Ratcheting Screwdriver Turning Kit

Nice simple kit. EASY

About the easiest turning kit there is. Couple of comments: Kit calls for a 2"x2"x6" block of wood. NO ONE uses a screwdriver 2" in diameter, so you can get by easily with probably 1.5" or even 1.25", if you center it carefully. Kit instructions call for a 14mm Forstner bit. Aside from the fact that I don't even SEE a 14mm Forstner sold by Woodcraft, I think that's a mistake. I drilled the hole to 1/2" (12.7mm) to see if it would work. It's a bit smaller than the wings on the shaft of the screwdriver insert (see Woodcraft's photo). But I forced it into the wood a little (I was using Hickory), and pulled it out again. This left 4 grooves in the wood, spaced around the hole. I then used the grooves and a small V-gouge carving tool to make 4 channels down to the bottom of the hole. This allows the insert to be fairly easily pushed into the hole, and has the added benefit of giving more resistance to turning when you glue the insert in. Last, gluing in the insert calls for epoxy. I did a few things to make the bond stronger. 1. I roughed up the metal's surface with coarse sandpaper a bit. 2. Using a popsicle stick, I "wetted" the hole and the insert with a thin layer of epoxy. 3. Being a bit nervous about how brittle the epoxy might be, I mixed in some sawdust with the epoxy to thicken it, then smeared it on the metal insert before putting it into the hole. DO NOT overdo it, as you don't want the epoxy squeezing out of the hole and interfering with the mechanism.