Gimlet Hand Drills (Set of 4)

Set of 4 steel hand drills. Annealed metal with a sturdy machined flute that bites into wood and drywall. Lets you screw without an electric drill. Made in France. (more info)

Notify me when back in stock

The gimlet (or gibelet in French) is the perfect tool for when you’re hanging up pictures or putting up a shelf — apartment jobs that don't warrant dropping $200 on a fancy new electric drill that you’ll use once a year and will hog up space in your cabinet.

These are just the little guys to do some fiddling and tinkering around the house — putting up framed posters, mounting coat hooks, and fixing the odd wobbly stool. This probably won’t be the drill you’ll reach for to build a gazebo — but technically you could. Hand drills like these were used during the colonial era to build entire houses. (That seems very, very difficult now that electricity has been invented.)

But these gimlets aren't just for amateur hour, they're also still the tools professional woodworkers use for making the most precise holes in their most precious woods.

The gimlets fit easily into the same drawer of your house reserved for wine corkers, candy thermometers and turkey basters — instead of being shoved into a corner of the closet, saving you much needed space.

The set comes with four sizes: 3 mm, 4mm, 5mm and 6mm and are made of hand-forged, unbreakable steel.

Use & Care

Works on dry wall and wood. To get a clean, useful hole, twist with a steady hand.

When you use it on dry wall, just take the right size gimlet and turn clockwise. The hole starts out small, but keep turning the gimlet clockwise and it will gradually be pulled in and the hole made larger. Once you have the desired size hole, insert the screw or anchor, hang the shelf and go have a gimlet. Martini, that is.

If you’re drilling into heavier wood, it’s best to start with the smallest gimlet to get things going and make the initial hole then work your way up to the gimlet size your screw calls for.

The tip of the gimlet bites into the wood so you don’t have to use too much muscle to push it in, and continues to make the first initial dig while the wider-spiraled flute removes more of the material.

Production & Design

The gimlets are made of hardened steel that’s been annealed — meaning the metal was heated until it’s unbreakable. Double spiral flutes make it so that once the tip of the gimlet is turned into a piece of dry wall or wood and turned, the blades on the tip chip away at the surface quickly and easily. And a machined — rather than twisted — flute is much sturdier. To make the spiral, the metal is cut into that shape. Twisting undermines the structure of the steel, making it more likely to collapse. Not happening with these guys.

Any Questions?

Please email support@kaufmann-mercantile.com. We reply to every email promptly. Or call us at 347 529 5122.

To stay updated on product launches and articles on our blog, follow us via mail, RSS, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest.