Drilling Holes with the Bow-Drill

Abstract

miliar to most carpenters and joiners in Britain, which appears to corroborate the authors' analysis of the action of the ancient Egyptian stone-boring tool. Fitted preferably with a rosehead countersink bit, it is also used one-handed for countersinking. The rotation is started by tilting the brace, thus making use of the gravity couple similar to the weights on the Egyptian prototype. When the swizzling action is established, the tool is straightened up to the vertical, and a fast rate of motion can be maintained by the wobble drive described in the article. I used to demonstrate this trick to classes of boys in the woodwork room, much to their amusement. Incidentally, this is much easier (and safer) than boring holes in glass. Why bore holes in glass, anyway? The essential point is the comparatively fast speed of rotation possible by this one-handed method. In this connection it may be significant that the basic tool for boring holes in the eastern Mediterranean area from the earliest times to the present day has always been the bow drill and not the comparatively slow, stop-go tools of the auger or gimlet type, using a rudimentary cranking action. I believe this is also true of the classical Greek and Roman periods; augers and the like seem to be comparatively late and of northern European or Celtic origin. In other words, the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans had a different idea about drilling holes than the medieval or modern craftsman.