Bald eagle and broken drill bits.

[Minnesota scroller]

The most expensive part of this project was the drill bits. I went thru 4 of them on this bird. I drilled them all with a drill press and didn't have much of a problem until I started feeding the blade thru. I tried redrilling some of the holes with my cordless drill. No matter how careful I was, I still snapped a few. I finally realized that the blade had got a little bent, which made it near impossible to feed thru the holes. Now I'm a little more careful when I feed the blade by keeping the board as level as possible. It's a learning curve, in more ways than one. It's certainly cheaper to change blades occasionally than break drill bits.

My wife wasn't too crazy about the eagle. She thinks there should be more wood and less black. I explained to her that it wasn't my fault, it was the pattern maker's fault. It's tough to find real good patterns. Not only that, I have decided that around 100 holes is my maximum. Any more than that and it's more drilling and feeding than it is scrolling. Plus more stress.

I used Olson #2 reverse tooth on the majority and #2/0 FD new spiral on parts. The spirals take getting used to but I think I will like them for certain areas. It came in handy for eye. I didn't have quite the right size bit so I used a smaller one and the eye didn't even show up on the photo. So I took the black backing off and threaded a spiral thru it and enlarged it that way. Worked out all right. I also used the spirals for the outline of the head and the veining in the neck area. The reverse blades would have been too thin. I stopped at Mike's Workshop yesterday in Brandon, SD to meet the guy and get a few blades and bits. Mike is quite the Dutchman. He showed me an awesome clock he made with over 4000 entry holes. When I told him 100 was my limit, he just chuckled.

Hope all you sawyers are having a great weekend.

Mike

[core-eagle]

I like your eagle! You did a great job. Who's pattern?

Tim

[William Young (SE BC)]

Very nice work on the eagle.
I also had problems with drill bits breaking until I realized that there are much better quality ones available at the small tool specialists.

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares...set=1&Count=10

They only cost slightly more than your average bits but the difference in quality makes them much longer lasting and they don't break easy because of superior quality steel in them.

Remember . . with those small bits, the smaller the size the higher the speed should be used on your drill press. Even the best ones will break if you use too low a speed and too much pressure to push them through the wood.

Th Micro-Marks drill bits take much less pressure on the drill press to push them through because they are sharper and therefore track straighter and will last much longer. Just a light touch and they cut the hole as if it is going through butter.
W.Y.

[Charlie_1]

Very Nice work

Charlie,

[ozarkhillbilly]

Mike ya did good! W.Y. gave you some good tips regarding drill bits and speed. Take your time, scrolling's not a destination, it's a journey!! Have fun!

Bill

[minowevie]

Mike I like your eagle too. and you did good with the spirales. I haven't masterd those blades yet. but i am practicing.
and I don't have too much troubale breaking drill bits , except the really small ones. keeping it straight while your intering and going through the wood does help. I also find starting slow at first helps, if you will notice, the bit will bend alittle when you first start your hole. and if not carfull will slide even. thats a bummer on those small fretwork places. more than once i drilled into the line. and on some really hard wood. i even make a litte starter hole, with a nail or something. I like the forester or brad point bits to make a nice round hole. like for the eyes. you can pay alot of money for these, but I just get a set of cheap ones from harbor frieght. works for me. they come in alot of sizes. I like to drill all the holes first. but some folks drill a few at a time, and cut out that work, then some more holes, so on so on. I also run a palm sander over the back alittle to dock off the splinters the drill bit leaves that way my project sets flat on the surface of my saw tabal.
thats great that you got to go buy Mikes. I would love to see him in person, and look at the work he has done, He has helped me out a great dill.
Evie