Minor gloat

Push Drills

Brad in Ottawa

>Hope you don't mind my asking but... I have a question regarding Push Drills...

I have never seen one, am I missing out on something? I see a fair number of posts on them. Are they a must have/use hand tool or are they a must have hand tool?

Brad

Re: Push Drills

Kirk in HMB, CA

>They are a cool to have, and work pretty darn well too. I use mine for predrilling for screws and nails. The original fluted bits are supposedly great for drilling really thin wood like shaker boxes, as they don't tend to split.

The small diameter bits are easily bent.

Much easier to carry than a M@k!ta for predrilling, and easier to operate than an eggbeater drill. Sharp bits can really do a mean job of drilling, even in QSWO.

Re: Push Drills

Angelo in Cornwall, NY

>Brad, in my humble opinion, they are a must have. The cordless sees less an less use for small piolet holes, and since the bits are in the handle, no searching for the right size. I keep one over my lathe for piolet holes for the spur center an for faceplate screws. Just darn handy and really accurate.

Re: Push Drills

walt quadrato

>Push Drills are a must. shake 'em; if they rattle there's bits in the handle(or something is really wrong with it!)

Re: Push Drills

Sandor in Boyds, MD

>They are a must NOT have if you have grandkids!

Just kidding, but my first memories of a push drill are from when I was a kid (4 or 5 maybe) going to my grandfather's house and finding his Ol' Yankee push drill in the basement. I was pretty enamored by the tool. Enough so that I spent an afternoon putting 1/8" holes all over his workbench.

He was NOT happy.

Its funny to see though. The holes are still there almost 30 years later. Not a great bench, but his bench none-the-less.

Sandor (getting psyched up for the PATINA sale and auction this Saturday!)

Re: Minor gloat

glh

>It would have been hard to pass up the push drills. I paid much more than that from Garrett-Wade (I think) a couple of years ago. They are "the thing" for small, delicate pre-drilling of screws and brads. I also like the egg-beater type hand drill. I've inherited two of these and luckily have one good set of bits.

Re: Minor gloat

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>If I did not already own six, I'd have jumped on them...

As it was, I spent more money than I should have done.

Push Drills are the Cat's PJ's

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>The highest development of Western civilization for the purpose of drilling small, relatively short holes. Quicker than any other tool I've ever used, and compact. Very good for use up on a ladder, such as when installing curtain rods.

Re: Minor gloat

Brad in Ottawa

>Thanks for letting me Hijack the thread Bill!

Don't worry I will be punished for doing so.

It seems I am going to have to keep my eyes peeled for a Push Drill with Bits. Not only that I won't have the option of walking away from the one I find!

Brad

Re: Minor gloat *LINK*

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Not a hijack at all, I'm mildly obsessive about these drills and love praising them.

I'd asked earlier about possible sources of bits - if you look down a bit, you'll see a thread I started in which various people suggest possible sources for the bits. I also discovered, in surfing the Net, that Klein, who make electrician's tools, sell what is probably a badge-engineered Stanley push drill, and Klein distributors may also have replacement bits (don't know if they're a US only company, but every electrician I know loves their tools).

All of this is to say that, if you find one for cheap, it might be worth getting even without bits.


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