The amount of people who don't pre-drill before screwing into hard wood is driving me nuts

I was helping my neighbor put up some shelves in his garage last weekend. He's got this old oak workbench and he just grabs a screw and starts drilling right into it. I told him to stop and he looked at me like I had three heads. 15 minutes later he snapped two screws and cracked a board. I've seen this at least a dozen times at my shop too. People come in complaining about stripped screws or busted up trim. It takes an extra 30 seconds to grab a drill bit. Why does everyone think they can skip this step?

2 comments

2 Comments

patking1mo ago

And it's the same folks who skip reading instructions, then wonder why nothing fits right...

simon_sanchez581mo ago

Those little plastic tabs inside the packaging are usually the culprit, patking. I spent twenty minutes last week trying to jam a bracket into a slot that was clearly marked "not for model 300" in bold letters on page two of the manual. I've learned to always check the hardware bag for extra bits before I even start, saves a ton of headache.