Our next few
weeks will be about what’s likely, my favorite shop tool, the Drill Press. I’ve
done a few columns about the chuck and stuff, but not any about DP’s in
general. I call this my favorite tool because it’s the only one that’s ever
tried to seriously maim me…and it was MY fault. The story is that I was getting
ready to race my dirt track stock car for the very first time and I needed to
make an accelerator bracket. So I had this piece of flat steel that I had bent
on one end and I needed to drill a hole in that end. I was “in a hurry” and set
the bent end flat on the Drill Press table, which left the other end sticking
up at an angle…and I thought ‘oh, I can
just hold it and it will be fine’… yea, right. I held it, started drilling the
hole and BAM! before I could move, the bit grabbed the metal and swung it
around so fast…and I looked down at my arm and all of a sudden I had this huge
slice in it…started bleeding like a stuck pig and all because I was in too big
of a hurry to clamp my work or put it in a vise. To this very day, I have a
scar on my left wrist that looks like I tried to commit suicide. Seriously.
Anyway,
back to our lesson…the Drill Press (hereafter referred to as a DP) was
originally designed for the metalworking trades; however, with the availability
of woodworking techniques and of cutting tools, jigs and attachments, the DP is
now one of the most versatile tools in the shop. It not only drills in metal,
it bores in wood and performs other woodworking operations such as mortising
and sanding. In fact, after the table saw, the DP can easily become the second
most important piece of equipment in the average home shop. Notice one technical
distinction: it “DRILLS” in metal and “BORES” in wood. Since I am a tech-guy,
such nuances are important. They really are. We’ll talk more about DP’s next
time.
Send your questions or comments to:
Toolsmartz@bellsouth.net and
we’ll see what we can do to help you. 
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