Making Gatsby pens

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Squeaky1

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Jul 4, 2014
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Fort Worth
I want to make Gatsby pens which require a 25/64 bit. I got the bit but it will not fit into my Black & Decker 3/8 Jacobs Drill.

Any ideas? I use the my drill to make the 7mm pens with no problem. I just can not figure out how to make the wider pens?
 
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Assuming you're using a drill press, either get a 1/2" chuck that will fit the taper on the drill press (likely JT33). Other option is to drill on the lathe. Either way, you need a drill with a 1/2" chuck or a 25/64" bit that will fit a 3/8" chuck.
 
I do not have a drill press. I make the pens using my standard Black & Decker drill. I put the blanks in a vise in order to drill them. It is a hard way to go but I am getting them drilled.

Can what you stated apply to a regular drill also?? Thanks.
 
Absolutely. For not much more than what you'd pay for a 1/2" drill, you can get a pen blank chuck and a lathe drill chuck (assuming your tail stock has a Morse taper)
 
The drill you are currently using will not be able to do that, one way or another you'll need to buy tools that can handle that. Either a larger handheld (not the best option), or like Clark says, getting the hardware to drill on the lathe.

If you keep an eye on Craigslist you may be able to find a benchtop drill press for a good price, too. Best of luck.
 
Karl_99 said:
Everyone else addressed the drill question. You wrote that you have a 25/64" drill bit for a Gatsby pen. The Gatsby requires a 27/64" bit. Please double check.
Click to expand...

I was just thinking the same thing Karl and went to psi to double check. Almost all the Sierra clones are 27/64 including this.
 
I was thinking the same thing. I've never made the Gatsby variant, so I didn't bother checking the drill size. I didn't know if maybe PSI did something "different" to add some meat to the pen.
 
If you don't want to buy a bigger drill, you can make the gatsby grande kits. The gatsby grande is basically the same kit with a 3/8 tube.
 
You can buy reduced shank drill bits that will fit your drill. Check your local hardware stores or the big box guys.

That being said, you will soon experience issues drilling with a hand drill. You will be much better off either drilling on the lathe or on a drill press.
 
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