Electric Drills for the Total Dummy

Cordless power drill

Just about nothing frosts the Antisocial Network staffers' collective hiney like a freelancer who cobbles together information from a couple of sources, rewords it, and claims it as his or her own. Doing so is especially irritating when the subject is something about which the freelancer knows little or nothing, but holds himself out as some sort of "expert." We've already caught InfoBarrel.com's 44tracyann44 pretending she knows something about drop ceilings and jig saws. Let's see how big a dummy she is when the topic is "Portable Electric Drill Facts and Safety Tips."¹

Hint: pretty big... Tracy blows it from the get-go, by telling her readers that,

"The portable electric drill consists of a housing with a handle, a motor, and a chuck. Most of these electric drills have a key-type chuck."

Well, no, corded drills often have a keyed chuck, but most cordless models have a keyless chuck. But there's more:

"The most common shapes are the pistol-grip drill which usually will hold drill bits up to 1/4"..."

We think Tracy meant 3/8 inch... but then she goes on. Among the "safety tips" she cribbed from somewhere, we found the exhortation,

"Never use a bit with a square tang or a lead screw."

We aren't even sure what that's supposed to mean! We do know what

"Make certain the drill is clamped securely in the chuck."

is supposed to mean, although "bit" would have been more accurate than "drill"... and then she explains that,

"The cutting tools can be twist drills, auger bits (if they have straight shanks), or spade (speed) bits."

A) Is there such as thing as an auger bit whose shaft isn't straight? and B) a spade bit is not the same thing as a speed bit. And finally, Tracy attempts to pass along her vast knowledge by telling her readers how to drill a hole, including such useful information as

• "When drilling holes with your portable electric drill always use the correct bit or accessory." (Duh...)
• "Make sure the tool (preferably of high-speed steel) is sharp." We like carbide tips for some jobs, Tracy.
• "Always clamp the wood in a vise, or hold it securely with a clamp." Yeah, right... "Always"...

Nope, clearly this greedy freelancer's exposure to power drills is limited to watching hubby (or even Daddy) using one and maybe, just maybe, putting up a curtain rod once. She certainly, however, isn't experienced enough to be giving advice – just experienced enough to pick up her third Dumbass of the Day trophy. Maybe she can use hubby's drill to make a hole in it...

¹ InfoBarrel has deleted all user-generated content and become a "green" website, but this post can still be reead by using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   infobarrel.com/Portable_Electric_Drill_Facts_and_Safety_Tips

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DD - POWER TOOLS