[TheForge] Drilling terra cotta

[Roy Wilson]

On Wed, 17 Apr 2002 07:53:48 -0500, Dave Brown wrote:

>The question I have is whether or not the terra cotta will drill using a 
>regular drill (this works on clay pigeons) or a masonry bit.  Or will I 
>have to find a diamond abrasive hole cutter for the task?

  I cheated - I asked one of my neighbors who runs a ceramics shop.
 She uses a regular HSS drill bit for small holes, a short length
of pipe "with the end roughed up" (technical term there<G>, looks
like she scored it across the diameter with a file a few times).

  Runs it fast with drill bits, slow with the pipe.

  She also said not to use a masonry bit or any other spade-type,
the chatter will give you a hole a lot bigger than you wanted in
terra cotta or fired clay.



Roy Wilson
General Operations Director
Zanzibar Internet Land Line Administrator

<Roy@Wilson-Eclectics.com>