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I had a screw-off with the famous Don Montague the other day.
We squared off across a crate that had too much stuff attached to it with drywall screws.
We would vie to see who could extract them most rapidly.
He had his trusty sidearm, the Dewalt battery drill.
I used my old failthful brace and bit with a screwdriver bit.
He pulled ahead at first, zipping the screws out as fast as they would come.
I wasn't far behind. Once a screw got started, I'd swich to one-handed, gripping the top knob and swinging the handle around like a flywheel so the screws were coming out almost as fast as with a drill.
Then we started swapping yarns and the brace really shone. It was so quiet I didn't have to stop working to talk. The battery drill though was loud enough Don had to syncopate his work to let the tales flow.
So I started to catch up. Unfortunately we ran out of screws to pull.
When the smoke cleared Don was the winner.
Due to his skill and indomitable spirit more than the equipment of course.
We were both surprised how well the thousand year old tool had done.
The basic old brace and bit you never use. Pick it up again and try it with a screwdriver bit.
It's got no batteries to charge or cord to trip over, it's quiet, and you can even drop it in the water a couple of times without hurting it or electrocuting yourself. It's a whole lot faster than you'd expect, and you won't split your wood or break screws as much as before.
We squared off across a crate that had too much stuff attached to it with drywall screws.
We would vie to see who could extract them most rapidly.
He had his trusty sidearm, the Dewalt battery drill.
I used my old failthful brace and bit with a screwdriver bit.
He pulled ahead at first, zipping the screws out as fast as they would come.
I wasn't far behind. Once a screw got started, I'd swich to one-handed, gripping the top knob and swinging the handle around like a flywheel so the screws were coming out almost as fast as with a drill.
Then we started swapping yarns and the brace really shone. It was so quiet I didn't have to stop working to talk. The battery drill though was loud enough Don had to syncopate his work to let the tales flow.
So I started to catch up. Unfortunately we ran out of screws to pull.
When the smoke cleared Don was the winner.
Due to his skill and indomitable spirit more than the equipment of course.
We were both surprised how well the thousand year old tool had done.
The basic old brace and bit you never use. Pick it up again and try it with a screwdriver bit.
It's got no batteries to charge or cord to trip over, it's quiet, and you can even drop it in the water a couple of times without hurting it or electrocuting yourself. It's a whole lot faster than you'd expect, and you won't split your wood or break screws as much as before.
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One of the links at the bottom is for an adapter that fits Yankee screwdrivers and accepts 1/4" insert bits. Drive to your heart's content!
This guy sells lots of old relatively indestructable "Yankee" -type tools. No, I'm not affiliated. Several others on Ebay do the same. I also have an affinity for the small jeweler's drills that act either on a screw/spring mechanism or else a bow and string. There is a very organic quality to the process I find appealing.