I am a high school wood working/turning teacher and have some students interested in turning candleholders. Other than trial and error are there any suggestions on how I can get a novice to make the tapered hole the correct size so the candle sits straight?
Jack Grube
Get a spade drill bit and regrind it to the taper you would like for the hole. Then drill the hole with the modified drill bit in a chuck in the tailstock.
You could follow most of the drill-based suggestions that were in the wine-cork holder thread. This is good if you want to get the candleholders made with minimum fuss, but it deskills the job. There are also inserts.
You could have the candlestickmakers spend a few class periods doing nothing but mounting up scrap, putting candle-holes in it, and seeing how the candles fit. This is good for progessing from novice to beyond-novice. More "practice makes perfect" than "trial and error" - screwing up on scrap is practice - no agony, toss it back where it came from - practicing on the finished piece is trial and (if you screw up there) error.
A middle ground is to decide what top and bottom diameters and depth you want, chuck up a drill (I'd use a Forstner) in the tailstock that is the bigger size, drilling just enough to mark the surface, swapping to the smaller size, setting a depth stop or mark and drill to depth, then the taper is just opening the smaller hole to the larger mark at the top.
The "standard" taper, as you have noticed, is supposed to be 7/8 taper to
3/4 . I ground back a 7/8 spade bit, making sure to relieve the newly ground edges to the angle of the existing. If it were not for the large triangular lead, it would be ideal. Which is why I now bore the hole for brass candle inserts.BTW, they'll never fit right first try, which is why you always trim, then put a drop or two of wax to help set them up straight.
Woodcraft sells a bit for this exclusive purpose, if you are interested, holler back at me and I will give you the part number. I have one, and it is not exactly cheap but good quality. I don't think they list it in the catalogue. I found it from a turner friend.
Regards, Lewis
I could use that part number also. Thanks!
Peter Teubel Milford, MA
Hi Peter,
The part # or Stock # is 95600, Woodtek from Woodcraft. It is only about 3" long and has a 1/2" shank, the taper is about 13/16" to about 15/16". Call them and talk about it, seems I paid about $30.00. Good Luck, Lewis
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