What are these?

[lisafer]

Are these some type of drilling tools.  I have no idea.

[oldtoolguy]

They are gimlets.  Used to make a pilot (starter) hole for wood screws.

[jimwrench]

Not to be confused with giblets which are useless in making a starter hole.

[bill300d]

Not to be confused with giblets which are useless in making a starter hole.

but do make good gravy.

[oldtools]

Yep!! Very handy tool to have in your tool bag...

[PFSchaffner]

But while we're at it, and in honor of the fact that this set of gimlets represents a wide range of sizes, does anyone know anything about the sizing of gimlets? or about other differences between them? I see, for example, that the 1911 Hibbard Spencer and Bartlett catalogue lists 'excelsior point' gimlets, 'nail gimlets,' 'spike gimlets,' and 'double point gimlets'; and that it lists them in numeric sizes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Vajen & New (1884) doesn't list sizes, but does list 'nail' and 'spike' gimlets (alongside the extra-long bell-hangers' gimlets). The Sargent 1911 catalogue is similar (sizes 1-6).

Perhaps the clue is in the 1900 Hammacher Schlemmer and the 1902 White & Van Glahn catalogs, which don't list gimlets per se, but do list gimlet bits, and size them 1 through 12 in 32nds of an inch. So perhaps a size 3 gimlet = 3/32" rather the way a size 13 auger = 13/16"? That would be nice, but I doubt it is so simple, especially since gimlet bits tend to run from 1- to 12 32nds, but ordinary gimlets seem to run only size 1 through size 6.

[lisaferhmac]

Thanks guys,  now I have a go too place with questions about my growing tool collection

[PFSchaffner]

Trying to answer my own question again. My c1915 HSB catalog describes gimlet sizes 1, 2 and 3 (and also sizes 2, 3, and 4) simply as "small, medium, and large." The only catalog I have seen that actually assigns a diameter to the size numbers is the Illustrated catalogue and price list of supplies, tools, machinery, for all branches of the mechanical trades published by Montgomery & Co., 105 Fulton Street, New York City, c1885, which says that its no. 1 = 1/8", no. 2 = 7/32", no. 3 = 3/16" and no. 4 = 1/4". So, not a linear scale, and probably not a universal standard (after all, Hammacher Schlemmer advertises gimlets "from 1/16" and up," which would imply a size no. 0 by this scale). Pre-industrial gimlets could of course be any size the maker chose.

[Bill Houghton]

There was one traditional sizing for gimlets that used 32nds of an inch, yes.  Not sure if it was universal.

[Northwoods]

OK.  I'll do it if nobody else will:  http://cocktails.wikia.com/wiki/Vodka_Gimlet

[HeelSpur]

OK.  I'll do it if nobody else will:  http://cocktails.wikia.com/wiki/Vodka_Gimlet

I've had 1 or 12 of those in my days 

[Branson]

There was one traditional sizing for gimlets that used 32nds of an inch, yes.  Not sure if it was universal.

Gimlets have been around for many hundreds of years, so the first few centuries (say, the first 7 or 8) they
were whatever the blacksmith came up with.  So the longest tradition is that there is no sizing tradition
other than bigger and smaller.  They are one or more variations on the pod auger.

[Billman49]

I have seen this type sold as of European (German/Scandinavian) origin...