Hand Drill Countersink
© Frank Ford 2006; Photos by FF

I learned this one way back in the 1960s when I visited a friend's shop in Berkeley. Next time you're at a garage sale and you see one of those old cheap hand crank drills, just buy it. Then, back in you shop, oil the thing up so it cranks easily again, stick a regular countersink in the chuck, grab a heavy pair of pliers, sock it down nice and hard, and hang the tool on the wall within easy reach. My guess is you'll be surprised at how handy this little tool becomes.

Any time I need to debur a small hole, or do a bit of casual countersinking, I reach for my hand drill countersink, and the job is done before I'd be able to walk over to the drawer to look for my regular countersinks, let alone chuck one in the drill, etc.

Actually, I have two of these drills in my home shop, each with a different style of countersink:

At work I have a bunch more, some with common size drills I use for starting wood screws. Next time I see another one at a garage sale, I'll add it to my home tool collection. . .

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