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Don Weisman writes:

The floor drill press has an attachment as shown on Photo 1.  In
function, it is similar to a Machinists boring vise (I do not know it's
proper name). It can be set at compound angles. 2 hand
wheels control the height movement of the vise of which there
are troublesome pre-sets. One additional hand wheel controls
centering or moving the vise containing the work closer or further
from the drill bit. In other words, the vise is multi-directional for
accurate woodworking locating. This tool has paid for itself a
hundred times over. Many years ago the attachment was available
from Sears.

Photo #2 shows a square stretcher with a broken and missing
tenon that will be bored. Take special note that the stretcher is
a compound angle (the most difficult type to properly new re-
create.  See Photo 4). Obviously, if a hand held drill were used, the
Brad point bit flutes would immediately toss it out of the wood.
Using a normal drill bit hand held would permit the point to walk off
center unless a series of bits from small to large were used. Also,
the risk of the hole not being parallel to the sides is very high. If the
hole is not vertical to the sides, the stretcher will not fit correctly and
the chair will not be as strong as it could be.

Photo #3 shows a round (scrap) spindle with a drill bit diameter
as large as the spindle end which needs the tenon. Frequently, the
drill bit is larger than the spindle end.

With a similar attachment the most difficult stretcher and
spindle tenon making can be made easy and result in better
workmanship...a real service to a customer.

Photo #4 has nothing to do with the above. It is a photo of
newly made stretchers on which each end is a compound miter.
Chairs of this type can be easily recognized as the rear legs will be
closer together than the front legs, creating 2 miters on each
stretcher. In addition, the legs are usually tapered and therefore
require 2 different compound miters (per stretcher). You might think
that if only 1 stretcher were broken that you can copy the good one.
Wrong!  There is a Left and Right stretcher. We goofed on 1 miter
and we had to use a little filler.

Guess what specie wood the chair legs are?

Don Weisman
Texas










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