Do I Really Need an Impact Driver?

Like most woodworkers, I'm a big fan of the cordless drill. I use it on just about every project in the shop. I also use it on a lotta projects around the house, DIY-type activities. It's good for just about everything I need it to do, most screwing and fastening applications. Where I find that it breaks down a little bit for me, though, is I get into a little bit longer fasteners driving into hardwood.

As an example, I've got a piece of hard maple here that I've predrilled, and I've got a two-inch sheet rock screw, and I'm gonna just go ahead and drive this screw in here. And you'll see where it starts to run into resistance and I'll slip off of the screw head a little bit and it just kinda runs outta gas. That's where the impact driver comes into play. The impact driver takes on the same concept as the drill. Spins forward or reverse.

But now, when I run into a little bit of resistance, the impact mechanism kicks in. You can hear that tapping sound. So let me show you how well this is gonna work now when I drive that into the same hard maple. And it completely drives it home. So this is amazing technology.

If you go check this article out on Woodworkers Guild of America website, you're gonna find a lot of information to determine whether or not you need an impact driver in your shop. And it'll also go into some positioning information so you really understand when to use which tool.