Deadwood Bolts; drift jammed solid

Roach1948

Roach1948

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OK, well I managed to muster enough gumption to attempt the deadwood bolts. They are 3/8th inch and I set up a guide and drift and with several huge wallops (in the confines of a tiny cabin) I managed to shift the bolt about an inch. But my drift, being quite thin 1/4 inch, has now clearly ridden down the side of the bolt and all progress has stopped. I am not really sure what to do now. I reckon the drift has gone down about a foot beside the boly, but it is fairly well embedded and worried that I might snap it by playing with it too much. An ideas?
 
A can of freeze spray from Wickes may shrink the drift a little to give you a little play/movement. Last resort, tube with cutter welded on then cut out, oversized hole then plugged and re-bored. Best of luck!
 
If you can get at the bolt head, I would try & and unscrew it in an attempt to withdraw end of the bolt past the end of the drift. The lateral pressure of the bolt should make it easier to loosen the drift. If this isn't possible, maybe a pair of molegrips or a Stilson wrench on the drift and "unscrew" the drift whilst maintaining upward pressure. At a 1/4" diameter it should take a fair amount of punishment...though if it has bent under the force of the blows this maybe more of a problem.

When I remove similar bolts I half screw a nut on the bolt end and then screw in another bolt from the top. This I then clout, making sure that the two bolt/nut combination is always tight. This means you cannot burr the threads and you always deliver blows in the correct place on the bolt to be removed. You will only ever achieve small movement i.e. until the bottom side of the nut hits the floor beam, hog or whatever; at which point you go underneath and knock the whole lot back up and start the process again. After about a dozen iterations of this, any crud / rust is loosened and drops out, the bolt can then almost always be extracted with little additional force. This has worked well for me on 20+year old steel bolts through oak......
 
Sounds like you have made a lot of work for yourself! What is the drift made from? Can you put a thread on the end of it? Then may be attach some studding, length of tube over both then use a large washer and nut to wind it out?

Lesson learnt would be to take drift out every couple of thumps. Also I would have used a a drift closer to the size, especially to start with, (I can say this because I would not have been patient enough to get one the right size and would have used what was around)!

A dangerous alternative would be......

Block of wood to protect the deadwood, then using a metal handled claw hammer use the claw to pull it out but do not use the hammer the proper way but use it on its side and as you lever the claw will bite in to the metal, it will badly distort the drift and ruin any other attempt to remove the drift in a more engineering like way. If it move it will only move a little way, so then work it up and down. Good luck with it.

If you have not tried any thing like this before try doing it with a 4" nail in a block of wood and cut the head of but leave it proud by an about an 1".

Good luck.
 
If you have managed to shift the bolt only an inch then it can't be very far below the surface? So unless you have been blindly hammering the drift in regardless it likewise can't be very far in?
I would have thought it ought to pull out with a hooked wrecking bar and a bit of sideways hammering.
 
Having just been driving out my floors bolts I can sympathise. I have had some luck with a pair of vice-grips on the drift, “unscrewing” the drift and pulling at the same time. Don’t try to bend it back and forth or you a highly likely to break the drift.

I find using either a thin wrought drift or a a drift that matches the bolt diameter the best option. Although the matching drift may stick in the hole, it is usually easier to drive it back out afterwards, especially if greased first.

Are you sure that the bolt you are driving out is not so waisted that it is buckling in the middle? I had had quite a struggle dealing with a few like that. I now have some 200+ holes to dowel before fitting the new bolts and floors.
 
Oh heck.

In an earlier life I had the prime job of unblocking loos for a charter fleet, the best way to get out the blockage was to pump it back out the way it went in. I had a big henderson bilge pump on a mock washboard with a long length of hose, took outlet hose off the back of the bog, connected to my pump on a washboard, sucked it back out and over board.

Based on this, I'd say pulling it back out with a slide hammer is the best bet.

Good luck!

Did you make a table from that chunk of mahogany?
 
Drift Stuck

Minn - tried your method. The trouble is that the reverse tucvk is so tight I have under a foot across to twist. As the drift is of mild steel, the grips are just scoring the surface as I go around.

BBen - The table is half-made. I know it it has taken an age, but I have done nothing on the boat for over a year due to family issues. Hopefully I will get that table finished before long. So far looking good though.
 
Extreme last resort, would be to put a gas flame on the end of the drift and heat it up for some time. Thetimber will begin to char away you should be able to pull it out with mole/vice grips (Australian!) Keep a bucket of water handy!
 
IMO the drift is far far stronger in tension than in twist, so you should rig up some means of levering/pulling it directly out, even if ( especially if) it has as you guess drifted off alongside the bolt.
I would drill a 3/8 hole in a 1/2inch or 3/4 inch piece of steel plate, slide this over the drift, clamp it using 2 or 3 molegrips onto the drift just above the plate, then arrange 2 wee hydraulic bottle jacks between the kelson and the underside of the plate,fore and aft and if necessary wrapping a lashing around the two top ends to prevent slippage sideways off the lower face of the plate, then start pumping the jacks....You could add oil, or sideways wacks to the drift to jar it, but all the time maintaining a lot of pretension on the jacks..
 
pyrojames said:
Extreme last resort, would be to put a gas flame on the end of the drift and heat it up for some time. Thetimber will begin to char away you should be able to pull it out with mole/vice grips (Australian!) Keep a bucket of water handy!
Click to expand...

This is the boatyard suggestion. Will try next w/e

To be honest, the weather was so vile this weekend I gave it a half-hearted attempt under a dripping cover. I need a nice day with spirits lifted to attempt a job like this. As Pursig suggests; when stuck move onto the next job and come back to it. Precisely my intention.
 
Roach1948 said:
Minn - tried your method. The trouble is that the reverse tucvk is so tight I have under a foot across to twist. As the drift is of mild steel, the grips are just scoring the surface as I go around.
Click to expand...


I'm not suggesting twisting it. I'm suggesting getting the Mole wrench (or two!) on it, really really hard, then using the jemmy to lever it upwards. Has always worked for me.

Blueboatman has the same idea in a more advanced version.
 
Another suggestion get one of those fenner taper lock pulleys of the right shaft size wind it up good and tight make sure you put it on so as any lifting action will tend to tighten the grip on your drift with the decent piece of steel plate a hole with a good clearance below it then get the jacks on it or on one side resting on a solid packing on the other a little less then a good crow bar under the steel plate and taper lock it should then ease out.
 
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