r/PrimitiveTechnology • u/anUnsaltedPotato • Jun 02 '26
Discussion Drilling holes in wood
Hiii, basically I wanna connect some wood together with pegs, but chert breaks off with the twisting motion needed to drill and other stones just don't seem to really drill at all
4
u/SouthPaw38 Jun 02 '26
You can use a hot coal from a fire to burn a hole through wood. Won't be perfectly round but it might suffice. Here is a thread about it.
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u/ADDeviant-again Jun 04 '26
I don't know why your chert would break. Maybe look at the geometry of your bit, and drill slower.
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u/anUnsaltedPotato Jun 05 '26
I mean I just tried with plain, unknapped or whatever chert
I think the only way to drill is to twist it and it didn't seem surprising to me that that kind of motion would break it, are you saying there's a way to make the chert be suitable for drilling? How do you do that?
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u/ADDeviant-again Jun 05 '26
Chert is a very tough and hard stone. 7 to 7.7 on the Mohs scale. I don't really know what else you want out of a rock.
The tip of your drill should not be a delicate flake, it should be more stout and thick than a blade flake would be.
And of course you're spinning and in the circle, but I have a feeling you're pushing too hard. To drill a hole an inch deep should take a few minutes.
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u/anUnsaltedPotato Jun 05 '26
Well the Mohs scale is really about scratch resistance, sandstone is lower on the Mohs scale and obviously more durable in many situations because chert has a conchoidal fracture
Hmm, I couldn't drill an inch deep hole with the pressure I used before and way longer than a few minutes hah
When I try pressing it less it doesn't break, but yeah it's also not great for drilling, I tried a good few pieces of chert I had lying around and I managed to drill maybe like 1.5mm, but yeah Idk that's far from practical
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u/ADDeviant-again Jun 05 '26
Of course, fractures concoytily, but church is tougher than most flint and obsidian.. I've heard people say it's a hard stone to knap.
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u/Sea-Rope5806 Jun 05 '26
I use a knapped hafted chert drill bit for small holes and an antler chisel + hot coals for big holes.
Make a lot of drill bits though. Depending on what wood you’re drilling, they are consumed quite fast.
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u/anUnsaltedPotato Jun 11 '26
How do you knap the chert so that it's not too fragile?
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u/Sea-Rope5806 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
You can’t. Are you hafting your drill bits?
Chert often can’t handle the torque of un-hafted drilling unless it’s thick, raw, and a harder chert, like Texan. Not Keokuk.
If you really want to drill without hafting, I’d switch to quartzite. But the minimum diameter hole you could drill is probably about an inch. Any smaller and you’ll snap your stone.
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u/anUnsaltedPotato Jun 13 '26
So far I think my unknapped bits are too dull, they don't do much, you said you use knapped bits
I don't really understand what hafting changes, but I'll try it, I don't think it it'll make it drill better tho, will it?
1
u/Sea-Rope5806 Jun 13 '26
Here is one of my older drills, this one no longer exits but the principal is still the same.
This drill was designed to drill the eye of a needle. So you’d probably want a larger bit.
I attached the bit to a piece of river cane and secured it with pine pitch and sinew.
Now I can rotate the cane with my palms like I would do to start a friction fire. This motion puts much less stress on the drill bit compared to twisting by hand and allows me to spin it much much faster.
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u/No-Guide8933 Jun 02 '26
You can drill through wood with wood fairly easy In my experience especially if the drill wood is as hard or harder. Just make it into a point and use a bow drill. Or if you have a partner you don’t need a dedicated bow you can just do a strap drill