"Burning a hole"?

I don’t know, but my guess is to enlarge the hole biggger than the bit he had. That is the problem with reading accounts of things that happened a century or more ago; so much was common knowledge they didn’t bother to explaing things we have never heard of. If I were going to burn a hole, I’d use a pointed iron that was red hot, keep putting it back in the forge just as if I were working the iron.

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

In boatbuilding school the explained to us about burning a hole for drifts that would hold the various keel timbers together. If you didn’t have a bit the right size for the drifts (or treenails) you were using you could make a “burner” that was just a piece of rod with the head hammered out to the diameter you needed and use it to sort of scrape out the hole to the right size with a brace (or a drill in these modern days). Not sure if this is the same thing the ol’ Shaker fellow was talking about, but there you go.

Radoje

I was reading a book in which they were making crude spears, once shaped they burnt the points to harden them. I wonder if this might have been done to harden the wood to be more resistant to the wear from the bolts?

-- You know.... I think that old wood needs to be furniture.

I once read a description of building stagecoaches. I don’t know why I was reading it but it talked about burning the holes. It made the wood around the hole harder and less likely to crack or break with the stresses of bouncing down unpaved roads.

-- Father of two sons. Both Eagle Scouts.

I’ve heard the same thing. Burning the hole adds strength. I do a lot of wood-burning for fun, and I can tell you that the heated and burned wooden areas of a piece, become slick, hard, glossy, and super-strong, compared to the un-burned wood around it. Perhaps that was the intention back then? To strengthen the hole to avoid any splintering or stripping? IDK… just a guess! lol

-- Tiffany Jeanne Balk ~ Labor, Live, Love, Learn, Repeat.

I saw the Woodwright demonstrate buring in handles for chiels. I assumed it was just easier than trying to inlet the perfect tapered hole, but maybe it is to add strenght too.

BTW, welcome aboard Tiffany J!! :-))

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

I drill and burn holes as part of my Appalachian-style of woodworking.
Burning smoothes the endgrain fuzziness in a hole and helps make it harder.

When I make hiking sticks, I always burn the hole through which I insert a leather wrist strap.
It helps to prevent chaffing and wear on the leather.

We also use burning to make a round hole square.

-- Randy, Rustic Artisan, a family tradition. (No PM's - auto-deleted.) - "I am a seeker, not a follower."

Listen to T.J. and the dr. the purpose of burning a hole (bored hole) is to add strength,prevent cracks and splits, and to smooth the surface of the hole and the area around the hole. Bill

Thank you all so much. This has certainly cleared up the situation somewhat. As soon as I find a need to use one of these techniques (or if I ever find myself with nothing to do) I will do some tests.