These five woodworking workarounds use common shop items—a nail, scrap wood, shims, salt and a ceramic mug—to address a missing pilot bit, a glue-up that needs restraint, board movement, an angled drill hole or a blade that needs emergency touch-up. They are temporary fixes, not substitutes for the right tool when accuracy or routine maintenance matters. Gareth Branwyn’s 2015 Make: article attributes the ideas to DIY creator Izzy Swan; it reports the methods rather than independently testing them.
How to make an improvised pilot hole
If the correctly sized drill bit is unavailable, Branwyn describes cutting off a nail’s head and chucking the nail in a drill as an improvised bit. The idea is to make a pilot hole before driving a nail, which may help reduce the chance of splitting the board. Use a properly sized drill bit when you have one; the source offers no measurements or testing to establish how the improvised nail performs.
How to hold a glue-up without suitable clamps
For a glue-up that needs pressure but lacks suitable clamps, the method uses two parallel scraps of wood fastened to a work surface, with room for the workpiece between them. Drive shims into the gaps between the scraps and the assembly to hold the pieces in place. Check that the workpiece stays aligned as you add the shims; this is an improvised restraint, not a measured clamping system.
Can salt reduce sliding during a glue-up?
Branwyn relays Swan’s suggestion to sprinkle a few grains of salt into a glue-up to add friction and reduce sliding. That explanation is presented as a proposed rationale, not proven performance: the article provides no independent results or safety testing. Treat it as an unverified tip rather than relying on it where movement would compromise the joint.
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How to drill close to a right angle without a drill press
Cut a 90-degree notch in scrap stock, or arrange two pieces of dimensional lumber so their factory edges form a notch. Hold the drill bit loosely against the guide as you drill. The guide can help keep the bit near perpendicular, but it does not ensure a square hole. As Branwyn puts it, “The resulting hole won’t be perfectly 90°, but it’ll be close.” For work that requires a precise angle, use an appropriate drilling guide or machine instead.
How to touch up a blade in an emergency
If a sharpening stone is unavailable, turn a ceramic coffee mug upside down and use the unglazed outer ring on its base as an improvised abrasive surface for a utility knife, pocket blade or scissors. This is an emergency workaround, not a recommendation for regular sharpening or a replacement for a suitable sharpening tool.
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Choosing the right workaround
| Task | Improvised materials | Best understood as | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make a pilot hole | Headless nail and drill | A fallback when the right-size bit is missing | No performance data; a correctly sized bit is the conventional option. |
| Restrain a glue-up | Scraps fastened to a surface and shims | A makeshift option when suitable clamps are unavailable | Not a measured clamping system. |
| Reduce glue-up sliding | A few grains of salt | An unverified suggestion | The proposed friction benefit is not established by independent results. |
| Guide drilling near 90 degrees | Notched scrap or two pieces of dimensional lumber | A simple alignment aid | The result is only close to 90 degrees, not guaranteed square. |
| Touch up a blade | Unglazed ring on an inverted ceramic mug | An emergency alternative if a stone is unavailable | Not a substitute for regular sharpening equipment. |
These five tips were published by Gareth Branwyn in Make: on September 3, 2015, and attributed to Izzy Swan. The original article is available at Make:’s “5 Indispensable Shop Hacks”.
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