Oops, I just realized that the title of my post says 12' of wood, instead of 12". I meant inches, not feet! I blame the shift key, and the cookie in my left hand.

The subject line always shows ['] instead of ["].
Use an auger bit, oil or soap it up, and pull it back every inch or so to clear the hole. It also helps to use a half inch drill of large amperage but make sure it has two handles and you have room to get out of the way if it binds. Running it at a medium speed is probably wise.

I would advise making a jig, or template, and individually drilling, if the joints are repetitive.

Your problem is the flutes (or flights, if auger style bit) are packing with chips, along with thermal expansion of the bit.

Short feeds and frequent withdrawl can lessen the chip build up. A spade bit, though suffering the same issues, is easily sharpenable and cheap, though you would require an extension to drive, no biggie.

Reverse the drill and the bit should spiral out of the hole.
Better is to clear the hole every couple of inches instead of letting all the shavings jam up behind the bit.

I hope you have a 'ship auger bit' or 'bell hanger bit.'.

They have a hollow in the middle to help hold chips and pull them out.

Long bits need a slow drive to clear chips, less than about 500-800 RPM.

A regular twist drill bit will be a nightmare in wood and that length. They simply cannot remove the large wood chips quickly enough.

Long bits also often require reversing the drill to push them out of deep holes.

Be careful using ANY liquid to try and lubricate the drill.
It can cause the wood to swell and make removal a real problem.

Using a long spade bit, I back the bit out of the hole, turning at full speed, after every 1 to 2 inches of boring in order to clear the chips.

All the above tips about clearing chips, etc., are right on. However, I would be reluctant to try to use a jig on something as irregular as landscape timbers and drilling them individually. I've tried that and found you just can't get things to line up that well, even if you're careful. So, stack them and drill down. As you complete each hole, drive in the rebar before moving on to the next hole.

Thanks, everyone. I did try reversing the drill, but that sucker just would not come out. Of course, that was when I was at the very end of the 12", so at that point, I'm not sure much would have worked to get it out. I'll try backing out frequently, and see if that helps. The chips did seem to be getting compacted in there, but somehow I just didn't put two and two together. I was ramming that thing down, full speed ahead, thinking they'd just work their way out. Patience is a virtue, but it's not one I possess much of. Lol.

While I'm here, I know it's a long shot, but is there some way to make sure I'm drilling straight down and will hit every timber without pulling the beds apart and measuring, or is this just going to be an eyeballing thing? I eyeballed the first hole, and totally missed the last timber, shaving off the side of it, lol. I figured it'd be ok because of the weight above it, and the fact that nobody will see my little oopsie once the bed is filled with soil. However, I'd kind of like to avoid potentially having that happen on the outside. The second one I drilled was good...although I was biting my nails when I hit that last timber.

Thanks, everyone. I did try reversing the drill, but that sucker just would not come out. Of course, that was when I was at the very end of the 12", so at that point, I'm not sure much would have worked to get it out. I'll try backing out frequently, and see if that helps. The chips did seem to be getting compacted in there, but somehow I just didn't put two and two together. I was ramming that thing down, full speed ahead, thinking they'd just work their way out. Patience is a virtue, but it's not one I possess much of. Lol.

While I'm here, I know it's a long shot, but is there some way to make sure I'm drilling straight down and will hit every timber without pulling the beds apart and measuring, or is this just going to be an eyeballing thing? I eyeballed the first hole, and totally missed the last timber, shaving off the side of it, lol. I figured it'd be ok because of the weight above it, and the fact that nobody will see my little oopsie once the bed is filled with soil. However, I'd kind of like to avoid potentially having that happen on the outside. The second one I drilled was good...although I was biting my nails when I hit that last timber.

IÂm not a professional but, in any case, here are my 2c:
I would try a bit whose tip is wider than the shaft. That way you donÂt have friction along the entire length of the shaft, and if your timbers shift a bit with respect to each other while you drill, you donÂt have a jam.
You could also try to go down, say 1"-2" at a time and then suction out the wood chips with a plastic tube attached to a vacuum cleaner (you donÂt need a tight seal around the vacuum).

Also, I wonder,
IsnÂt rebar going to have a short life, especially if you are using the newer pressure treated wood? It seems to corrode even galvanized. I donÂt know what may last longer. Copper rod?

Well, drilling through rough timbers is not precision wood working. If you can't eyeball very well, it might help if you get yourself a triangle or small framing square as a visual aid to help align the shaft of your drill 90 degrees to the surface you're drilling into.

Good tips, thanks again, all. As it turns out, that first hole and my mistake was an anomaly. I've been more careful on the subsequent holes, and haven't missed one, although I will say that using a drill with a battery that dies every 5 minutes has proven to be more than frustrating. I had to recharge it 3 times in order to get 2 holes drilled.

I think it's time to go tool shopping. I need to find something with a lot of power, that's not going to burn out, and not going to make my small hands overtired from gripping the thick handle. I couldn't believe how tired my hands and arms were getting just trying to position myself over the timbers and drilling down. It doesn't help that I'm 5'1 on a good day, working with timbers 12" off the ground and a 16" drill bit, lol.

"I will say that using a drill with a battery that dies every 5 minutes has proven to be more than frustrating. I had to recharge it 3 times in order to get 2 holes drilled."

This is not the place for a battery powered drill.

A 1/2 inch drill with a cord will have a lower speed and enough power to make short work of even 12 inch deep half inch holes (I can drill 1 inch holes through 14 inches of wood without blinking, and for even larger holes (like 4-6 inches) a HoleHawg is used.

What type of drill bit really matters for deep hole drilling in wood.
The bit should be a self feed type with a small screw tip to pull itself into the wood.
This provides a feed rate that is more likely to match the chip clearance rate than a twist drill or spade bit, and reduces the effort needed to push the drill into the work.
The bit will self feed and pull itself into the wood with minimal force to keep the screw tip biting into the wood.

This is the time for a trip to your local pawn shop to see what kind of corded drills they may have for sale. Cordless drills have their place, but this isn't one of them. You need the power of a good corded drill and a good quality correctly sized extension cord to be able to reach out into your yard.

Well, that explains a lot. I did use a corded drill for one of the holes, BUT it was a very underpowered, totally unsuitable for the job, cheapie Skill that was picked up for maybe $5, about 10 years ago, from a neighbor that was moving. It actually worked really well, making reasonably short work of that first hole. Until it started smoking, that is. I unplugged it and put it away.

Thanks for the link, Kudzu. I know Milwaukee is supposed to make great tools, but I'm not sure I want to plunk down $100 for something I may not use very often. I'm obviously not much of a wood worker, and while I do attempt to build whatever I need, in whatever way I can, this doesn't happen very often. I might have to try my hand at building a pergola or something, just to justify the cost!

Take the advice and use a ship auger and a hand brace. I have drilled thousands of holes through utility poles back in my day. Sometimes they were more than 12". A sharp ship auger and a good hand brace can do this job in a few minutes.

sphagetina-
If you don't want to spend that kind of money for a good drill, go rent a beefy one from Home Depot or a tool rental place.

I completely forgot about tool rentals. Man, this forum is great. Lol. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I've got 2 beds complete and a third halfway done, leaving just one more to finish. The remaining beds are only 9" tall, so they've been a lot easier to drill through. I wouldn't have thought 3" would make much of a difference, but it most certainly does.

On the drill front, I had an uncle bring over his DeWalt. His cordless Dewalt. :P I didn't know beforehand that it wasn't corded, but I figured anything was better than the gigantic, unwieldy thing I was using before. And it was. This drill let me get through about 3 holes per battery, and it has 2 batteries, as opposed to 1 hole with the Makita I was using before. If I have one good long day without rain to wait around for recharging batteries, I should be able to get the rest of the holes drilled. Hopefully.

Thank you all for the advice. It's food for thought for the next project, whatever that may be.

sphagetina-
I know that a purchase of a good drill may not be a wise choice for you...but I'm dying to ask: How many hours of your time has this taken using rechargeables, and what value do you place on your time?

A drill is a pretty necessary tool in my house and I've found that many times I've bought a tool that I thought I'd use occasionally, and then started realizing it had many uses since it was right there. Just a thought...

Honestly? A LOT of hours, Kudzu, lol. But it comes down to a matter of money or my frustration and time, and at this particular juncture, I have enough of the latter to spare, but a minimum of the former. Is it a complete p.i.t.a. to have to wait for drill batteries to recharge? Oh yes. (Ohhhhh, yes.) But do I want to spend as much on a drill as I've spent on the materials for the entire project? My inner cheapskate will not let me do it. I will say that I've used a drill more times in the last year than I have in my entire life, but that's due to my new-found gardening hobby. At this point, I have no more space to expand into, and unless I plan on building myself a front yard terrace or seriously plan on building myself some sort of wooden structure, I can't see needing a really good drill for much else. I have, however, been looking into how to build myself a planter bench like this one (credit to Our Engineered Garden's blog), if I can find plans for it somewhere. I've seen similar benches online, most more complicated than this one, but right now, simplicity and cost are key, lol.

Invest in a 1/2" corded drill and you'll never regret it. You can even use it with a paddle bit to mix up soils as well as concrete/mortar projects. My wife has me out there using ours in many gardening tasks and it comes in handy.

Here is a link that might be useful: amazon.com

Aha...just as I suspected! I used to be like you and try to get by without the right tools or got cheap ones that were a pain to work with. Although I'm a notorious cheapskate, I decided late in life to buy a good tool whenever I needed one, and I haven't regretted it. (Actually, having a few good tools means I can be even cheaper because it gives me the capability to make things I otherwise would have to buy.)

Now you're talking about a planter bench... and who knows what's next? I bet if I asked you in three years how many times a corded drill would have come in handy, you'd tell me that you should have bought one.

Well, good luck with your projects wherever they take you!

So it's much longer than three years since this discussion, I wonder if spaghetina bought a good corded power drill? Hope so. Can't understand how any household can be without one. I'm here today to find out why I can't get my Forstner through a piece of wood. Sounds like I need to try either a spade or ship auger. I've got the former so will give it a try now. This discussion has been very helpful, thank you. Best I've found after desperate google search.

Patience (20 mins to drill one hole), frequent debris clearance and voila, spade bit worked a treat! Thank you fellow Houzzers!

Denna-
Forstner bits are great if you want to drill a flat-bottomed hole using a drill press. However, because of their design they are not intended to be used to bore a hole all the way through a piece of wood using a handheld drill. The spade bit is the correct tool. However, if you are spending 20 minutes on a hole, something is still wrong. You either have a very underpowered drill, a dull bit, or the drill is set on reverse. I don't know how thick a piece of wood you are going through, but I doubt if it would take me more than a minute to drill a 1" diameter hole through a 4X4 fir timber with a sharp spade bit and a decent drill.

I am really embarrassed to admit that I had the drill on reverse. Oh the shame, as I like to think I'm a proficient DIYer. I discovered the switch was flipped the next day, but it never occurred to me to even check during the 20 min drill session. Thank you so much for commenting, as I'd rather be corrected :) On the plus side of my DIY skills, I have recently installed (with zero help) a wood floor in an isosceles triangle-shaped kitchen, and I cut every piece of wood with a 14tpi hand saw. :)) Thanks kudzu9!

Denna-
Thanks for following up. Don't be embarrassed: that's so easy to have happen. I asked because I have seen that before...with myself and others. ;-)

Kudzu9 - glad I am in good company regarding the drill on reverse! And there I was wondering what kind of fossilsed Jurassic wood I was drilling that it would take 20 mins :))

Deanna: LOL, I'm not sure I would've admitted drilling through with the drill on reverse. Congrats on the floor install that's a pretty remarkable accomplishment.

Thanks sdello for thumbs up on floor install! Wasn't easy but that made it all the more satisfying on completion.

Hello, I am glad to see that this is a form that likes to help people, I am very new to working with wood. I had an idea and wanted it to be real so I found some logs that are 7in wide and 12-13in, I also have one that is 4in wide and 12-13in tall. My goal is to hollow these out but leave maybe an inch on the bottom left to make a wood cup. All I have for tools is a cordless drill Dewalt 14v, some reg drill bits and a spade 1in bit and a wood saw. I have tried upswing the spade bit but after pushing on the wood for about a min and seeing nothing but a little hole from the tip I knew that this can't be the right tool. Any advice? Side note I don't have much money but I am willing to spend a little to get the correct tool.

Jeremy-
To accomplish what you want to do and have it be at all finished inside would require expensive power tools -- such as a wood lathe -- and considerable woodworking skills. I have a shop and have been woodworking for over 50 years, and this is not something I would attempt myself. Even if one were to accomplish the task successfully, there is a high likelihood that the resulting "cup" would crack as the wood dried out.

What purpose do you have in mind for this object? Maybe there is a better way to get a similar result.

Thank you for responding! I was watching the show Vikings and I saw this wooden mug that was huge and I thought it would be pretty awesome to have. Maybe drink beer out of or just decoration

Here's a link for instructions on how to make a wooden Viking mug with hand tools.
Viking mug
It's assembled in pieces, but looks pretty cool.

More effort is required than I'd be willing to spend, but to each his own.

I drilled the first holes through one piece of wood - in and out, repeated into all holes until first board was finished. Then inserted rebar to the holes where I wanted them to l in up, whacked it with a small sledge to make an outline, pulled apart, drilled second set, then continued the process in until I was thought them all, then hammered in the rebar though all the holes and into the ground to secure them. Easy peasy

I sometimes drill the holes one size bigger than the rebar in case they don't line up perfectly. Stack all the timbers in place, drill from the top till you hit the top of the next one, remove the top timber, drill into the holes you started, and repeat. If you can drill fairly straight (use a cheap framing square if you need to, to get square in both directions) the rebar should go right in when you're done. And don't forget to allow an extra foot of rebar to go into the ground so the whole thing stays in place.

And don't forget to learn where your utilities are - especially TV cable, which is often buried only inches down.

Do not know why you think you need rebar all the way through every piece at the same place.

They have landscape timber screws. Your case a 12 to 16" long one work great.. Counter drill the timber about 1/2 to 3/4" deep with a 3/4" spade bit. Then run the screw in with a 3/8" impact screw gun..

Be a lot easier to remove the screws when the timbers need replaced than trying to pull rebar all of the way through and entire stack.

Yu use One-piece a rebar, hit it, move the ONE piece of rebar to next hole, whack it and so on until your ONE piece of rebar has made an imprint where you need to drill your ONE hole though the next set of timbers, then repeat using the ONE piece of rebar to get the total number of timers you want. The ONE piece of rebar you moved from hole to hole only need to be long enough to g o through the timber with the hole in it, and still have enough h space on the ONE pike of rebar to whack it. So about 8-12" pretty much works for your ONE piece of rebar. OR you can use a zinc plated carriage bolt with a head on it that is long enough to go through all the timbers and then as deep as you wish it into the ground.