Is anyone aware of new boring machines being manufactured for sale?

I've got a bee in my bonnet on timber framing.  I'm a total newbie, and am doing a  lot of rooting around.  The only (manual) boring machines I can find are ebay items - most are pretty beat up, likely no longer true and would need significant rennovation.  Prices range from $180 - $750.  It seems to me that there is enough of a timber framing sub-culture that there would be a (small) market for new manual boring machines.  Is anyone aware of any being manufactured and sold?  Failing that, has anyone rennovated one?  (I suspect that will be my path, I'll take pictures and post them....)

Tell us more, I cannot work out what you are talking about

I live in New England so we have these all over. However my general ideas on this stuff...anything really that cannot be found readily or cheaply, is to simply to build it yourself. Years ago manufacturing and parts were harder to do, and parts did not come for the internet. I have made a ton of my own tools, from small hand tools to implements for my tractor! Then not only is the tool valuable in use, but the knowledge gained in building it, even more so!!

A hand boring machine is easy to fabricate. My suggestion is to build one yourself if you cannot afford to buy one, or cannot find one.

Get yourself an old Shopsmith Mark V.  Or if you have a few thousand dollars you can buy a new one, but the old ones work just fine.  I think mine is coming up on 70 years old.

Anyway, it will do both vertical and horizontal boring through at least 3 feet, if you can find a long enough bit.

Plus they work as an ok table saw and a pretty nice lathe.



The really old 10ER works ok at horizontal boring, but the Mark V is more versitile and typically goes for roughly the same price, around $100 to $1000, depending on condition and included accessories.

This is what he is trying to find/make for a timber frame boring machine. It is what hogs out the waste to make the sockets for the tennons. (This is not my photo, just showing what the guy is talking about). Because the tennons often enter a beam at odd angles, the machine has to be able to drill out of plumb.

Oh, I see, completely manual.

I don't suppose a Brace would do (the original cordless drill)?  Although looking at the price of them new, they aren't exactly cheap.

Or perhaps pick up a vintage "Breast drill" and mate it to a "Drill Guide"

No, they have to be geared lower because they are taking a whopping 1-1/2 to 2 inch drill bit to clean out the mortise for the tennon. A person makes a series of holes, then uses a big chisel called a slick to pare out the wood and make a rectangular hole. The tennon then fits inside that square slot and is pegged.

It can be done by hand, but takes mechanical advantage via gearing to do it.

Of course they are not really required. It would take longer, but a person could chop out the entire mortise by hand and use no drilling rig if they could not get one. Granted an already laborious task would be more laborious then, but it could be done.

Travis Johnson wrote:No, they have to be geared lower because they are taking a whopping 1-1/2 to 2 inch drill bit to clean out the mortise for the tennon. A person makes a series of holes, then uses a big chisel called a slick to pare out the wood and make a rectangular hole. The tennon then fits inside that square slot and is pegged.

I see, I was thinking they were using the boring machine just to drill holes for pegs to secure the tenons.  I completely spaced on the need to make the mortise.

Wow, even geared down, drilling a 2" hole sounds like a workout.

Oh that is okay peter. I just knew what he was talking about and realized that others did not. Once a person understands what was trying to be accomplished it seems obvious, but awkward to describe. Timber framing has its own unique jargon anyway.

I have cut lots of mortices' and have found that a really sharp Morticing chisel(Yes they designed just for that purpose),will out perform hand drilling in both speed and accuracy.it takes some practice of course , as does any skill worth having and there is a specific technique.Mine are German from the early eighties,These: http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=66737&cat=1,41504 seem well made.To maintain accuracy on "odd" angles just make a shooting block for the initial 1/3 of the cut. If you want a really beefy one ,I'd suggest making one to your specs.A 3/4" edge x5/8 thickness will move a lot of wood fast and strengthen up that arm! 48 years of woodworking experience indicates to me that the energy required to manually Bore a 2+" hole (especially in hardwood)will be greater than removing the material by chisel. If you're set on a boring guide,find a metal fabricator/machine shop and make one you can hand off to the next generation and make sure it has a LONG lever arm.

Travis Johnson wrote:I live in New England so we have these all over. However my general ideas on this stuff...anything really that cannot be found readily or cheaply, is to simply to build it yourself. Years ago manufacturing and parts were harder to do, and parts did not come for the internet. I have made a ton of my own tools, from small hand tools to implements for my tractor! Then not only is the tool valuable in use, but the knowledge gained in building it, even more so!!

A hand boring machine is easy to fabricate. My suggestion is to build one yourself if you cannot afford to buy one, or cannot find one.

  I'm a semiretired(mostly just tired) cabinetmaker from Texas. A few years back I built a sawmill so I could cut my own lumber. I started building log furniture from the offcuts and scrap. There is not much available on the market in the way of tools for making  either log furniture or timber framing. I decided to build a machine designed just for building log furniture. It functions as a sawmill with plunge cutting capabilities, a large capacity lathe
(10" dia.x108" length), a large capacity mortise machine(24"x96" bed, 14" vertical stroke), and a large capacity drill press(24"x96" bed, 14" vertical stroke). It works very well for building log furniture and can be used for timber framing also. It cuts tenons and mortises of any size(only limited by the workpiece that will fit on the machine. I designed the machine to be easy and economical to build, using "off the shelf" parts and components. I offer a lease to build from my blueprints. If you want to build log furniture or timber frame it is worth a look. Go to dropbox link for more pics and info:

   machine:   https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nr4yw91iv2hgdl0/AACv5-Unq_KSGyYK-2YHwWIBa?dl=0

   furniture it can make:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pq9hfk8rqr7l416/AADQZxeku_HGeIBLpz4MeasIa?dl=0

Nice machine!

I like it when people have a need then put their minds to work and build a machine that suits them.

Like you, I am a retired machinist/welder so I build a lot of my own stuff.  I built my own sawmill as well, along with a lot of home made farm attachments for my sheep farm. I built a chainsaw sawmill first, and it worked, but it was really slow. I mean so slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww that you cut a log today and finished it tomorrow. So I changed things up, and now have a bandsaw saw mill instead.

If you dig around on here enough you will also get some ideas for sure, like a homemade feller buncher, grader, upside down woodsplitter, etc.

If anyone is still interested, the main part of one of these is up on ebay currently going for $50:
Beam Boring crank drive


It's missing the frame and rack, but those should be fairly easy to build and all of the ones on ebay that include the frame are currently going for $250 and up.

The auction ends this evening.

I've always used a brace n bit, I have a full set of bits for it, 1/8 inch up to 2 1/2 inches, it has worked for all my timber frame projects without fail.
The boring machines I've seen others use have to be set up and they can be wobbly in use.

I've found these videos to be helpful for seeing how things can be done. Timber framing has been done in a host of ways and techniques. French and Finnish timber framing are featured in these two videos, but they can show some things that help people learn.  I just enjoy all of the Northmen videos.





Enjoy.

Greg Schultz wrote:I've got a bee in my bonnet on timber framing.  I'm a total newbie, and am doing a  lot of rooting around.  The only (manual) boring machines I can find are ebay items - most are pretty beat up, likely no longer true and would need significant rennovation.  Prices range from $180 - $750.  It seems to me that there is enough of a timber framing sub-culture that there would be a (small) market for new manual boring machines.  Is anyone aware of any being manufactured and sold?  Failing that, has anyone rennovated one?  (I suspect that will be my path, I'll take pictures and post them....)

Another time when I wish I had a few more tools than I do, specifically a welder and a small milling machine. Should be relatively easy to build these and a thousand other things that I've seen that people want.

Various degrees of "homemade" can be seen in this video from Moon Hill Farm (i.e. all use salvaged parts from boring machines, in one degree or another):


Francis Barnett made one from plywood (really more of a drill guide) to hold his pistol-grip electric drill:


Timberdoodles scratch-built an electric drive unit, after first having converted a mostly defunct boring machine to electric drive:


I had begun to collect items to build one a few years ago (the meat powered version), using: Bulldog brand trailer jack replacement bevel gears for the right angle drive between cranks and chuck spindle; and a length of chain pinned to the frame as a rack, with a sprocket in constant mesh and a sliding dog clutch (keyed sleeve with eccentric dowel pin) to engage and disengage the retract drive.  But then, a Millers Falls boring machine showed up on FB Marketplace for a song, and the seller was willing to ship, and that was that, as they say.  I still have my sketches and doodles around somewhere, and the pair of ersatz bevel gears.

Mr. Chickadee turned me on to the wimble pattern braces (I tracked down a John Fray and Co 12W with Spofford chuck), so I haven't even really used the Millers Falls machine yet for the small "practice" projects I've worked on.

Thanks for reminding everyone about mr chickadee, his videos can make a stressed person completely relax in minutes.  Such craftsmanship!

Glad I read this whole thread, food for thought.  Initially I saw "boring machine", then yawned and lost all interest.....

Rico Loma wrote:Thanks for reminding everyone about mr chickadee, his videos can make a stressed person completely relax in minutes.  Such craftsmanship!

Yup, I've learned a bunch from Josh, and hope to learn a lot more, yet.  I find his un-narrated style of presentation, combined with excellent camera work, to be much more effective a means of communication (for me) than those who have a constant patter going (or worse, a blaring sound track!).  And this from someone who is enamored of words!

In any case, as a follow-on to the original topic, I am unaware of any modern boring machines, though several flavors (and price points) of drill guides for electric drills do exist commercially (from the Mafell BST on down to something like a Milescraft Drillmate, or Francis Barnett's shop made unit).  But, if someone wants a hand-cranked boring machine, it's either vintage or DIY (and not necessarily an eXclusive OR, at that!), to the best of my knowledge.  Parts machines are pretty commonly available on eBay and FB Marketplace, at least in my neck of the woods, if you don't mind starting from a parts kit.  I cheated by throwing (some) money at a decent vintage one, so I can't offer any advice grounded in actual experience on fabbing one up from loose pieces.