10 Ways to Use Hand and Power Tools Together to Achieve Greater Results.
One of the best lessons I’ve learned over the years of DIY projects is that, whether your tools are hand-powered or powered, they can serve much more than just the purpose they were originally intended for—provided you’re creative in how you use them. Often, you can use two tools together to improve their performance, make them more versatile, make them easier to use, or even replace a missing tool.
Here are 10 unexpected ways to combine hand and power tools to make housework a little easier.
Insert the Allen key into the drill.
Eye hooks have a variety of uses, but if you’ve ever driven one into wood, you know how tedious it can be. Typically, you either insert a screwdriver through the hook and turn it, which is slow and awkward, or you clamp a wrench or pliers over the hook and turn it, which is also… slow and awkward.
Here’s a more efficient way: insert a hex key into the drill chuck, slide the end of the key through the eye hook, and let the drill do the work. It’s faster, reduces strain on your elbows and wrists, and you’ll wonder why you never thought of it before.
Use a shop vac to apply wood glue.
Wood glue can be a real lifesaver if you have a damaged piece of wood—but only if you can get the glue inside the crack. If you’ve ever tried this, you know that the glue ends up smeared everywhere, but only a small amount penetrates the crack, leading to fairly rapid failure.
Combining a vacuum cleaner with gluing will significantly increase the efficiency of the process. Place the vacuum cleaner close to one end of the crack and turn it on. Then apply the adhesive from the other end, moving toward the vacuum cleaner. The suction will draw the adhesive into the crack, filling it and creating a stronger bond.
Use a sander to clean your spatulas.
Putty knives and drywall knives can accumulate a thick, lumpy layer of spackle, paint, and anything else they’re used to scrape away. Eventually, they become practically useless because their flat surface develops its own texture.
You can try cleaning them, but water will cause corrosion, and this is often a labor-intensive process, especially if they’re coated with cement or tile adhesive. However, if you have an orbital sander, cleaning putty knives and drywall knives is quite simple. Using a medium-grit attachment (120 works well), simply lightly sand the blade—don’t overdo it; just let the sandpaper do the work. Soon, you’ll have shiny, clean blades.
Use a square and chalk line as a makeshift level.
Leveling things turns out to be a surprisingly difficult task—at least for me. I can measure something five times and still somehow end up slightly off course. So, a spirit level is an indispensable tool in my arsenal for any project (and even then, for some reason, I’m not very good at leveling things).
If I forget my level, I’m in trouble—unless I just happen to have a square and a straightedge. Place the bottom edge of the square on the surface being checked and drape the straightedge over the top edge at a 90° angle so it hangs down. Then adjust the line until it’s exactly above the 45° mark at the bottom. This means the surface is level.
To remove stuck nails, use a screwdriver and hammer.
Trying to remove a stuck nail can become a real ordeal. The process slows down, you sweat and strain, and eventually start damaging the surface as your attempts to pull the nail out become increasingly clumsy and aggressive.
To protect the surface you don’t want to damage and to gain extra leverage when driving a nail, place a screwdriver under the hammer. This will give you more force when driving the nail and prevent the hammer from damaging the surface.
To remove a headless nail, use pliers and a putty knife.
Got a nail stuck and don’t have a hammer or crowbar? Or has the nail come loose from its head? You can free it with pliers and a putty knife. Grip the pliers on the nail and slide the putty knife along the surface behind the nail. Twist the pliers like a lever, and the nail will slowly pull free, while the putty knife blade will protect the surface underneath from damage.
To increase torque, use a wrench or pliers and a screwdriver.
When trying to loosen a screw that seems stuck, a standard screwdriver often can’t provide enough torque, and using a drill with a screwdriver attachment is often overkill and quickly strips the threads. To increase the torque a screwdriver can provide, use it in conjunction with a wrench or adjustable pliers. Clamp the pliers to the screwdriver at a 90° angle, apply downward pressure, and use the pliers’ handles to turn. Even the most stubborn screws will loosen on their own.
To remove nails, use locking pliers and a flat pry bar.
Another way to remove a nail that won’t come out on its own (or has lost its head) is to use pliers and a flat-head pry bar. Secure the pliers to the top of the nail so they act as the head, then tilt the pry bar underneath it and apply pressure. To protect the surface from which you’re removing the nail, you can also place a putty knife under the blade of the pry bar.
Use a hammer and screwdriver to remove the painted screws.
When I was renting, I was always annoyed by these “owner” repairs where the screw heads were covered in multiple layers of paint, often to the point where I couldn’t get to any screwdriver or bit. This meant I had to spend a long time scraping the paint out of the grooves until they were clean enough to remove.
Instead, use a hammer and screwdriver: place the screwdriver on the screw head and hit it hard with the hammer several times. The dried paint will easily come off, allowing you to continue working.
Use an adjustable wrench to select the appropriate drill bit.
How much time do you think you’ve wasted trying to guess the right drill bit size when tightening bolts? You estimate the drill bit size, drill a hole—no, it’s too small. Then you move on to the next-largest drill bit and start over. Or, worse, you estimate the drill bit size, but the hole turns out to be too big, and now you’ve got a problem.
If you have an adjustable wrench, save yourself the hassle. Tighten the jaws of the wrench on the bolt, then check which drill bit fits the wrench hole. You’ll never have to drill the same bolt three times again.