A buddy told me my drill setup was wasting time on 12 pilot holes

I used to pre-drill every single screw hole for my desk frame. Took forever on a 6ft butcher block. A friend from a woodshop class watched me do it and said 'you're drilling too slow and too deep'. He showed me to bump up the speed and only go half the depth of the screw. Cut my assembly time from 45 minutes to maybe 20. Still feels weird not going all the way through. Has anyone else gotten pushback on skipping full pilot holes?

3 comments

3 Comments

faithb788d ago

My buddy in construction swears pilot holes are just for drywall or delicate trim, says a sharp enough screw will push its own way through anything else. Is that really true for hardwoods though?

rubyreed8d ago

Feels wrong at first but I've had the same thing happen to me.

the_jason8d ago

That's exactly how most "rules" in trades end up. People learn one way and never question when the shortcut stops working. It's like the whole "you don't need to measure twice" crowd, they get lucky 9 times and then waste a full sheet of plywood on the 10th.