Drilling cockades

Bobted

Well-known member
Heres a question you know there are hundreds of cockades on ebay with the small hole and very few with the large hole. Anyone thought about simply drilling out a larger hole on the small hole versions, after all when the chinstrap is on you would not notice. Rob
 

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I think it would be relatively easy to do if you had a drill press and used a series of progressively larger diameter drill bits and a "nest" for the Kokarde secured so that the Kokarde didn't spin when being reamed.

I've obviously thought about it, but I couldn't bring myself to degrade an original artifact in the process.
 
Interesting. real cockades are not cheap, and the new repos look like well new repos. Whereas these cheapish ones no one wants have the right patina and will be recycled for the good of the hobby. I might give it a go if I can get hold of a cheap one, I like your idea of a "nest" Rob
 
I had thought several times over the years about the possibility of doing this with a kokarde that has the much smaller, screw mounting hole.

Two things always stopped me from altering a kokarde with a small sized hole:

1.) The M91 side post sized hole on the kokarde has a flared or raised edge to the diameter of the circular hole. This could not be accomplished by simply "drilling" a larger hole in the kokarde to accommodate an M91 side post.

2.) I also thought about the possibility of chipping or significantly damaging the baked enamel paint on the kokarde, if a new larger size hole was made in the kokarde. I believe the original kokardes were painted and oven baked after the hole had previously been punched in each individual kokarde.

Best Wishes,

Alan
 
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