The other day when I was doing a handyman thing for a friend, she wondered
why I was holding an ice pick. She was a little unnerved by it, actually.
Well, I keep an old-fashioned ice pick in my toolbox for a simple reason: it
makes it simple to start a screw in a wall, door, or other wooden surface.
Just twist it a few times back and forth and you have a small starter hole.

On 8/30/2012 3:48 PM, David Kaye wrote:
The other day when I was doing a handyman thing for a friend, she wondered
why I was holding an ice pick. She was a little unnerved by it, actually.
Well, I keep an old-fashioned ice pick in my toolbox for a simple reason: it
makes it simple to start a screw in a wall, door, or other wooden surface.
Just twist it a few times back and forth and you have a small starter hole.



But what if your tool requires a large starter hole???

On 08/30/2012 03:48 PM, David Kaye wrote:
The other day when I was doing a handyman thing for a friend, she wondered
why I was holding an ice pick. She was a little unnerved by it, actually.
Well, I keep an old-fashioned ice pick in my toolbox for a simple reason: it
makes it simple to start a screw in a wall, door, or other wooden surface.
Just twist it a few times back and forth and you have a small starter hole.

I just use the screw itself and give it a little tap from the
screwdriver's handle.

Jon

"mike" wrote

But what if your tool requires a large starter hole???

Heh...well a little lube sometimes helps, so it's good to carry a little
WD-40 with you...

"Jon Danniken" wrote

I just use the screw itself and give it a little tap from the
screwdriver's handle.

I've cracked wood that way. And in other situations there wasn't enough
bulk in the handle to make a starter hole.

On Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:48:56 -0700, "David Kaye"
wrote:

The other day when I was doing a handyman thing for a friend, she wondered
why I was holding an ice pick. She was a little unnerved by it, actually.
Well, I keep an old-fashioned ice pick in my toolbox for a simple reason: it
makes it simple to start a screw in a wall, door, or other wooden surface.
Just twist it a few times back and forth and you have a small starter hole.

HB's right. You really are trysexual. You'll even try screwing a door or
wall with your little prick.

On 08/30/2012 04:20 PM, David Kaye wrote:
"Jon Danniken" wrote

I just use the screw itself and give it a little tap from the
screwdriver's handle.

I've cracked wood that way. And in other situations there wasn't enough
bulk in the handle to make a starter hole.

If the wood is so delicate that tapping the screw is going to crack it,
using an icepick isn't going to give much different results, and the
fastener requires a pilot hole to be drilled (which is the best method
in the first place).

Jon

David:

Jon's right.

The carpentry tool for doing that is called an "awl". But, the awl isn't meant to indent the wood so that you can drive the screw in exactly where you want, it's meant to indent the wood so that you can PREDRILL the wood exactly where you want to put the screw. That is, you nestle the point of the drill bit in the indent before you start drilling, not the tip of the screw before you start screwing.

An awl allows you to "move" the indent by simply indenting deeper on one side of the original indent or the other. That causes the center line of the drill bit to move as well.

http://bagntell.files.wordpress.com/...ewood20awl.jpg

The ONLY screws that should be driven into wood without predrilling are "low root" screws, so named because the minor diameter of the screw is very much smaller than a regular wood screw. So, it spreads the wood fibers much less than a regular wood screw, and therefore isn't as likely to split the wood when driven in without predrilling. Drywall and deck screws are low root screws because of their small "root" or "minor diameter".

Hardwoods should be predrilled to the screw root diameter.
Softwoods should be predrilled to one drill size smaller than the root diameter.

PS: Also, no one knows why, but friction is speed dependant. It takes less total work to zip a drywall screw into a stud with a drywall gun than it does if you wrist twist the same screw into the same stud by hand. We don't have a "theory" of friction that would explain why.

"nestork" wrote

The carpentry tool for doing that is called an "awl". But, the awl
isn't meant to indent the wood so that you can drive the screw in
exactly where you want, it's meant to indent the wood so that you can
PREDRILL the wood exactly where you want to put the screw.

I didn't recommend an awl for that very reason. An awl is rounded and
doesn't do a good job of making a hole. An ice pick has squared off sides
and does a very good job of making a hole.

On Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:20:32 -0700, "David Kaye"
wrote:

"Jon Danniken" wrote

I just use the screw itself and give it a little tap from the
screwdriver's handle.

I've cracked wood that way. And in other situations there wasn't enough
bulk in the handle to make a starter hole.


At least you dont hammer the screws into the wood. I've actually seen
guys do that.

On 8/30/2012 5:48 PM, David Kaye wrote:
The other day when I was doing a handyman thing for a friend, she wondered
why I was holding an ice pick. She was a little unnerved by it, actually.
Well, I keep an old-fashioned ice pick in my toolbox for a simple reason: it
makes it simple to start a screw in a wall, door, or other wooden surface.
Just twist it a few times back and forth and you have a small starter hole.


I use a slim automatic center punch like the silver one, second from the
bottom in the image. Starter holes in wood are made very quickly
and precisely with it. ^_^

http://www.micro-machine-shop.com/sc...er_punches.jpg

http://tinyurl.com/9xhs5zc

TDD

On 8/30/2012 6:01 PM, mike wrote:
On 8/30/2012 3:48 PM, David Kaye wrote:
The other day when I was doing a handyman thing for a friend, she
wondered
why I was holding an ice pick. She was a little unnerved by it,
actually.
Well, I keep an old-fashioned ice pick in my toolbox for a simple
reason: it
makes it simple to start a screw in a wall, door, or other wooden
surface.
Just twist it a few times back and forth and you have a small
starter hole.



But what if your tool requires a large starter hole??

Probably why he carries the chainsaw and mask.

LdB

On 08/30/2012 08:09 PM, nestork wrote:

PS: Also, no one knows why, but friction is speed dependant. It takes
less total work to zip a drywall screw into a stud with a drywall gun
than it does if you wrist twist the same screw into the same stud by
hand. We don't have a "theory" of friction that would explain why.

Maybe static vs. kinetic friction?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction#Static_friction

Jon

I only use one tool when I'm screwing, my MAN TOOL !!!

wrote

I only use one tool when I'm screwing, my MAN TOOL !!!


Does Craftsman give a lifetime guarantee?

On Aug 31, 11:38*am, wrote:
On Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:20:32 -0700, "David Kaye"

wrote:
"Jon Danniken" wrote

I just use the screw itself and give it a little tap from the
screwdriver's handle.

I've cracked wood that way. *And in other situations there wasn't enough
bulk in the handle to make a starter hole.

At least you dont hammer the screws into the wood. *I've actually seen
guys do that.

There are screws intended to be hammered home. The angled thread is
for removal and to prevent pullout.

On Sep 4, 8:51*am, "David Kaye" wrote:
wrote

I only use one tool when I'm screwing, my MAN TOOL !!!

Does Craftsman give a lifetime guarantee?

It stops working when you're dead.