Brittle desert ironwood?

[kbright]

I was drilling a 1/4 inch pilot hole in a block of desert ironwood, got in about 1/2 inch and the block split. I didn't see any crack when I started. I have had softer wood split and splinter on me, but not hard wood. Gotta be careful.

 

[kbright]

Ooops. That was a 1/8th inch pilot hole, not 1/4.

 

[HSC ///]

Strange. I’ve used quite a lot of Ironwood over a few years and never had that happen

 

[noseoil]

Curious, I've used some & not had it show any signs of being brittle. I'm wondering about the annular growth rings on that piece, they seem to be very widely separated. I usually think of Iron Wood as being very slow growing in the desert, due to the typical drought conditions & low rainfall. In Tucson we had 10" of rainfall, average. The growth rings show a lot of water in the area where this was grown. There are lots of places it grows, so I'm not an expert, just used it from time to time. Typically, in Tucson it grows around dry washes which get water once in a while due to thunder storms in the summer & a bit of rain in the winter. You could probably just epoxy the block back together, but not if it's for a customer's blade.

Can you check with your supplier & let us know what he says about the country of origin? It could be Mexico, Arizona or several other places. If you work with it & heat the bit from friction or sand with fine paper & it starts to burn a little, does it stink really bad, pungent? It's really hard & pretty tough usually, so I'm at a loss to understand what went wrong...

 

[Hankins]

Have had that happen to me a few times... Probably old dry wood
What helped was to: Use a new drill bit for ea size hole
Go SLOW and back out quite often If it feels hot to the touch or it smells hot stop get a cool beverage and come back later

 

[kbright]

This is one block from a batch from Arizona Ironwood. I think they are in Tucson, AZ.
I used a drill press and started with a 1/8 inch drill, intending to step through several larger sizes to get to a 1/2 inch shaft for a Wa dowel. I didn't get very deep, only 1/2 inch into the block before it split. It is a cobalt drill bit, not new but still sharp; not from Harbor Freight.

 

[kbright]

Here's the response from the vendor. He says use a smaller drill bit.

"I’m surprised to see this happen with ironwood. Based on your order, it was Thoroughly dried prior and moisture checked. I’ve never seen anything like this before due to just drilling. I’ve seen this due to clamping To hard in a wood lathe. But wood can do some mysterious things. My son makes knives and he said It is very uncommon but to try using smaller drill bits working up in size could help minimize this. "

 

[Rhinoknives1]

Here's the response from the vendor. He says use a smaller drill bit.

"I’m surprised to see this happen with ironwood. Based on your order, it was Thoroughly dried prior and moisture checked. I’ve never seen anything like this before due to just drilling. I’ve seen this due to clamping To hard in a wood lathe. But wood can do some mysterious things. My son makes knives and he said It is very uncommon but to try using smaller drill bits working up in size could help minimize this. "

I have used Ironwood, some from the same source over the years & never had splits/cracking .. I think your experience is a one in a Million...

 

[Storm W]

I just had one split the other night and was surprised by it as well. It was a nice block.mine was just a Ebay bulk buy a couple years ago at least.

 

[Ken H>]

Let's see, you were using an 1/8" drill and vendor suggests using a smaller drill bit? I don't think smaller is the best approach in this case. With this happening in 1/2", that's several diameters deep hole with 1/8". I'm sure the plan was to drill in, then out to clear drill shavings. Could you have allowed the shavings to pack around drill bit that could put pressure on sides of hole causing the split? Maybe "assisting" in split starting is better term.

Bummer on nice piece of Ironwood. Love that stuff.

 

[kbright]

I do notice that ironwood is sticky and clogs up the drill bit flutes. I go in and out, and try to clear the flutes.
There must have been some checking cracks that I couldn't see, the block is pretty rough.
I used another block from the same batch, and it was fine.