How to Drill Really Big Holes?

[Mark M]

I want to make planters and need to make some really big holes in logs or timbers. One idea I have is for some holes big enough to hold a 6"-8" clay flower pot; the other is to hollow out a log and fill it with dirt, something like a window box. I've thought about trying to use a router, my chainsaw, adz, milling machine, etc. but don't think any of these will work very well.

Any ideas will be appreciated.

Mark

[etat]

Mark, that is a really interesting question.  You got me wanting to know too!!!!

[Tom]

To hollow out a log from the end grain end would be tough.  I have planters like that holding antique roses but the logs were already naturally hollow.  I just filled two and 3 foot sections with peat moss and planted the rose.  I left the bottom open.  I went to move one of them from the side of the yard last fall and found that the planter was attached to the ground.  Thinking that the rose had grown roots all the way to the bottom and into the ground, I ran a spade under it.  It wasn't rose roots. A nearby sweetgum tree had found the peat moss and, I guess, the liquid fertilizer I had been using in it.  A hefty root that had grown as big as my thumb had entered the bottom and grown nearly to the top, laying down feeder roots along the way.   The pot now has a bottom.

Turning a log into a planter box by splitting it and hollowing it out from the side is a different story.  Hollow logs have been used in that manner for years.  Some for planters and most for watering troughs.  Chicken farmers around here were notorious for using them for water before technology caught up with chicken farming.

To hollow out one yourself would require an adze.  This is the same kind of job you would run into making dough bowls.  A friend of mine makes dough bowls and uses that set of planer blades that attaches to the end of a chainsaw.  It's commercial name is a Log Wizard.  I imagine that it would be one of the most productive means of hollowing out a planter.  If straight sides were OK,  I think you could probably use a "Skill" saw to cut the sides and cross cut the center ever 4 to 6 inches and then use an axe or hammer or hatchet to knock those pieces loose.   I'm kinda designing as I talk, but I bet it'd work.

[Bruce_A]

Twenty five years ago, I made and sold cedar log planters.  By taking a two, three, or four foot long piece of cedar log, I would split three sides off with a shake froe, saw about four to six inches off each end, and nail or dowel the side pieces back into their places.  Filled with soil they looked like a hollow log  planter.

[Ianab]

I'd give it a go with a chainsaw, 4 plunge cuts to make a square hole and knock the plug out. Didn't say it would be quick or easy, and you might end up with a few pieces of firewood while you are practising, but I think it would work OK

Ian

[beenthere]

Really big Forstner bit  

Seriously, I used to know a fellow who made walnut bowls, and he would first drill a 3/4" pilot hole through a walnut log (about firewood length), then follow that with a 'forstner' type bit that had a 3/4" stub on the end that would follow the pilot hole. These bowls were also used for lamps, so the through-hole was not a problem, and the large hole didn't go all the way through. For the bowls, he had a plastic insert that fit inside the larger hole. A vase-type insert, if you will. For the lamps, he had an aluminum holder that would distribute the heat from the light bulb.

After the large hole was drilled, he would chuck the 'log' in a lathe and spin it against a rotary knife head that would, in one revolution, turn the shape of the bowl.

These green bowls were then soaked in PEG-1000, dried in a kiln, and then put back in the lathe for a final turning.

(That's more information than needed, but it covers the drilling of the larger hole in the end grain of wood. The pilot hole helps keep the large bit true).

[Fla._Deadheader]

  I believe I would clamp 'em on the mill and halve 'em. Then saw the middle out with the chainsaw, leaving enough in both halves to make the bottom, if needed. After several kerf cuts, I would carefully use the bar nose and cut the bottom section seperate from the kerfs and them chisel the waste between the kerfs.  Just be careful of kick-back with the bar nose. Glue the 2 halves back together with Gorilla glue.  

[Bro. Noble]

I used to use hollow logs to make feed troughs.  Black gums here are often hollow.  The heart completely dissappears leaving a very smooth shell.  I'd locate the trees in the fall by their red foliage and then thump them with a hammer to make sure they were hollow before cutting them.

You might also look for a hollow tree of any species and clean out the punky wood.

[Minnesota_boy]

Uh, Noble,
Mark lives in North Dakota.  They don't have many trees.  He might have to cut them all down to find the one that is hollow.  

[Bro. Noble]

M_boy,

He could come visit me and I would send him home with all the hollow trees he wants.  Heck,  I'd even mail him the hollow part of a few.

[Tom]

I could probably round up a bunch of "middles" too.  They probably wouldn't be as expensive as yours seein' as how its "Southern Wood'.  I've been told that it has to come from the Appalachians or North to be any good.  If he doesn't need "prime" middles, I might be able to do him some good.

You do the paperwork, Br'er Noble, I'll do the collecting and we'll divide the Gross down the middle.

[Fla._Deadheader]

Ooops, fergot, we have a few hollow "shorts" layin around, and 1 big'un layin in the water.  

[Mark M]

Hey that's a good idea! - send me the hollow part and I'll transplant it into the logs.

[steveo_1]

Hey Mark i have an idea i havent tried it and it might be a dumb one,but you said ANY ideas appreciated.
You gotta cuttin torch?
If so try using the oxygen to burn the wood out just as you would when cutting steel.
You will have to keep some water nearby incase you get carried away with the torch,and keep the ashes blown out with an air nozzle.
Dumb idea or what???

[etat]

I'd like to comment about the cutting torch idea.  For it to actually burn into the wood you have to hit the oxygen lever.  When you do this you get really hot embers flying around as the torch eats into the wood,  They'll try to set you on fire. The mixture of acetylene,  propane or map gas and oxygen makes the embers really hot, and the smoke pouring out will try to smother you.  

Might work better, I don't know, if you drilled a hole and inserted some coal, or charcoal, and just fed it a bit of oxygen to keep it burning.  This would be an experiement I wouldn't mind trying.

Information coming from a guy who has set more than one piece of wood on fire with both cutting torch,,,,,,,and welder. .  

[etat]

Bro Noble.  I once read that on the old wooden wagon wheels that wood commonly used for the spokes was white oak, and for the hubs black gum.  The oak part I can figure.  I am curious about what qualities black gum possessed that made it a preferred material for the hubs.

[Bro. Noble]

Black gum (ithink) has interlocking grain like sycamore,  so wouold be resistant to spliting.

[Cedarman]

For up to 4 inch holes, use a drill press and a bit that can be found in catalogs.  This is for end drilling of cut off logs for smaller pots.  For bigger holes we've got religious cedar.  It is very holy.

[junkyard]

Mark
Go to the local welder handyman, the guy that should be on junkyard wars. Have him make an over size spoon bit with a pilot.
Drill a pilot hole then follow with the spoon bit.
Do a search on pump logs they were drilled with a spoon bit.
             Junkyard

[Bro. Noble]

Tom,

I was thinking that if we pulled a vaccum on those holes,  we could send them by e-mail.  The buyer could then just add air-----save a bundle on shipping and packaging.

Hey,  I hate paperwork

How come you collect the money

Who said I needed a partner anyway