What would you do?

[Remyma0408]

If you were trying to make shelves and had no power drill?

We don't own one so are borrowing one, but won't be able to get it til tomorrow. I want to put the hanger bolts in NOW! (impatient much??) :laughitup:

 

[threewingedfury]

You could always buy one from Wal-Mart and return it and say it didn't work for ya JK

 

[Tagna]

Wait for the drill. If you do it but hand you can crack the wood. I too was impatient once....and learned to wait for the drill! lol

 

[Remyma0408]

Ack... I hate waiting! And dbf did all the sawing by hand. Go him!

 

[harbingerofdoom]

try this, no guarantee it will work.

take a nail and tap on the point of the nail with a hammer (head down on the concrete)
dont have to hit it hard, just enough to blunt the end of the nail.

use the nail to make a pilot hole for your screw (which means using a nail that is slightly smaller than the screw) and then screw in. usually keeps the wood from splitting that way. the smaller the thickness of the wood, the greater the chance its going to split so do one see how it goes.

 

[InkedupTara]

Paul and I hung shelves by hand, it sucked, but he put the board on the floor edge up and used an easy screwdriver with some sort of ratchet (sp) like mechanism and put the holes in, and then put them on the cage and put the screws back in.

 

[caiti]

Wait--there was a whole tutorial on how to make shelves without power tools. It's completely doable. You thread a wing wrong side up onto the bolt. Then put another wing right side up on the bolt. Or you can just use one wing nut...I don't know if it makes a big difference to use one or two. Use that to screw the hanger bolt (twist the wing using a plier--don't twist the bolt with the plier you'll ruin the thread). If you're using pine you don't need to worry about the wood cracking, it's so soft it won't. Any other wood, I'm not sure about.

Found it! http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9311

 

[CJR]

Do NOT try to handscrew poplar wood, you will hurt your hand.

(I may or may not know this from first-hand, painful, agonizing experience...)

 

[Remyma0408]

haha and I was the first one to comment on that thread... completely forgot!

 

[caiti]

Do NOT try to handscrew poplar wood, you will hurt your hand.

(I may or may not know this from first-hand, painful, agonizing experience...)

Yea, poplar's a hardwood. Awww...I may or may not be sorry for your potentially painful, agonizing experience.

 

[alli713]

Yes, you can handscrew the bolts into pine. I've done it many times without any cracking. Just don't do poplar lol

It's definitely much easier with a pilot hole though. And then the nuts don't get stuck onto the bolts as much.

Also, the smaller the diameter of the bolt, the less likely it will crack and the easier it is to go in.