Preventing Runaway Plugs

I often use wooden plugs to fill counterbores in my screw-assembled projects, making the plugs on my drill press with a plug-cutter. I used to saw the plugs free of the drilled stock after running a strip of tape across a row of them to prevent them from being thrown by the saw blade. All the same, I found myself digging around in the sawdust on the shop floor to retrieve wayward plugs. Then my old dad showed me a better way. Now I drill the plugs with the cutter slightly tangent to the edge of the stock and use a chisel to pop each one free as needed. Thanks, Pop.

—Mark Breyer, Tucson, Arizona

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