Popular Woodworking Magazine: If you’ve been around woodworking as long as I have, then this technique to drill holes straight is surely “old hat.” While it is an oldie, it is also a goodie, especially if you don’t have or cannot fit your workpiece under a drill press.
12 comments:
Unlike the author, I have not been working with wood for very long. Thus I do not know very many of these small tricks that make working in the shop far easier. It's really great to be able to read about this sort of tip from people who have had years of experience. I am always trying to figure out little tricks like this on my own but it's great when someone can teach them to me so that I don't have to reinvent the wheel. I'm currently one week (out of three) in to working in the scene shop. Already I've figured out two or three little tricks much like this one. But the number of helpful tips that other people have told me is much much higher. The community of sharing information that I see in the wood working world is really amazing.
Now I'll know just what to do next time I can't use a drill press on something.
This is definitely a nifty little trick. While I am not one to be fascinated by woodworking processes, I do enjoy reading about specific little tricks that make other people's jobs easier, as it makes me think more critically about my everyday processes and how I can improve them. Although this tip was presented in the form of an article, it makes me think about the amount of things that we can learn just by watching other people. For example, I have learned a sizable portion of what I know about audio by watching professionals, analyzing what they are doing, and comparing it to my own processes. More often than not, I can learn how to improve my own work.
That's a different technique, although I guess I don't have the problem often enough to warrant making a makeshift drill guide. It is interesting, I think, how almost every tool in the wood shop is essentially made out of wood. Literally, of course, that's not true; saws and stuff are made of metal. But a basic saw is converted and changed and re-purposed so many different ways by adding differently shaped blocks of wood to it in different ways. The table saw is a great example, and the way a block of wood can make the miter gauge so much more usefull.
What? This is so obvious I feel like I should have known about it but I have never heard of it. This is so perfect. I know it might take a few minutes to set everything up, but seems completely worth it especially if you have more than a couple identical holes to drill. It seems like it could even be worth while, if you were running a shop where you often repeat similar projects, to have a whole set of pre-drilled blocks to just grab on an as needed basis. Admittedly, some of theses little "life hacks" like this are over the top and more work than the time it saves you, but I just love things like this. It is so simple and can really save you a lot of time and frustrating hassle in the long run. If more things had little tricks to make them just that much easier, I think it could really start to make a difference in peoples work days.
It's certainly a nifty trick, one I hadn't stumbled upon yet. I usually use a square or torpedo level if I'm in a situation where I need more accuracy than just eyeing it can provide. The thing to remember is there's always more than one way to skin a cat (or a flat, if you enjoy scenery humor). It wasn't that long ago that someone showed me another nifty trick with a cordless drill. Ready for this...? When drilling horizontally, especially thru a harder material like steel, using an adjustable bar clamp, or a Quick Clamp to advanced the drill thru the material. To do this, line your drill up with the point in which you want the hole, then place a clamp in line with your drill, with the pads on the butt of the drill and opposite side of the material you're drilling into. Then, start drilling, and incrementally advance the clamp until finished.
Pretty nifty trick. But what doesn't make me so happy is that the author still had to use a drill press at some point to make the block. The drill press is not the problem, it is the solution. Anytime I can afford to use it, I will use the portable magnetic drill press. When drilling through metal it is the most useful tool. Just slap it on, turn on the magnet, and the world is your oyster. Even with materials with little to no materials, just clamp a piece of steel to the surface and magnetize the drill press to that plate. Lovely tool.
That's a really nifty trick that I had never even thought about or stumbled upon, but I definitely think I'll be applying it at some point in the future. When I had to drill perpendicular holes for an art project last year I ended up putting a router attachment on a Dremmel tool. It wasn't ideal and it took a long time, but it got the job done. The method in the article seems to be a great little life hack.
Its interesting that nearly every comment here starts with "nifty trick" I didn't know that nifty was still a popular word choice. Either way the trick is still nice to know about. It seems like there are an infinite number of cool little tricks to use in wood working and all shop work. The more you learn, the easier the work is. I just got to use a trick that Sean West taught me for cutting metal on the metal working machine where you measure the length of the metal based on the guard so that you can see where the line is instead of trying to line it up with the blade. It was so cool to actually have a situation where I could take one of those "nifty" shortcuts.
I'm surprised at the things lefts out of this simple article. First of all, this method only works for a few holes before the fluting on your bit hogs out the pilot hole enough to make it less normal to the block face than at first. Secondly, most of the time you would also be using this block as a centering jig so your holes all come out centered or at least at the same distance from the edge, so it's usually important to cut the block to the same thickness as the material into which you are drilling. This becomes especially important when you are using something like this to drill hole normal to an irregular face, like half round nosing, or into a beveled edge, another instance where a simple little jig like this makes things a lot easier. A straight edge then set flush against the corresponding faces of workpiece and jig is the only way one can tell that the hole is true. Thirdly, in almost all cases, it's better to use something like this to drill a small pilot hole which then you can chase with the proper diameter bit. The smaller the pilot bit, the less resistance it will see from the grain and the less it will be likely to wander as it works through the layers of winter and summer wood. And lastly, if you're not going to use a drill press of something that adds a level of precision to the jig beyond the steadiness of your own hand, than you may as well have drilled the holes without the jig in the first place, because all you've achieved is a series of holes that are similarly imprecise.
I agree with the majority of the comments that this is indeed a very "nifty" trick. Though I have a decent amount of hands on shop experience I always found it to be very difficult to drill perpendicular holes without the help of a drill press. Having read this article I am sure that I will be using his trick in my future projects.
This is a neat trick. I've done a good amount of wood working in the past, and though I'm definitely no expert, I'd say I have a well-rounded and basic understanding of most tools and materials. I like this method because it is simple, easy, and useful. I'd like to hear some more little techniques like this one that I can put into use for projects that require straight drilling and minimal resources.
Same i akiva. I haent been doing this for very long, nor have i ever seen some one do this, however it does make a lot of since and i do have a major problem with drilling straight holes so this is an awesome way to do it, i do wonder though if its time effective and how precise it actually is. I need to ask sean west about this, although he always seems to do everything pretty neat and perfect so maybe hes not the one to ask.....
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