Hi all. I just wanted to take a poll out there of experiences opening the nose with a heated awl vs. a drill bit. I seemd to get a lot of soot with the awl so maybe I'm doing something wrong. Is there a good way to clean this? I think I got rid of most of it with soap and water. Hopefully paint will cover the rest.
I used a drill on my Taffy and it seemed to work just fine. did it with a bit the right size for the nostril and on the lowest setting and it has left no marks and was really easy to back with felt. I have not tried using a heated awl myself but thought i would let you know I had not problems with the drill.
I like to use a drill bit about the same size as the nostril opening. I don't use this on a drill. I just slowly turn the bit by hand. I don't drill all the way in at once. I rotate the bit between my fingers lightly and slowly a little bit in a clockwise direction and then counter clockwise back out and keep repeating until I'm through the vinyl. It's kind of like shaving tiny bits of the vinyl out with the bit until you are happy with the hole. I found that this gave me a nice clean nostril hole with very little to clean up. If there is a little bit of vinyl that needs to be smoothed I use a round file. I tried the awl and didn't like it but everyone is different. I also learned that heating the awl directly in the flame will cause it to blacken and leave that on the vinyl or melted into it. It's best to heat it above the flame so that the flame never actually touches the awl.
