Seriously…This the Single Best Gift You Can Give to any DIYer, Maker, or Woodworker This Holiday
There are lots of ways to give gifts for the holidays. You can give in a way that simply checks a person off the list; acknowledges that it's expected and therefore here's your Amazon giftcard… (Not recommended.) You can can give gifts that are elaborate, expensive, and make everything that also helped create that pile or wrapping paper look negligible. (Also not recommended.) Or you can source something that person didn't know existed, and legitimately surprise them. (Solid.) You could give them something you know they want, but wouldn't spend the money on for themselves. (Nice one.) Or, for many a practical-minded recipient, you can get them something that solves a need in their life, that comes in handy again and again. Literally, a gift that keeps on giving.
And if that so-named recipient happens to be a ManMade reader-type, we're calling it this year – this is the single. best. gift you can give anyone who likes to work with their hands this holiday season:
A box of tiny drill bits.
“Oh yeah?” you say. How could we name a simple $20 box of steel as the ultimate DIYer Christmas gift? Here's why.
This is the two sets of drill bits I use regularly – a standard twist bit set from the home center and some nicer brad point bits from a woodworking catalog. Notice anything? That's right! All the little bits are gone. And I guarantee that every other bit set that's more than a year old looks exactly the same. Why? Well, two reasons:
1) the smaller bits are the ones that are used most, commonly for drilling pilot holes and installing hardware
2) they're the littlest ones, with the smallest amount of steel, and so they break
And these are precisely the drill bits you need the most when you're in the middle of a project and it's ten o'clock at night on a Saturday and you want to keep working and all the stores are closed.
This set, sold by Rockler, contains ten bits each of the smallest sizes: 1/16″, 5/64″, 3/32″, 7/64″, and 1/8″. They're made of high-speed steel, and come organized in a little plastic case.
And here's the thing: they're really nice drill bits. They're sharp, straight, and way better than anything you can get in the home center.
If you have a woodworker or otherwise handy person in your life, I guarantee you this is the gift that will light up their eyes on Christmas morning. But, evenly more importantly, this is the gift that they'll remember three or four years from now when they're working on a huge project, and they have the exact tools they need when they need them. That says love to me.
Pick up a set this week, and they'll be here before Hanukkah or Christmas.
Okay, cool. Want some other awesome “have them when you need them” gift ideas that craftspeople will love? Here's a few more:
- Bosch CCP2205 #2 Phillips Bits, 2-Inch, 5 Pack – $5.24
- 36-piece pack of flux brushes (great for glue-ups) – $6.80
- Four pound box of t-shirt rags – $21.94
- 24-piece foam brush set – $13.38
- 40 count painter's pyramids – $21.95
- Snappy Quick-Change 5-Pc. Countersink Drill Bit Set – $19.99
If you're struggling with the idea of handing someone a box of rags for Christmas, we get it. But trust us on this — give it a shot, and see what happens.
Chris
