Skimming spoon

[Pieter C. Voss]

I have a plastic handled slotted spoon that works OK for skimming the pot but always wanted a nice wood handled spoon that I could drill holes in. Found a stainless spoon with a nice flat handle about a foot long. Made a wood handle by sawing a slot in a piece of 1"X1" pine, gooped it up with epoxy and slid the spoon into it. Shaped the handle when the epoxy set up and then tried to drill holes. Couldn't do more than dimple it! Do I need to buy a carbide bit or what? Pete

[zuke]

I buy mine at the dollar store

[fryboy]

annealing the handle first mite of helped but dont despair , try a cobalt bit on low speed with some kind of lube ( cutting oil tranny fluid etc etc ) carbide would also work but is much more brittle for drilling or possibly breaking during flex

[bumpo628]

I have a plastic handled slotted spoon that works OK for skimming the pot but always wanted a nice wood handled spoon that I could drill holes in. Found a stainless spoon with a nice flat handle about a foot long. Made a wood handle by sawing a slot in a piece of 1"X1" pine, gooped it up with epoxy and slid the spoon into it. Shaped the handle when the epoxy set up and then tried to drill holes. Couldn't do more than dimple it! Do I need to buy a carbide bit or what? Pete

Try punching holes in it instead.
Use a steel punch and a hammer. It would help if you had a support block on the bottom that had an appropriate size hole in it to support the spoon.

EDIT:
I had a stainless steel soup ladle that I wanted to use as a "side pour", similar to the lyman cast ladle. I tried drilling it and no go. I easily punched a clean hole in the side using the method described above - it works like a charm.

[maglvr]

Angle grinder with a thin metal cutting wheel, make a few slits and you're good to go!

[metweezer]

You don't need wood handles if you use Welders Gloves. [smilie=w:

[dragonrider]

It's stainless so annealing won't help. A good quality drill bit and slooooowoowwww rpms, and some oil for lubricant and you may get through it. And yes carbide would do it but they are expensive.

[Shooter973]

I use an old melon ball-er from the kitchen, already has a hole drilled in the center of it. It's got a smaller ball-er on the other end also.
You can pick these up at any $ store. but I've only used up 2 of these in the last 10-15 years.

[casterofboolits]

I bought a long handled SS spoon with holes in it from a restraunt supply house for about six bucks. Ten years ago. Heavy duty SS lsts forever!

Luckily, the supply house is about a mile down the road from me and has a wak in show room.