Modified Core Drill

[davidanthony]

I need a tool something like a core drill to round off the base of 50 Xmas trees each year so they fit into a 75mm dia x 300mmlong metal tube on a bracket affixed to houses in our village.

Currently the job is being done with a hand axe which takes 'forever', and is a long and tedious job.!

There are obviously diamond tipped core drills, but I need somehting that will do the job on wood, would a masonary core drill do the job or would it clog up.?.
Any ideas please

[MichaelZZ]

I see what you're getting at but I'm not sure that a core drill is the right way to go. If you need to strip the lower branches for a distance of 300 mm from the bottom of the trees obviously you'll need a core drill of this length. This is going to be very unwieldy. Also I'm not sure about a masonry tipped drill. The way I do it - admittedly only on a couple of trees each year - is to use the cross cut blade in my B&D "Scorpion" saw. It probably takes me only 5 minutes per tree and the advantage is that you can just trim where needed and don't have to worry about slight bends in the tree trunk which would tend to throw a core drill off line (imo!)
Hope this helps.

[Old_Geezer]

Wouldn't some sort of sand belt tool be more appropriate ?

[Hymie]

I would recommend you try out your idea with a 150mm core drill which are readily available. If, based on your tests, it appears a workable solution, you could search for a 300mm core drill – they must be available somewhere.

You could consider manufacturing one from a suitably sized pipe – with a welded end plate & drill shank. The business end could be formed by cutting appropriately shaped teeth in the circumference of the pipe.
You might get away without fitting a pilot drill if you use a 150mm core drill to start the process.

You will need to clamp the tree securely and have a powerful drill to successfully core trees in such a way.

[davidanthony]

Thanx Hymie, I was thinking exactly the same myself, invest in a facotry made core drill and if that fails, then make my own out of a self- serated piece of pipe fitted to a mandril " somehow" !