Now, the granite needed to meet the rubber, the pole needed to meet the granite. How to bring these three things together?

Here’s what I did: I stood each slab up on its edge, lined up the hole, and offset the slab to make the spiral.

Stacking 4

I put rubber between each piece of granite so the pieces wouldn’t slide. I want the base to be as stable as I can make it without drilling it and pinning it and bolting it together. I made the pieces out of cut-up old bicycle inner tubes. I put 8 pieces in between each slab.

Stacking 2

Stacking 3

For the steel rod, I went to Ortmeier Machinery Co., downtown, and talked to Jeff, a very knowledgeable guy, who told me I could buy annealed tool steel at The Steel Store. I went to the steel store but they said I’d have to buy about 60 feet of it. I only wanted 4 feet. They said “try Southern Tool Steel” so I called them up, and sure enough they had it, and they ordered it.

Stacking 5

Only 10 to go!

In the past, I had no problem drilling quarter-inch holes with my drill press using a masonry bit. But now I had to drill through granite AND I couldn’t use my drill press because these 25-inch by 25-inch pieces wouldn’t fit on it.

Drilling 3

I tried using a regular half-inch, heavy-duty drill; it was really hard going. It took me all day to drill one hole.

So, I borrowed Mark “Curly” Dunn’s little, cheapy hammer drill. It worked. But it was still a slog. And it was old; I didn’t want to burn it up.

So, I bought a hammer drill on e-bay—a nice, cheap, Chinese-made hammer drill with drill bits, the size I needed, for $49. But it was too powerful. It blew a hole through the granite, discharging giant chunks out the back.

Drilling 1

So, I figured out how to drill it really slowly, from both sides. I had to do this twice: once with the pilot (quarter-inch) hole, front and back, and twice with the three-quarter-inch hole, front and back.

Drilling 2

It took me 4 or 5 slabs to figure it out. Then, for each slab, I marked a line with a straightedge on both diagonals, front and back. I drilled a pilot hole on both sides, then the 3/4-inch hole. The holes had to meet in the middle. I had to drill it very slow, be very careful.

At the end, I dress it out with my regular old drill. I have to make it a little bit bigger so the pole will fit into it.

Drilling 4

Curly’s drill was perfect. I should have bought one like that. I didn’t know this one would be so powerful, darn.

Chinese Drill

You could drill through a foot of concrete with this thing it’s so powerful – bam, bam, bam. It’s more drill than I needed, but I didn’t know that. I have some not-so-good slabs with big holes, but they’re in the middle of the base, so it’s just fine.

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