G&G Square Holes

[gee-dub]

I posted this elsewhere in response to some questions and thought I would share it here as well in case it turned out to be helpful.  I do a fair amount of Greene and Greene styled pieces and therefor do a lot of square holes.  I have used regular square mortise chisels in the past and these work fine.  The Darrell Peart punches just make things a little easier.

I mark the location and put a very small mark with an awl. I use this small hole to align the punch using a brad point bit; the smaller the awl hole the tighter the alignment.

 

I slip the punch over the brad point bit and square it up with a small double square. I pull the drill and give the punch a tap to assure its location. Note the hand screw being used to prevent splitting the narrow finger.

 

I then drill the hole with a previously depth-set twist bit in a drill motor. Depending on your depth and your material a repeat strike with the hammer followed by a repeat of the drill cleanout may be required. These are 1/4" deep in walnut and require 1 or 2 repeats.

 

I then blow out the spoil with a bulb and move on to the next position.

 

I hope this might answer some questions and help out anyone doing this for the first time.

[Janello]

Well...you're just a tad late, since I just did this for the first time. I did them on a curved profile which made it a little trickier. 

My process was very similar to yours. Here was my approach.

I used an awl to mark my location, and drilled with a brad point with tape on the bit to mark my depth.

I then slid the same diameter drill bit, but a shorter version that didn't come through the top of the square chisel in the drilled hole and slid the punch over it. 

I aligned the punch with a square, leaving the short bit in place, and strike the square chisel.

I then removed the bit and finished up with a few more strikes and cleanup with bench chisel and compressed air. 

By the way, I made my square plugs with a pyramid top by taking my 3/8 square stock to the ridgid oscillating belt sander using a miter gauge set at 60 degrees. I have no clue if that is G&G certified, but it looked good to my eye.

[..Kev]

Marc had demonstrated this method in a couple videos as well.  Good information tho, thanks for sharing!