Use This Drill Trick To Quickly And Easily Wrap Your Loose Straps

If you own any straps, then you know what a pain they can be to store after you use them. It doesn't matter if they're ratcheting straps, cam buckle straps, furniture straps, or basic lashing straps, you've traditionally had two options when it comes time to pack them away: Arduously wind them up by hand, or bunch them together into a tangled nest that you'll later have to pick apart like holiday string lights. Luckily, the good folks on social media have found a better solution. It doesn't even require any special equipment. All you need is a drill.

One of the many reasons that the humble power drill is one of the most versatile tools in any collection, aside from the simple ease of the tool's rotary motor, is the adjustable chucks that come standard on most modern models. These tightening internal clamps can grab onto just about any surface that can fit inside the slot, making them a jack of all trades tool that can handle round drill bits, hexagonal driving bits, and a wide range of other extensions that don't have anything to do with drilling at all. It's this very feature that allowed the Instagram page tip_centric to share their new technique for winding straps.

This viral strap-winding technique is fairly straightforward. The video demonstrates a user installing two hex keys, also called Allen wrenches, into the drill with the long side going into the chuck and the two shorter sides facing away from each other to make a sort of T-shape.

These hex keys are the same type of L-shaped tools that you've likely had come in the box with every piece of Ikea furniture that you've ever purchased. A lot of people probably have at least a few of these littering their junk drawer, but you can easily pick up a sleeve that comes with a range of sizes at just about any hardware store. You just need to make sure that they're long enough to fit the straps and narrow enough that you can fit two of them inside the drill's chuck at the same time. This might present an issue if you're dealing with some of the thicker car recovery tow straps that you can get on Amazon.

Once they're installed, simply thread one end of the strap through the center of the two keys and then pull the trigger. As the drill rotates the two hex keys, it will wind the strap around their shafts until it is shaped into a tidy roll. You'll probably want to keep the drill on its lowest speed setting for safety reasons, however. It's also never a bad idea to secure the roll with a thick rubber band to keep it from unraveling once it's wound.

There are a lot of 'power tool hack' videos on the internet, and some of them are certainly more suspect than others. Home DIY enthusiasts have long since learned to take many of these videos with a grain of salt, and it's not hard to find them voicing their suspicions in the comment section when something about a trick seems unsafe or inefficient.

That doesn't appear to be the case here, however. In the two weeks since tip_centric shared this video, the post has already managed to accrue over 3.1 million views and over 38,000 likes. There was one commenter who expressed concern about the user getting friction burn from allowing the strap to slide between their fingers while the drill winds it, but the majority of people seemed to believe that the idea was simple, effective, and efficient. "And with that extra free time, we are going to the moon," said one, while others just voiced enthusiasm over the simple elegance of the idea.

It's essential to avoid taking any shortcuts and use the proper technique when setting up and using ratchet straps. You definitely don't want to take any chances when it comes to ensuring that heavy loads are effectively secured, but this appears to be a solid method for packing up the unwieldy nylon straps when you're done.