![\"woodworking](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_4250_edited-2.jpg\")
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When installing hardware, it is important to have precise control<\/strong> of the location of the pilot holes for the screws.\u00a0The options are to start with a mark made by a scribing point or awl, then use that to locate the drill bit, or drill the hole directly without a preceding mark. Here is my approach.<\/p>\n I mark first, and most of the time, I try to center the mark in the countersunk hole of the hardware. Sometimes, however, I will intentionally very slightly decenter<\/strong> the mark to laterally “pull” the hardware tightly into the mortise, or to one side of a mortise that was made a bit too large. In any case, I do not want a mark that will result in the screw pulling the hardware in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n The key is that you want that control.<\/strong> It’s that one-sided tolerance<\/a> thing again. I love that concept.<\/p>\n Here is my low-tech, reliable method.<\/p>\n I use a scriber point or pyramidal awl<\/a> to prick a starting mark for the drill bit. It is surprisingly easy and accurate to judge just by eye<\/strong> if the mark is centered in the hole in the hardware. Good lighting<\/strong> is essential, as in the first photo below. A crescentic shadow on the side of the hole will cause you to misjudge the center of it.<\/p>\n The mark in the photo below<\/strong> is actually centered but the shadow interferes with judging it.<\/p>\n Sometimes I use a fine point scribe (the two tools to the left in the photo below) to make a tiny mark to seat the point of a brad point bit<\/strong>. Other times I use my wonderful Czeck Edge<\/a> awl (at right in photo) to start and enlarge a hole suitable to seat a twist bit<\/strong>. Twist bits are commonly available in more sizes than brad point bits, which is particularly helpful for using tapped holes and machine screws to mount hardware<\/a>\u00a0in wood.<\/p>\n This simple approach makes it easy to reliably make a deliberately off-centered<\/strong> mark. Just as important, it is also easy to move a mark<\/strong> made with a scriber or awl. Just stab the sharp point into the sidewall of the original mark and push or swish the tool to make a slightly bigger mark with a new center location.<\/p>\n How about self-centering bits<\/strong> (one brand is Vix bits)? In all the brands I have tried, there is always a bit of wobble<\/strong>\u00a0of the drill bit within its housing. Even though I would drill squarely to the work surface, there is some random error in the location of the hole. The errantly drilled hole is then nearly impossible to “move.” Furthermore,<\/strong> there is no reliably controlled way to produce a deliberately off centered pilot hole. Depth control is also difficult or the depth is inadequate. Such bits have been banished from my shop for some time.<\/p>\n How about center punches<\/strong> \u2013 those that you tap and those that are spring-loaded in various ways? They avoid some of the disadvantages of self-centering drill bits, but all of the ones I have tried, even Starrett’s, also have some wobble of the scriber within its housing. They are faster than the low-tech approach I use but less consistent and, again,<\/strong> there is no good way to make deliberately off-center marks. Such tools also have been banished from my shop.<\/p>\n![\"locating](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_4421_edited-2.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"marking](\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_4425_edited-2.jpg\")
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