That came out great David! I always liked using good chisels etc. for something like that. Gives them something to do!
Re. long holes in wood. When I was building boats we drilled very long holes through the narrow wide timbers that made up keels, by hand, and then pounded drift rod through, and secured with clench rings, rivetting over the rod. Two or three foot deep holes through a 4" thick keel were routine.
To drill deep holes in narrow stock, we would mark the position of the drift rod on the side faces all at once on the timbers clamped together. Then separate them and carried the marks across to their edge faces. Then mark the hole centers on both faces of each timber.
We drilled in half way from each face of a timber to meet in the center. This halved the required drill bit length and halved any error from each end. It also left a clean entry and exit hole with no split-out. Like I said, this was all done with a hand drill, no drill press, or mill.
Masts also were made round and tapered with simple hand tools, not lathes, as so many seem to think. A 32 foot mast isn't large by any means, but imagine needing a 32 foot lathe to make one in a small boatshop!
