woodwooden-furniturewoodworking
Is it possible to create a threaded hole in wood? I'm making a kitchen island where the structure is 20mm threaded metal pipe (water pipe). I can either get flanges to connect it to the top or thread the ends of the pipe into wood. My question is around the latter option.
I see some kits online for fixing threads and rethreading however I can't find anything to drill a thread into wood of a particular size. Should be easy right?
The power tool you would use to take the board down would be a thickness planer:
It has an adjustable cutting head and you run the board through it in successive passes to shave off the surface.
However, unless you do a lot of rough lumbar milling or are into fine woodworking, it would probably be silly to buy one. Maybe you can rent / borrow?
Note that a thickness planer is good at making 2 faces parallel, but it won't be much help if the wood is also twisted or bent along its length. The twist will just follow through the planer and you will end up with a twisted board with 2 parallel (but not planar) faces.
Edit about the suitability of thickness planer:
Several people have pointed out that to use a thickness planer you are "supposed" to have one face flat already. I guess that's optimal but I have used a thickness planer many times to "save" cupped boards. If you have a great piece of wood, you might as well try something, right?
You have a few options available to you, based on the material which you find.
Provided that I understand how you want to assemble the structure you can do the following.
(see pics below)
Best Answer
It can be done by drilling a hole just large enough to start the threaded end of the pipe in the hole. Since water pipe threads are tapered, the pipe will sort of cut threads on the way in as the pipe turns in and gets more snug as it goes in farther. I have done this, it is not the strongest connection. I don't think that finding a thread cutting tool will make it much stronger with out getting into something more elaborate, like a stepped drilled hole. Screw mounted flanges are the strongest, simplest option and can be concealed by counter sinking them into the mounting surface, or adding a skirt around the top.