Problems with drilling a hole

[Midnight Carver]

I am having problems drilling holes in basswood. On a few occasions I have had been trying to drill a hole through the hand on a carving. The hands are blocked in and a little oversized, but when I try to drill it, I have ended up splitting the wood from the hand partway up the arm along the grain. I am running a small pilot hole through first, followed by about a 3/16 drill, both drills are sharp and a regular spiral drill. I am using a hand drill and holding the carving.
Any suggestions for what I might be doing wrong? Thanks in advance

Eric

[Donsexton]

Are you sure the bits are not tapered?

[Tom Ellis]

Eric, I some times use the little tapered diamond burrs, in a dremel to get thru a fragil piece, The drills have a tendency to catch the wood.

Tom

[Big Barn]

That's really odd ??? You could try to drill from both sides - just be careful on your alignment. I really don't understand why it would split on you.

[grdeno]

When I am drilling Basswood I use a drill press and bullet point bits you have to make sure they are really sharp and go very slow and steafy on the feed. So far I have not had any split maby I have just been lucky. Good luck and slow down your feed.
Gary

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Are the bits sharp? You may be pushing to hard?

Dave

[Midnight Carver]

The bits are sharp. They are DeWalt "pilot point" drills that have hardly been used. They are probably catching, I wonder if I should quit running a pilot hole? Anyone have experience with "Brad" drills?
On the positive side, I am getting experience with putting add-ons onto my carving (even if they are unplanned)

Eric

[SlowMover]

If I drill a hole in a hand (and many times you can get a nice separation with your knife)...I drill it as early in the carving process as possible, usually as part of the roughing in stage. By doing it early you have a lot more wood and surface area to work with, and if you do mess up you don't have much time invested in the hand.
As said by Tom, using a dremel or other rotary tool with a small bit (I like the very thin, pointed and tapered bit) you have more control than a drill press.

Hope you master the holes.

[Dull Knife]

Originally Posted by Midnight Carver

I am having problems drilling holes in basswood. On a few occasions I have had been trying to drill a hole through the hand on a carving. The hands are blocked in and a little oversized, but when I try to drill it, I have ended up splitting the wood from the hand partway up the arm along the grain. I am running a small pilot hole through first, followed by about a 3/16 drill, both drills are sharp and a regular spiral drill. I am using a hand drill and holding the carving.
Any suggestions for what I might be doing wrong? Thanks in advance

Eric

Try using a small Dremel Tool bit. The bits I use for these holes are rough along the entire length of the bit.

But you will have to use caution so as not to break thru on the sides of the hands.

It's just a matter of practice, you may want to practice on a small block of bass wood first to get the idea. Trust me....this works.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

never had a problem, just use my DeWalt variable speed and drill the holes...! Sometimes have had to start one side then go to the other side to finish....