How To Hand-Drill Holes In Concrete With A Star Drill

[@Smidgen-x4i]

I enjoy the history and demonstration of how things were done. Thanks.

[@odiesclips7621]

I'm 78 now. I used to help my uncle as a teenager. He was a maintenance man. In your video, you have the advantage of gravity. We used star drills on a wall, sometimes slightly higher than our head. And I had many sore nights after swinging that 3 lb hammer while holding the bit in place.

[@raylidell3613]

Herrick, I'm glad there are guys like you still around, still teaching and informing. I, too, am 78 and grew up around tools and men that did work. I think we're a dying breed. Keep up the good work.

[@peterbarlow8912]

Thanks for the new to me info about the star drill swaging/sharpening hammer. Before we had a hammer drill we used hardware store masonry bits in a drill which would tend to be stopped by hard aggregate. I found applying star bits to the problem could get the drill bit progressing again. Like my huge framing hammer those star bits don’t see any action anymore.

[@phillyfathead]

Learn something new everyday, thank you!

[@MiddleEastMilli]

Excellent video!!! Thank you for posting this video!

[@bpark10001]

You should hold the star drill a little off the material you are drilling so the drill starts flying forward with each hit. Your hand should pull the drill back a little after each hit so it bounces back a little. Not only does this clear the chips, but that forward movement turns the drill itself into a hammer, & dramatically speeds the progress. I once drilled holes in exterior brick (for hose faucet mounting) with an old Phillips screwdriver. I visited an old railroad tunnel in California. On the sidewall of one tunnel, there is a star drill protruding (cutting end out) from the wall, as if someone had drilled from behind the wall from another tunnel behind (there is no adjacent tunnel). I have no idea how or why that drill got there!

[@BruceBair]

I wanted to be sure you saw this so I'm putting my comment on the star drill but it's a comment about your mini beds. And it's a comment about you. First of all, I'd like to thank you for what you've done. Fantastic work. I love your videos. I loved your teaching method and I love your enthusiasm. I've been growing gardens since I was nine. I'm 73. When I was 10, 11 and 12 years old I was the county tomato growing champion at the county fair. After age 12 I'd earned enough money from my gardens to buy steers and then I went into the cattle business with 4-H. Thank you so much. Is all I can say I'm going to buy your book and I wish you had the super thanks or whatever it is at Google allows you to you know buy you a cup of coffee or whatever you should activate that because I think I would have given you a couple of bucks on every video that I've watched and I've watched almost all your mini garden videos. Thank you thank you thank you!

[@gnic76]

That was interesting. My parents had an addition put on their house sometime in the mid 80's, the contractor spent 3 days with a jackhammer and half a dozen bits just to drill and hammer a 3 foot door opening in the basement wall. The concrete was done in the 50's and way harder than the concrete nowadays. 😂 I think you'd still be hammering away at it, if your parent's basement was like that. 🤣

[@DarrylFerrucci]

I have heard that concrete (if made right) continues to gradually harden for many years, which may explain why that 1950s concrete was so tough.

[@BillOdyssey]

Thanks!

[@62Cristoforo]

I’m old enough to recall my father teaching me about his collection of drill bits and his bit brace. Life was harder back then, but people rose to the challenge, not like today where we’re spoiled, with 18 volt rotary hammer drills and special hardened masonry bits.

[@michaelhockus8208]

WOAH I forgot about Tall Tale! informative video, thanks

[@mikelgeren149]

I've used them many times , but I'm older than mud . Like the comments from others about having the old tools for just in case . 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@joandavis9152]

I used a star drill to set property corners in sidewalks. A lead plug is pounded into the hole.

[@yikes7607]

Thanks, so useful to know! Yeah they may be obsolete but at the same time it would be good to have such tools, we never know the future and those old days tools would always work even in crisis scenarios. I don't have star drills though, and I need to open a couple holes on the wall, wondering if a screwdriver would dent the wall XD There was an electric drill somewhere but I can't find it.

[@misterdubity3073]

I'm 72 and I recall doing this at least a few times; not very much though. I thought (which may be wrong) that the idea was to try to time the rotation with the blow of the hammer, but that this added requirement made a difficult job even more difficult. That way, at the moment of impact, the blades of the star drill were scraping material, not just pounding material. yes? no? I don't know if I was taught that or if I just assumed it.

[@herrickkimball]

Sounds logical to me. 👍

[@Bigfoot14000]

And that's through fairly porous, non-dense concrete. Try a 4 inch concrete slab and get a lesson in what real work is, or was in the day. Very good video.

[@ed6837]

I am 72. Saw them plenty of times but never used them. THE FIRST HAMMER DRILL!!!!! I can't imagine making a hole for an anchor in a concrete ceiling to hang pipe. Not happening. Forgot all about star drills. Haven't seen one in a long time. All went to the scrap yard I guess

[@douglasfeilen4344]

I am surprised & impressed the breeze block didn't break in half! You would have destroyed that block in Australia , just drop them & they'll shatter 😊

[@gregorymccue5003]

This is crazy ! I used star drills more than 50 years ago. In the amount of time it takes to drill a hole this way you could earn enough money to buy an SDS drill. Seriously, don't most drills these days have a hammer mode ? And how much do masonry drill bits cost ? Might as well hire a beaver to take down a tree. Chainsaws are for wimps.

[@FreeRivers85]

Almost sounds like a hammer drill when you speed it up. 😂

[@larry400]

Tear out the back of that hole. Nobody would consider a drill like this today because it isn’t very accurate, it’s slow, hazardous for the driller, and there are better tools and methods.