Let's start with my favorite kind of drill bit. Or "driver bit"? As per usual, I know more about how to use things than what to call them...
The GRK Screw Revelation, Round Two
I've already gone on at length about GRK cabinet screws in another post, so I'll keep this short. GRK uses a six-pointed star drive (T-25 for the smaller ones, T-30 for the bigger ones), and they sell their own matching premium driver bits, but the real revelation isn't the brand — it's that a good driver bit and a good screw are designed for each other, and a stripped head almost always means one or both of them is wrong.
If you've been driving GRK screws with a generic Phillips-style "star" bit from a 100-piece set you got at Costco for $15, you've been fighting your screws. Spend $8 on a four-pack of premium T-25 impact-rated star bits — the ones that come in various colors, from green to red to gold, where you feel tempted to turn them into jewelry — and you will never strip a GRK head again.
The same logic applies to Phillips and square (Robertson) drives. Premium bits are made to a tighter tolerance, with crisper edges, so they fully seat in the screw head and transmit torque to the threads instead of grinding the head into a soft round divot.
The Single Adapter That Changed Everything
If I could only keep one drill accessory, it would be the magnetic quick-change bit holder.
It's a simple thing: a six-inch hex shank with a chuck on the end that accepts standard 1/4" hex insert bits. You chuck the holder into your drill once and leave it there, and from then on you swap driver bits in and out by hand in two seconds — pull the collar back, drop the new bit in, release. Magnetic so the bit doesn't fall out when you flip the drill upside down. Quick-change so you're not opening the chuck a thousand times a day.
Once you have one of these in your drill, the entire universe of insert bits opens up to you. These are the short, hex-shanked bits that fit any quick-change holder. They come in every imaginable head pattern — Phillips, slotted, square, every size of star, security bits, hex (allen), even little socket adapters — and a 50-piece case is maybe $25.
This is why "long bits vs. short bits" is a real distinction. Long bits have a round shank that goes directly into your drill chuck — these are mostly your dedicated drill bits, the ones you use to actually make holes. Short insert bits have a hex shank and are designed to live in the magnetic holder. Both have a place: long bits when you need to drill, short bits when you need to drive.
The magnetic holder is the bridge between the two worlds, and it's a $10 accessory. ($3 or less on AliExpress.)
Extensions, Bendies, and Right Angles
Once you've got the magnetic holder figured out, the next layer is extensions.
The basic one is just a longer version of the magnetic bit holder — a 6", 12", or 18" hex shank that gets your insert bit further away from the drill body. Useful for reaching down into a hole, or driving a screw at the back of a deep cabinet without smashing your knuckles into the face frame.
Then there are the flexible shaft extensions, which look like a piece of stiff rubber-coated cable with a chuck on each end. These bend around corners. They're a little jittery to use and they're not for high-torque work, but when you need to drive a screw into the back of an installed cabinet at an angle no straight tool could ever reach, they're miraculous. I keep a 12" one on the shelf where I keep often-used items, to avoid frantic searching for it when it's essential to finish the job.
Finally there are the right-angle attachments — short little 90° (or 45°) gearboxes that mount between your drill and your bit. The drill spins one direction, the bit spins perpendicular to it. These are the for driving screws when you have minimal clearance for your drill.
A Smaller Drill for Smaller Jobs
Here's a category that is underpowered but still very useful: the cheap, low-torque, pen-style cordless screwdriver.
I'm talking about the little 3.6V or 4V tools — Milwaukee makes one, Skil, Worx, Black & Decker. They're shaped like a fat marker, take 1/4" hex insert bits directly without needing a magnetic holder (the chuck is built in), and have maybe one-tenth the torque of a real drill. They charge over USB.
Here's why they're indispensable for furniture assembly: they don't have enough torque to strip a screw head. When you're putting together an IKEA dresser or a metal shelving unit, the failure mode of using your big DeWalt is exactly that — you blow past "snug" into "stripped" in a quarter-turn, because a real drill produces more torque than a press-board insert can handle. The little pen-style driver tops out gently. It snugs the screw and stops. You finish the last quarter-turn by hand if you really want it tight.
Also nice: it's small enough to live in a kitchen drawer for the truly minor jobs — tightening a loose hinge, swapping a cabinet pull, replacing a battery cover.
The 118° vs. 135° Reveal
Let's switch gears, err, bits, and talk about drill bits (those that drill holes, not drive in screws). Here's a thing I did not know or notice for years: drill bits come in different point angles, and the angle matters.
The standard bit you buy — the basic one — has a 118° point angle. That's the slightly pointier one. It's fine for wood and aluminum.
A 135° split-point bit is flatter at the tip, which sounds counterintuitive — wouldn't a sharper point cut better? — but the flatter angle does two things: it makes the bit much less prone to "walking" when you start a hole on metal (it grabs immediately instead of skating around), and it's mechanically stronger so it survives the higher temperatures of drilling steel without dulling as fast.
So the rule of thumb: 118° for wood and soft metals, 135° split-point for steel and stainless. If you find yourself drilling a lot of metal, switch to a set of 135° cobalt bits and the whole experience improves.
Which is another lesson learned: rarely does quality matter as much as with drill bits. There are bits from Temu that look virtually the same as the Bosch counterpart, but the Temu bit does not work at all, whereas the Bosch gets the work done in seconds. (Yay German engineering!)
Pre-Drilling in a 1925 House
A lot of DIY tutorials assume you're working with new construction lumber from this decade. Old Richmond houses are a different animal.
The framing in a 1925 bungalow in Forest Hill is old-growth Southern yellow pine, which is roughly twice as dense as the modern stuff, packed with resin, and has rings so tight they look like a bar code. Drive a screw into it without pre-drilling and you have a 50/50 shot of either snapping the screw or cracking the wood. Pre-drill a pilot hole and the screw goes in like butter.
Quick pilot hole reference for old-growth pine:
- #8 GRK cabinet screw → pilot with a 7/64" or 1/8" bit
- #10 lag screw → pilot with a 5/32" or 3/16" bit
- 3" structural screw → pilot with a 1/8" bit, all the way through the first board
For plaster walls (most pre-1950 Richmond houses), a different rule applies: drill slowly with a sharp bit and put a piece of painter's tape over the spot first. Plaster blows out catastrophically if you drill it fast — you end up with a 2" crater where you wanted a 1/4" hole. Tape, slow speed, light pressure, and a sharp bit = clean hole.
For brick and mortar you need a hammer drill or at minimum a real masonry bit (the green carbide-tipped ones), and you should always drill into the mortar joint rather than the brick itself when possible. The mortar is softer, easier to repair if you ever remove the anchor, and won't shatter the way old brick can.
(Note: I bought one of those hammer-strike Ramset tools that help fasten things into concrete with a "pistol style" explosive charge. It's still in the package... granted some concrete I haven't been able to successfully drill - which is frustrating - but using a bullet-type force might have disaster written all over it. That said, on YouTube some people use these things to effortlessly fasten e.g. wooden boards to concrete.)
Catching the Mess
Drilling above your head into a plaster ceiling is one of those jobs that sounds simple until you try it. Plaster dust gets in your eyes, your hair, your nose, and all over the bed you forgot to cover before you started.
Three tricks I use:
The painter's tape pocket. Fold a strip of blue tape into a little pouch shape, with one sticky edge against the wall directly below where you're drilling. Catches falling debris. Works great for vertical walls; doesn't help much overhead.
The damp paper towel. Wet a paper towel, ball it up, and gently press it against the ceiling around the drill bit as you go. The wet fibers grab the dust before it falls. You'll have a brown blob of damp plaster goo to throw away when you're done, but your floor stays clean.
The shop vac with a helper. If you have a second person, have them hold a shop vac nozzle right next to the bit as you drill. The vacuum sucks the dust straight out of the air. This is honestly the gold standard but it requires a partner and a long enough vacuum hose.
The Tackle Box of Shame, and How to Escape It
Almost every DIYer I know — myself absolutely included — has at some point owned a single plastic tackle box, full of mixed bits, all loose, all jumbled together, some rusted.
Here's the better way:
Keep the original cases. When a set of bits comes in a labelled plastic case with molded slots for each size, keep that case. That case is the organizational system the manufacturer already designed for you. I have separate cases for: brad-point wood bits, twist drill bits for metal, masonry bits, spade bits, hole saws, and driver insert bits. Each lives in its own case, each case has every bit in its assigned slot.
Magnetic strips on the wall. For the bits I reach for constantly — the magnetic holder, the most-used insert bits, the bits I'm currently using for an in-progress project — I have a 12" magnetic strip screwed to the side of a shelf. Bits stick to it... easy to grab, easy to put back.
Throw out the dead ones. When a bit dies, retire it. Don't put it back in the case "just in case." A dead bit in a case full of live bits will get confused for a live one at exactly the wrong moment.
Yes, I can drill that for you.
If you're tackling a project that's part tech, part DIY — running cable behind a wall-mounted TV, building a charging cubby into a closet, installing a Ring doorbell into a brick frame — I'm happy to bring my drill and the right bits for your particular wall.
— Johanna