I think the best ideas are discovered by accident. I was removing an organizer insert inside a drawer recently with my cordless drill. The drill was just small enough to fit into the drawer and onto the screw. Without thinking, I pulled the trigger on the drill and immediately pushed off the front of the drawer and gave my hand a lesson in drill etiquette.
The drawer came apart so effortlessly that the incident stuck with me for application at a more opportune time. I had the assignment of fixing an antique chair, which required that its legs be separated from the rails. I had tried this before, with little luck. It can be hard to pull tenoned rails out of chair legs without doing damage. Then I recalled my drawer lesson.
As shown in the drawing, I ran a screw into a block of wood, and placed my drill and another block of softwood between the chair’s front legs. Then I pulled the drill’s trigger and watched with satisfaction as the withdrawing screw pushed the leg right off the rail’s tenon. I was so tickled that I almost forgot how dumb I was the first time.
Randy Northern, Visalia, CA
Fine Homebuilding Recommended Products
DEWALT 18v Cordless Multitool (DCS355)
DEWALT Impact Driver (DCF885)
Metabo HPT Compact Cordless Miter Saw (C3607DRAQ4)
Metabo HPT Impact Driver (WH18DBDL2)
Festool Cordless Track Saw (TSC 55 KeB-F)