Turning stuff wit' holes in it.

Roger Tulk

Member
Messages
3,018
Location
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
When turning things like candlesticks, salt and pepper shakers, even pepper mills, is it better to drill the hole for the socket, salt and pepper vials, grinder mechanism etc., first, and then use a cone centre or jam chuck to hold the piece with the hole centred, than to drill the hole last? I ask because last year I made many candlesticks for practice, and not a single one had the socket perfectly centred.

Anyway, I'm about to start wasting perfectly good turning wood unless I can get those holes in the right place. :huh:
 
For my salt and pepper grinders I drill the hole first. Then I have a chuck that tightens in the hole and the other end centers on the drive. This insures your hole and sides of the grinder are parallel to each other (on the same plane). Otherwise a crooked drill and all that work wasted.
 
Thanks! Jonathan, I going to get a chuck from Penn State in a week or tow when I go to visit my brother. It's the same one I had before, but I had to sell with my lathe. It has the inside jaws as well as the outside ones. I have a drill chuck for the tailstock, and I was using it along with a chuck in the headstock to turn the hole. I'll have to try drilling the hole first. It makes some sense to me.
 
Roger,
I'm adding my vote for drilling first, then turning the body concentric around the hole. I don't do candlesticks, but do lots of pepper mills... always drill first then use a set of jam chucks I've made to hold while I turn the body and top.
 
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