Drilling holes in wood is fairly straight-forward. But you have to be careful that you don’t damage the wood. Here is a short wood drilling overview, telling you how to drill in wood. We are assuming you are going to use an electric drill. You can use a hand drill but given the cheap prices, a power drill is a sound investment.
Using a power drill is easy but you can damage the wood if you don’t know what you are doing. Nowadays, a cordless drill is recommended, you can use most cordless drills as screwdrivers as well. But it is nothing wrong with a corded drill, you are limited by the cord but you don’t have any batteries to worry about.
Although most drill bits will make holes in wood, it is still best to use drill bits that are made for wood. Brad-point bits are best for small holes while Forstner bits are best for larger holes. Bits meant for other materials can damage the wood. But if you are careful, most twist bits will do a reasonable job.
Wood drilling is easy, if you do the right preparations. Of course you can start drilling without any preparations but that you increase the chances of success by doing some easy preparations.
First you should make sure that you know how deep you are going to drill. Most drills have a control bar that you can use to set the depth. If your drill does not have a control bar, you can use masking tape to mark how deep you are going to drill. Wrap the tape tightly around the drill bit so that the tape stops at the right depth. Once the tape touches the wood, you have drilled deep enough.
Mark the center of the hole and use a hammer and nail to make a small indentation. This makes sure that the hole will be in the right place and minimizes the risk of damaging the wood. Without the indentation, the drill could slip and damage the wood.
Drill slowly and don’t use too much pressure. The wider the hole, the slower you should drill. Make sure to back off from time to time. This removes sawdust and woodchips from the hole.
If you are drilling all the way through a piece of wood, it is very likely that the bit will damage the wood when it exits on the other side. This can be prevented by clamping a piece of sacrificial wood where the drill bit exits.