Oven Pulls

[tvman44]

What kind of wood are most of you using for the oven pulls? I just made one with 1/2" poplar and I get too much break out when the drill bit comes through and that causes problems on the small cut outs. Thinking about trying some 3/4" red oak, maybe some good quality pine, the ones I want to make for wife and DIL's I will want something that looks real nice.

[GrayBeard]

Well in my experience as a cook anything over 1/4" thick is too wide to easily fit between the wires of the oven grate.
I make mine out of 1/4" red oak left over from other projects.

The ones I posted in the gallery are about 5/16".

~~~GB~~~

[tvman44]

I could use a 3/4" wide board and have room left over.  I used 1/2" for a small electric  counter top oven the wife uses often since there is just the two of us in the house most of the time.

[dgman]

Hey Bob, I think your problem is not with the wood, but rather your drilling technique. You must start with a sharp drill bit. I prefer brad point bits. You need to drill at the proper speed, And you need to have a backer board under your work piece. All this will help with the chip out.
Here is a drill press speed chart you can download: http://images.meredith.com/wood/pdf/drill-press-speed-chart.pdf

[newfie]

thanks for that Dan i thought i had that chart but couldn't find it.

[Kepy]

If you drill with a spade bit, you can drill part way through so the tip of the bit comes through then turn the piece over and finish from the reverse side.  This should result in no tear out.

[tvman44]

Only problem is I have never seen a  spade bit that small.

[cdrover(Clyde)]

As dgman said, if you place a piece of scrap wood on the drillpress table and lay you piece to be drilled on top, you drill completely through and into the scrap. This helps lessen the tearout on the bottom of your top piece. Speed is important too.