[spence]

I drill the eyes just deep enough so the eye is a 1/16" or so from the edge of the hole at the nearest spot. It can vary a bit unless you have things perfectly in alignment.

Are you using a drill press? Very difficult to do by hand. I place the plugs in a simple jig on the drill press, basically a piece of 2x6 with a v groove ripped down the middle. If it's a shaped plug like a danny I use a shim on one end to keep it from rocking.

I use Waterlox marine sealer to seal non cedar plugs, BIN red label spray to prinme, simple rust-o-leum spray cans to do the paint job, epoxy to glue the eyes and Envirotex Lite for the finish coat.

The more experience guys might give some other options, but the products listed above are pretty common for beginners...

-spence