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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!alice!apdoo
From: apdoo@alice.UUCP (Alan Weiss)
Newsgroups: net.puzzle
Subject: Drilling square holes
Message-ID: <3490@alice.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 26-Mar-85 08:36:16 EST
Article-I.D.: alice.3490
Posted: Tue Mar 26 08:36:16 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Mar-85 03:31:28 EST
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 14

For the line eater.......

	In case any of you are wondering, there really is a standard way to drill
square holes, at least in wood.  It is done on a drill press (or
similar equipment) with a thing called a mortising bit and mortise chisel.
The way it works is this: a mortising chisel is a tube with square cross
section and very sharp ends.  The mortising bit fits very closely into
the center of the tube and looks pretty much like a standard drill bit.
When in use, the bit gets out most of the material being drilled, and
the chisel cleans out a square hole.  As you might imagine the entire
setup must be forced in with a good deal of pressure, but it really really
works.  In fact, by drilling a series of square holes which overlap you
can get a rectangular hole, and this is (I believe) the primary use of the
gizmo.  (Rectangular holes are used in mortise and tenon joints.)