Drilling alabaster

[BROPER3@xxxxxxx]

Hello Patricia, I hope I can explain this to where you can understand what I
mean. It is the old a picture is worth a thousand words thing, A drawing
would explain it better.

One way to drill the hole you are talking about is this. Drill a hole the
size of the outside dia. of the piece you want to drill to start with, in
something (wood would do) for at least half the length of the piece. Measure
your hole dia.for corner to corner on a square piece. Have at least an inch
left past the end of the piece you are drilling.

In this drill a hole the size of the hole you want to drill for the inside of
the piece this acts as a pilot and centers the hole, for larger than 1/8"
drill in steps. Simply make several jigs or if you feel like you can free
hand it, the hole already drilled will act like a pilot. I have done this
many times. Also I use an electric hand drill because I can fell what is
happening more. A drill press is to rigid. But, I guess that is a matter of
choice.

Drill from each end to the middle. I have used metal drilling bits with no
problem some alabaster harder than I have used may be to hard for them. I
don't know. This design can be changed to fit your situation, drill bit
length, etc., once the hole has gone into the piece for just a little
distance it will act as it's own pilot.

I hope this helps you. Billy