The UK's bestHand Drills 2022 Review

This Schroeder hand drill is made in the traditional “egg beater” style, with a three-jaw chuck that is perfect for small drill bits when accuracy and precision is needed. Made in Germany, the all-steel assembly and wooden handle are well-made, as you would expect, and feel like they will last a lifetime.

As a lightweight and almost silent tool, we think the Schroeder hand drill is the best manual hand drill in the traditional configuration. The chuck has excellent knurling on it, which made fitting new drill bits easy and allowed for effective tightening down.

If you are on the lookout for the best carpenters brace, you can’t go wrong with the Faithfull CB10. This capable bit and brace setup can bridge the gap between the precision of the best hand drill and the power of a modern electric drill.

The 12-point reversible ratchet means that you can turn the handle in one direction without turning the drill bit. We really like the ratchet function because it can make drilling holes when access is tight pretty easy, and with a smaller profile than a heavy electric drill.

The four-jaw chuck on the hand brace drill is optimised for round bits up to 13 mm, and can be used with augur and flat bits as well. It’s a solidly built bit and brace for fine carpentry work when control is needed more than raw power.

The aluminium hand drill set we tested from HYCKee was an excellent example of a manual twist drill with a range of accessories to help the keen hobbyist or model maker. The keyless chuck makes it easy to tighten down on the smallest drill bits we had, even down to 0.5 mm.

The fully aluminium drill body was sturdy but light enough to throw into any small tool kit and made one handed drilling a breeze with a little practise. One feature that made us think this is the best manual hand drill for electronics projects was the free-spinning swivel top, allowing us to keep pressure on the drill bit while turning.

The accessory kit was another big bonus. The small pin vice was perfect for holding small materials, and could be screwed down for extra stability. The included bits were sharp and the needle files will come in useful as well. This is a comprehensive hand drill set for any model maker.

Fiskars are known around the world for making some of the best hand tools available, and the Fiskars manual rotary hand drill is no exception. Its light weight doesn’t mean it’s not powerful enough to drill through wood, plastic and even thin metals.

The Fiskars hand drill has a clever pistol grip handle that makes it the best hand drill for accuracy, and you can comfortably hold it steady while drilling, which is an essential feature of a hobby tool like this.

The enclosed gears mean that they won’t get gummed up with sawdust, and the handle can be folded away for easy storage, making it one of the best small hand drills on the market. The included drill bits meant it was ready for action straight away.