The house is 100 years old. How strong and dry were the pine logs in it?

This summer I made repairs in the house, and also changed the heating. It was necessary to hold a plastic pipe 25 mm. through the log wall of the house. The house is already 100 years old.

I thought there would be no problems, since last year I brought the heating into the workshop and drilled a frame wall without any problems: two boards of 50 mm. and insulation.

I drilled with a twist drill with a gimbal at the end and the drill went through the boards like clockwork.

For a log, I bought a longer drill bit, because it was necessary to drill about 300 mm. wood.

From the very first hole, difficulties arose: the drill went well, and then it just stopped.

It is supposed to drill with such a drill at low speeds, which I did. My screwdriver with a torque of 55 Nm twisted my hands, but could not turn the drill.

Then I had to remove the screwdriver and drill with a wrench: it's good that the drill shank was made for a hexagon and the gimbal in front was well hooked. So it turned out to drill for a very long time.

So there are four holes in total. Two in the wall that was previously the outer wall of the house and I made an extension to it. And two more holes in the inner wall, near which there was a brick oven earlier.

The log passed the easiest way at the bottom of the former outer wall. The log was slightly lean, but still dry.

Where the stove previously stood, the lower log passed with a wrench.

But the upper logs, even with the key, could not get through and the gimbal turned and did not catch the tree. The logs turned out to be very dry and the resin, which is contained in the pine, apparently hardened somewhat over 100 years.

The upper logs have been warm and dry for many (100) years, and the resin in them has hardened strongly.

I found a way out of the situation: I sharpened a long bar about 10 mm in diameter. He made a four-sided sharpening. And with this rod I drilled out a little, deepened the main hole, it was 30 mm. diameter, and then passed the log weakened in this way by a couple of centimeters. Then he again reamed it with a thin rod and won back a couple more centimeters.

I have met reviews for such drills that they say they do not drill. And when I was faced with the fact that the drill was spinning and standing still, I thought I probably got a marriage. I decided to check in the workshop, took a piece of pine board, fresh no more than 5 years, and drilled this board into the air.

So the drill has nothing to do with it, but the tree can throw a surprise.

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Alexander.

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