# Drilling Broom Handles



## Randy_

[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]Not exactly pencrafting; but maybe of use to some??[/FONT]
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]One shop task that has always been a bit problematic for me is the drilling of a 2” or 3” deep hole on the end of a broom handle or other long dowel shaped piece and getting the hole reasonably concentric with the long axis of the work piece.[/FONT]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]If I did this kind of thing on a regular basis, I guess I would make up some kind of jig and do the deed on my drill press; but I am usually in a hurry and accuracy is usually not “that" critical so I just grab my hand drill and drill away. Sometimes I get it spot on and sometimes I don't.  Most of the time when it isn't quite right, it is still “good enough”; but it bugs me that it is not better. [/FONT]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]Well, I needed to drill another hole yesterday and thought I would try to do a little better job this time......wanted to make a handle for a spike to take along on my jaunts in the city park to pick up bits of the litter that a few lazy *****s leave behind.[/FONT]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]Here is what I did. Maybe there is an easier way; but this worked for me and might help others with the same problem and tool set. Since I only have a JET 1014, I could not just chuck the piece in the lathe and drill it out.....5' broom handle won't fit in a 14” lathe!! But there is a way to cheat a little.:wink:[/FONT]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]I marked and punched the center of the broom handle. And then loaded an 1/8” drill bit in my Beall collet chuck. (You could probably use a scroll chuck and start off with a slightly larger drill bit if you have a set of pin jaws or you could turn a little hardwood bushing that would allow you to use a small diameter drill bit with your standard jaws.) [/FONT]
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[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]Next, I rotated my tool rest perpendicular to the ways and set it at a height where the drill bit was aligned vertically with the center of the piece when it was placed on the rest. Then I removed the TS and slid the banjo to the extreme far end of the lathe bed and locked it down. The final step was to lay the piece on the tool rest and advance the marked end (by hand) toward the drill bit until it hit the center punch and then continue advancing the piece until the hole was drilled to the proper depth while making sure (by eyeball) that the piece was parallel to the lathe bed. Then I went back and repeated the process with a drill bit of the final size which in this case was 1/4”. The point of using a small bit for the first hole and graduating to a larger one is to reduce the possibility of the larger bit grabbing the wood since I was only holding the piece by hand.[/FONT]


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]Hope that makes sense and is of some help to others or if there is a simpler way that someone has discovered, please share your genius!![/FONT]


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## pssherman

Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. I'll have to remember that.


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## mrcook4570

Sounds good.  I am, however, curious about the need to drill a hole in a broom handle.


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## Daniel

Randy, I have never felt more blessed to have a good eye than I do at this moment. I am one of those that can grab the cordless drill and do it by hand. My son on the other hand would not have a prayer at drilling a straight hole. I think that is one of the drawbacks of a left hander learning from a right hander


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## Randy_

mrcook4570 said:


> Sounds good. I am, however, curious about the need to drill a hole in a broom handle.


 
Stan:  I drilled the hole in the end of the broom handle so I could epoxy a 6" piece of 1/4" steel rod into the end of the broom handle.  With a point sharpened on the exposed end of the rod, I have a nice spear that will allow me to pick up litter from the ground without having to fully dismount from my bike.:bananen_smilies046:


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## snyiper

I do it the lazy way and drive a good size nail in the end and grind a point on the other.


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## Randy_

I've done that too; but occasionally, you will end up splitting the broom handle doing it that way especially if you use a larger nail.
 
And there has been a time or two when I wanted to bolt something to the end of the handle so I needed to insert a piece of threaded rod.  You can't drive that stuff in with a hammer.  A pre-drilled hole is a necessity!!:wink:


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## mywoodshopca

Duct tape fixes everything.. just duct tape the rod on :biggrin:


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