Brace bits ?

RedVise · July 24, 2014, 08:30:41 PM

These came out of a machinist chest, but look like brace bits, yes ?
So, what use ? I think I see 2 chamfer bits, reamer, forstner , screwdriver, but the ones on the left? Shallow reamers ?
Looks like some might be user modified also ?

Thanks
Brian

EVILDR235 · July 24, 2014, 09:15:21 PM

Maybe tools for working on wooden spoke wagon and car wheels ?
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OilyRascal · July 25, 2014, 04:56:06 AM

I had found some nearly the same during cleanup of the shop. Given the history there, I was inclined to believe they were reamers.

john k · July 25, 2014, 06:57:54 AM

They look to be shallow reamers fore removing or reducing the top thread of a new threaded hole. On a precision piece, sometimes the top thread was removed so there was little likelihood of it pulling up and ruining the fit of two pieces bolted together. Got this from an old machinist years ago.

Chillylulu · July 25, 2014, 07:00:15 AM

Yes, that is a good practice, one of the ways to differentiate the amateurs from the pros.

Chilly

Lewill2 · July 25, 2014, 07:04:09 AM

I have seen the 3 on the left used for reaming, cleaning the burr on the ID of a pipe cut. The next 3 appear to be counter sink bits. The one at the bottom, long one looks like a forstner bit.

Bill Houghton · July 25, 2014, 09:12:03 AM

Quote from: Lewill2 on July 25, 2014, 07:04:09 AM
I have seen the 3 on the left used for reaming, cleaning the burr on the ID of a pipe cut.

Yep. Braces were used in far more trades than just woodworking, particularly before WWII.

The screwdriver bit on the right would be used on what the hand woodworking tool guys are calling a split nut, such as you find on older (woodworking) saw handles: a round nut with a screwdriver slot in it.

There are some new bits to me in that group, especially the one on top. I guess that's a hole saw, but the end that would fit into the driving tool is all wrong for a standard brace - at least, I don't think it would fit in brace jaws designed for a tapered square. Maybe there was a specialized driving handle for it.

The third and fourth from the right have me puzzled, too; maybe a close up would clarify their function.

It's possible to get sucked into, um, gathering all kinds of brace bits for different trades.

RedVise · July 25, 2014, 09:20:55 AM

"Braces were used in far more trades than just woodworking, particularly before WWII"

Really ! Just didn't think of a machinist work on steel with a brace, tough job !

Better pics tonite. Thanks

Brian

Bill Houghton · July 25, 2014, 02:08:35 PM

I have picked up several* carbon steel twist bits over the years that would have been used for drilling metal. No doubt not an easy task, but the torque a brace offers would have its benefits. I suspect this would have been an apprentice job: "Just lean hard on the tool and keep turning, lad. I'll be back to let you know when it's time for lunch."

Interestingly, though, I also have a breast drill with a two-jaw chuck for tapered shanks. This makes a lot of sense, since it's hard to get the a hand-tightened three-jaw chuck tight enough on large bits, at least for me; they invariably spin in the chuck when the going gets heavy. So it's possible these bits could have been used in a breast drill rather than a brace. But, given that I've seen just one breast drill with brace-type jaws - and that one a late Stanley (based on the color), I think a lot of braces got used to grunt holes through iron and steel.

*Well...Dictionary.com defines "several" as "more than two but fewer than many." So it's possible, just barely possible, that I'm understating how many I have.

RedVise · July 25, 2014, 07:56:20 PM

Here's a close up of the modified bits.
Looks like reamers are from Wiley & Russell and Wells Brothers, both in Greenfield Mass.

Brian

leg17 · July 25, 2014, 09:13:59 PM

Pipe Reamers

Bill Houghton · July 25, 2014, 11:06:50 PM

In your close up, the rightmost two are somewhat worn countersink bits; the center two, I think, specialized screwdriver bits. The leftmost two are a puzzle to me.

Branson · July 26, 2014, 08:02:38 AM

The two on the left are counter bores for sinking the area around a previously drilled hole. Think of saw nuts, as an example. The top one in the first photo is probably another of these rather than a hole saw. The third from the left is a driver for split nuts -- like those on pre 1875 American saws (the English saw makers used split nuts until much later.) The fourth from the left also counter bores, but before the center hole is drilled. This one looks to have been "refreshed" or modified for the purpose, but this style was also commercially made. The two on the right are in fact chamfer bits for setting screw heads at or slightly below the surface (wood worker tools).

leg17 · July 26, 2014, 09:37:08 AM

Quote from: RedVise on July 25, 2014, 09:20:55 AM
"Braces were used in far more trades than just woodworking, particularly before WWII"
Really ! Just didn't think of a machinist work on steel with a brace, tough job !
Brian

Some of us in the tool room even today use speeder wrenches with a countersink mounted in a modified socket for hole chamfering "on the fly".

Ya do whatcha gotta do.

john k · July 26, 2014, 04:58:32 PM

Brace drills were the only option until breast drills came about, except for a few exceptions. Besides speed is not needed to drill holes in iron, pressure and a sharp bit are what is needed. Muscle power was the motive force for about everything, portable that is, before 1900. Imagine drilling holes by hand, or having the choice of doing it with a drill press running off a belt on a line shaft. I have a good set of metal drilling bits with tapered square shank. We forget too that before 1900, drilling in iron was more common than drilling in steel, iron is much softer.

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Brace bits ?