Drilling African Olivewood

[gerryr]

I got some African Olivewood from Lee Tree Woodworks, really beautiful wood. I cut two pieces for a euro style pencil and proceeded to chuck them up in my lathe and drill the holes. The drilling was really slow going compared to any other wood I've drilled and the drill bit wandered way off center on the first one. I drilled even slower on the second one and it was still quite a bit off although not quite as bad as the first. They were still useable but just barely.

Is there a trick to drilling this stuff? I've never had any drill bit wander like this in any other wood.

Thanks,

 

[ed4copies]

Gerry,

I would suggest you call or e-mail Lee (Tannenbaum). When I had a problem with wood I bought from him, he was EXTREMELY helpful. Very knowledgeable guy.

TO CLARIFY: The problem was with ME, not HIS wood. But he educated me, graciously.

 

[gerryr]

I never thought the problem was the wood. I know I must be doing something wrong.

 

[ed4copies]

Lee will (gently) tell you what to do differently. (Possibly, dry the wood)

 

[RussFairfield]

African Olive isn't any different from other Olive. It has a high oil content and drills quite easily when it is dry. That same oil makes it difficult to clear the chips, so you will have to pull the drill out very often.

Also, the oil makes it difficult to dry Olive and to tell when the wood is dry, and I suspect that you might be trying to drill wet wood. I would suggest that you give the wood a few weeks to dry before trying again. Placing the wood in a paper sack on top of the hot water heater is a good place to dry pen blanks.

Give the supplier a call and inquire if there might be a moisture problem.

 

[ed4copies]

Thanks, Russ. I have never used African Olive, so I sure don't KNOW the answer and only Lee knows what, exactly, Gerry has.

 

[Fangar]

Russ gave good advice (As always). The flutes on your drill are likely getting clogged with oily / damp wood dust. When these flutes get clogged, the drill becomes like a solid rod. The tip of the drill will continue to bore (More like chew at the wood), but the flutes of the drill will not clear the path for the bit to continue straight into the wood. The bit will wander to the path of least resistence as you force it into the blank. I have exerienced this when drilling olive that had not been given enough time to dry out.

Good luck,

Fangar

 

[Rifleman1776]

Not long ago I had a drill wander for no apparent reason when drilling a special blank. After that happened, I experimented by drilling about a dozen blanks in succession. The test wood was Osage Orange. Of all the blanks drilled, held firmly in a machinists vice, on one the bit wandered. And it wandered fairly considerably. No apparent reason. This was a brad point bit, all I use on end grain drilling. This may not help you. But my assessment is that when dealing with natural products like wood, things will happen. And, far from being a downside, the unpredictability of the end result is part of the appeal. My advice, for what it's worth, is chalk it up to experience. Get another blank and move on.