Do You Need a Hammer Drill for Woodworking?
A hammer drill has a mode that creates a downward strike on the drill bit that allow you to more easily drill into concrete or masonry. While it may not sound like a woodworking tool, most woodworkers and homeowners will want to add one to their tool kit at some point.
My New Makita Brushless Hammer Drill
I didn’t need a new drill, my old one still works but I say a great deal on this one in the clearance section so I impulse bought it. This is a good opportunity to talk about hammer drills and explain why you want to have one in your tool bag.
Here’s the Video, I dive into a general explanation of hammer drills below.
This is an unboxing video I shot mainly for fun, I don’t do much of a deep dive.
Drill vs Hammer Drill vs Rotary Hammer Drill
If you’re new to power tools you may be confused by some of the terminology, that doesn’t go away. I’m a certified tool nerd and I'm still confused.
There are three major types of drills you will find at the Box Store. (I’m just assuming cordless here).
A Drill/Driver - this will be you least expensive drill and will drill holes in wood and metal and drive screws. My Festool CXS (click to read that post) is a great example of your basic drill/driver. It’s smaller and lighter than it’s hammer drill brother. But also less powerful. These are the drills that are often included in the lowest price cordless tool sets,
A Hammer Drill - the hammer drill is the big brother of the standard drill/driver. It can do everything the smaller and lighter drill can do but also has a hammer function to drill into brick and masonry. It’s also, generally more powerful, but also much heavier.
Think of this as your “Jack of All Trades” drill. If you could only have one buy this and you can do almost every task with it.The Rotary Hammer Drill - This is for breaking things. These are made to bust through concrete quick, fast, and in-a-hurry. You’ll see these on professional job sites in various trades. I don’t own one. It’s a specialized tool that you probably don’t need. When you do end up needing a Rotary Hammer Drill, you’ll know.
I’m a Woodworker, Why do I want/need a Hammer Drill?
Yes, because sometimes you’ll need to anchor something into brick, your foundation, etc. These may not come up a lot but when they do you’ll be glad you spent a little extra on having a hammer drill.
How is an Impact driver different from a Hammer drill?
An Impact Driver increases rotational torque, a Hammer Drill created downward force. Think of an impact driver as having a cheater-pipe on the end of the wrench to give more leverage. And think of a hammer drill as driving a nail with a hammer. To different tools for to different jobs.
What hammer drill do I recommend?
Ultimately, I recommend the hammer drill that’s on the battery platform you already have. I make no effort to hide that I’m a fan of Makita and Festool. But I’ve used Ridgid, Dewalt, Ryobi, and other tools and while some may be nicer than other they all do the job.
Makita XPH07MB 18V LXT BL Hammer Drill Kit is what I ended up with and I think it will serve me well for many years
