Arts & Crafts Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for artists and crafters. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I am making hamster toys and equipment. I have successfully used a soldering iron to make holes in plastic and cardboard. My question is, can I use it to make holes in small sticks? (As in small pieces of tree branches.)
If you need to know what kind of tree -- probably willow or apple.
Plastic will melt and flow away from the iron leaving a hole. Cardboard is really just paper with air gaps between the glued layers so there's just a little bit of material to burn.
A wooden stick is going to be solid wood. It doesn't melt and move out of the way - if anything the burned area of wood actually gets harder (and more brittle) as it turns to charcoal. You're not going to just burn a hole through it.
The right tool is, of course, a drill. You may be able to use a sharply pointed knife for a smaller stick, but a drill really is going to be your best bet. It will also work for the plastic and cardboard, and in my opinion, will be safer than using a burning hot iron.
Echoing above answers, but wanted to add that for something so small and easily broken you should consider a pin vise hand drill.
This is basically just a tiny hand powered drill, you basically turn it to drill the holes. This might be useful if you want to insert wire or pins, or when the item you are drilling is particularly fragile.
Here is a video explaining the use of one.
JPhi is right; a drill is the best tool for this. On the other hand, it's really tricky to start a drill on a small, round surface. Ideally you would use a drill press that could take very small drill bits, and then clamp your sticks down onto the drill press table. Assuming you aren't going to want to invest in all that stuff, maybe you could find an easier way to accomplish your goal than to drill holes in little sticks.
If you really need these little sticks with holes in, I would flatten one side of the stick in the spot where the hole goes, maybe with a pocket knife. That will make it a little easier to get the drill bit started into the wood. Make sure you keep your fingers in safe places and give it a try. If you have a rotary (like a Dremel) tool, that might be easier to use than a full-sized drill. It would also be helpful to conscript a friend (unless you have three hands.) ;-)
