Drilling the end hole

11:49 |

I decided that the next thing I should tackle was making the end hole in the violin. I need the end hole to be done before I attempt to varnish so I can poke a stick or a pencil out of the hole and use it as a pivot while I put the varnish on.

I don't own any powertools however having just recently bought a house and also needing a drill to complete a DIY task in the bathroom I figured now was a good time to invest in a drill.

The drill I got was a Draper drill and it came from Wilkinsons. It was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. I measured the diameter of the end pin at 7mm so I also purchased a 6.5mm drill bit. Two types of drill bit were available in the shop one for masonary and one for metal. I figured if it can drill through metal, it can drill through wood too and I bought the drill bit for metal.

The reason I bought a drill bit half a mm smaller than the size of the pin that is going into the hole is because on a violin, both the end pin and the hole it sits in are tapered. I think the reason they are tapered is because the pin that goes in the end is not glued. It just sits there and has all the tension from the strings pulling on it.

My plan is to make the hole smaller than the pin then to get a special tool called a peg reamer and work the hole until it is the same size as the pin.

Drill charged up, location of hole marked, I started drilling. Drilling very slowly and carefully. I haven't drilled many things before so I was very cautious.

*tada* my violin now has a hole in it.