Tool Hack: Using a Counter Sink

Here’s a tool hack that I promise will save you time and make your projects better. Or at least less frustrating. OK, maybe I don’t promise because I don’t know you. What I do promise is that it saves me time. All the time.

It falls into this category, that I’m the first one in history to make up: ‘Looking for tools so you can work isn’t working. It’s looking for tools. Working, on the other hand, is working’. Circle-R, people. Circle-R.

You need a countersink. From decks to bathroom framing to making a workbench to hanging a door, a countersink minimizes wood splits near the ends of boards. I use mine constantly: Drilling pilot holes for hinge screws or jig-less pocket holes for butt joints in anything from trim to jigs.

You must be able to find your countersink. It’s like a car: Having one is good. But if you can’t find it, it’s the same as not having one.

Since my countersink is only about 2-inches long, it’s born to be lost, either buried forever in the pencil sleeve of my tool pouch or rolling around in the archeological dig most toolboxes are.

This tool hack. It can be represented as an equation:

Magnetic bit holder + countersink with a ¼-inch hex shank in the presence of duct tape >>> Tool hack

A bit holder between 1 ½ and 3-inches works. You probably have one floating around somewhere.

Rip the duct tape in half and pay out a few inches. Tightly wrap the union between the holder and the shank of the countersink. Don’t tape over the countersink’s set-screw. You’ll need to get at that to change the bit at some point. Tool Hack-ed. Your countersink is now easier to find, no matter where you keep it. For the record, mine rides shotgun with me in my tool pouch. I can find it without even looking. How’s that for saving time?