Had two wooden cones that hold fire hoses' brass handles brought to me to reproduce. One is about two feet long and the other one ft. Both have 5/16" holes drilled through middle for bolt-on. My floor standing drill press only has about 4-5" travel. It was a pain to drill, not knowing if the long bits would stay true. Fortunately, after about 1 1/2 hours, I completed the holes on one, and they were right-on! I glued short dowels in each end and turned them to fit the brass hose handles. It was quite a task, but was glad to provide assistance. The wood I used was mahogany, and they looked pretty good when finished. The fireman that is doing the restoration had to retire over a yr ago. He was pulled out of a fire, unconscious and paralyzed from the waist down. After 3 months, he was awakened from an induced coma to face mandatory retirement. Fortunately, he is still able to carry on his taxidermy business. How could I refuse to help him after learning his great sacrifice! Thanks, Billy!

Do you have any pictures of what you did? Maybe you could get a picture of the entire finished product when the fire fighter is done.

A wonderful project for a real hero. Good on ya, Billy.

Woody, sounds like a great project.  You, sir, have now restored a part of history.

A nice gesture there Jim.  Kudos.

Awesome use of your talents & time...like others would love to see pictures of your work & the truck. Thanks for sharing with us!

Would also like to see pics for sure. That's a good thing you did!

 

Steve

 I'm sure he truly appreciated your assistance with this project. Sounds like it turned out perfect.

 

You had better luck than me when trying to drill long holes on the drill press.