Drilling a hidden tang

[Beauco]

I use the drill press, drill and wiggle technique, but there has to be a better way...in addition to burn-in. Any suggestions. And, yes, I have done a search and was surprised to not find this topic. The kiln-dried hickory is getting the best of me.

First post/new member.

 

[Geoff Flato]

Sorry, I totally misread that as tapered tang.
A small carbide Burr or rotary file in a dremel or flex shaft can work well for that.

 

[Busto]

Try making a broach from a piece of scrap steel...

http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/make-yourself-some-broaches.838734/

 

[Barry Clodfelter]

Use an end mill slightly over sized then a broach will neatly square up the inside corners.

 

[kuraki]

I drill one hole down the center and then broach it to shape. Much easier and faster than drilling multiple holes and trying to connect them with the side of a drill bit in my opinion. Better end result too in my case.

drilled

start broaching

finished

Doing it this way gives me more control over the angle of the top and bottom so the tang sits in the antler or block just the way I want than drilling ever has. Not saying drilling those ends out can't work, just that this way is easier for me, especially on oddly shaped materials that you can't set up nicely in a drill press.

 

[R.C.Reichert]

Last time I did this, after getting the initial hole, I took a 1/4" round rasp kinda like the one in the picture and stuck one end in a hand-held drill. Worked pretty good.

 

[timos-]

i bought a sheetrock saw from local place and ground away the back to make more narrow...has saved me tons of time.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

The biggest tip I can give someone is done BEFORE you drill.
Draw out the tang on all sides of the block. It will give a visual perspective that will greatly increase the ease of getting things lined up.


Other tips:
1) A superb broach can be made from a round rasp like the one shown earlier. Carefully grind it into a flat rasp with teeth on the edges. It will cut on the push, which is very powerful. The taper gets the slot started easily. Put a good handle on it and it can take only a minute to slot out a drilled hole into a tang slot. Like kuraki, I start with a 1/4" hole.

2) People spend time making the tang slot square cornered. James Baton once said, "Are drills square?? then why are you making square edge tangs? Grind/file the tang corners rounded!"

 

[Justin.P]

I've only done a couple, so take my suggestion for what it's worth.
But used two Bosch up cut jigsaw blades side by side that I fashioned a quick handle for as a broach cutter.
If you look hard enough you can find some really nice long jigsaw blades too.
The up cut blades are cutting on the pull stroke, so they drag the sawdust back out of the handle material. But a downcut would probably work also.
I drew the tang on the blank, drilled a center hole with a long aircraft twist drill bit, then broached out the tang profile.

 

[Natlek]

For 1.5mm thick blade , 1.6mm in wood

This is 5.2mm in wood for 5mm tang , I like it tight .

It's late here , tomorrow I will take picture of all tool I use for tang hole

 

[Willie71]

Use a set of calipers to make sure the ricasso is thicker than EVERY point along the tang too. It is very frustrating to file a guard to fit, and realize the tang is wider 1/4" back from the ricasso.