept pounding. The dowel just self-destructed. If I'd had the pin, I could judge the offset and tell whether or not my wooden dowel would do the job.

I could do the same job by peering in the hole and manually pulling the joint tight but the pin when you're drawboring large members, this gets difficult.

Here's a great link for drawboring information http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/Understanding+Early+Joinery+And+Drawboring.aspx

 

[mr]

Hi Dave
Thanks for that, I had seen the link you posted before and was half thinking that the point of the pins might be as you describe but at the same time I was thinking that this couldnt be the case because I thought that would probably only cause the dowel to fit by means of compressing the fibres in the tenon and lengthening the tenon borehole, if you see what I mean rather than by pulling the tenon in, again as you say a technique that sounds more useful in larger work which is kind of suggested by the other mentions of Draw boring on the woodworking magazine site.
Thanks again
Mike

 

[OPJ]

Draw-boring has perhaps been most commonly used in staircase construction, when it comes to getting a tight, strong fit between string and newell post, which would then be kept in place with a dowel.

Yes, can use the pins to check your accuracy in marking out before banging the dowel in to discover a catastrophe in which the string does not sit at 90 degrees to the newell, etc.

We had to do this for our staircases in college last year, a very effective joint indeed. Although, I'd still like to see someone put it to good use in general woodwork/cabinet making...

Perhaps it's just too awkward and time-consuming for some?

 

[ydb1md]

Draw-boring has perhaps been most commonly used in staircase construction, when it comes to getting a tight, strong fit between string and newell post, which would then be kept in place with a dowel.

Yes, can use the pins to check your accuracy in marking out before banging the dowel in to discover a catastrophe in which the string does not sit at 90 degrees to the newell, etc.

We had to do this for our staircases in college last year, a very effective joint indeed. Although, I'd still like to see someone put it to good use in general woodwork/cabinet making...

Perhaps it's just too awkward and time-consuming for some?

After trying it out, I'm going to use it everywhere that I have a mortise & tenon joint. The joint is fantastic in that the drawbore pin pulls the joint tighter than any clamp ever could -- because it pulls from inside the joint. There is no waiting for glue or epoxy to cure unless you choose to use an adhesive. If you ever have to disassemble the joint, you can drill out the dowel or bang it out with your drawbore pin.

There really isn't much extra time involved. There's the drilling of the mortise, marking the tenon, making the offset and setting the joint. Plus, beating that dowel into place gives one a very satisfied feeling because you know that joint is going to hold.

 

[MikeW]

Hey Dave,

They do work well--which makes me not know why I don't use them more!

Cuts down on clamos. Especially nice for long work where one needs to cobble together a couple long clamps. That's aside from the fact I like the looks.

Take care, Mike

 

[Horst Hohoff]

Hello,
I'm planning to build a workbench and think of using the draw bored joint on the project. So what I'd like to ask the experts is: is there a rule of thumb how big the offset may be in relation to the diametre of the drilling?

 

[ydb1md]

Hi Horst,

I believe that the offset is usually 1/8" to 3/32". That will vary a bit depending on the species of wood. From what I've read, I don't believe that it varies based on the diameter of the dowel, but I could be wrong. Have you read the blogs regarding drawboring that are on www.woodworking-magazine.com?