Jim Koepke
07-13-2010, 12:09 AM
No, I do not mean my suspenders! :o
Was PMing with another Neander about braces and he mentioned his had a bit of a wobble when drilling.
So, remembering a few old braces of mine that are no longer seeing use I was going to offer them up for a trip via the postal service.
Well, they are probably going to stay in the shop junk for the big yard sale pile.
Gave them a check out and low and behold, they really are kind of junky. One is only marked BAKER. When drilling a hole if the lead of the bit is held straight, the shaft of the bit at the chuck can be seen to travel in a small circle. The jaws of the chuck do not close down all the way like my Stanley chucks do. Also a close look at the jaws reveals that one jaw is much heavier than the other. One jaw has a pin at the base that fits through an elongated hole in the other jaw. There is not a spring to open the jaws when the chuck is loosened. Probably was a lot cheaper to make that way.
The other brace has a decal with the name Dunlap still pretty much intact on the wooden sweep handle. It does have spring jaws, but they are straight sided and do not grip very well on the tang of the bit. This allows the bit to slip back and forth while drilling a hole. Maybe they were thinking of a ram hammer effect for getting a bit out of a hole if it got stuck? These jaws also do not hold the bit centered in the chuck which translates into a wobble.
A third brace that was tried is marked Samson. It has a 12" sweep and was a rust hunt gloat. Since I was trying all my braces, this one was tried and found to have a little wobble also. When it was later disassembled, it was found that the jaws were of different design and size, but turning them around in the shell corrected the wobble. The part that slides in the shell is flat and filing was a consideration, but it looks like the manufacturing took care of the difference. Most likely the wobble was caused by someone taking it apart in the past and changing the orientation of the jaws in the shell.
All of my other braces are Stanley except on that is a Millers Falls. None of them displayed any wobble. From the oldest to the newest model, they all seem to hold the bits securely.
Anyone else notice wobble problems or find other causes for concern on finding old braces for the shop?
jim
Was PMing with another Neander about braces and he mentioned his had a bit of a wobble when drilling.
So, remembering a few old braces of mine that are no longer seeing use I was going to offer them up for a trip via the postal service.
Well, they are probably going to stay in the shop junk for the big yard sale pile.
Gave them a check out and low and behold, they really are kind of junky. One is only marked BAKER. When drilling a hole if the lead of the bit is held straight, the shaft of the bit at the chuck can be seen to travel in a small circle. The jaws of the chuck do not close down all the way like my Stanley chucks do. Also a close look at the jaws reveals that one jaw is much heavier than the other. One jaw has a pin at the base that fits through an elongated hole in the other jaw. There is not a spring to open the jaws when the chuck is loosened. Probably was a lot cheaper to make that way.
The other brace has a decal with the name Dunlap still pretty much intact on the wooden sweep handle. It does have spring jaws, but they are straight sided and do not grip very well on the tang of the bit. This allows the bit to slip back and forth while drilling a hole. Maybe they were thinking of a ram hammer effect for getting a bit out of a hole if it got stuck? These jaws also do not hold the bit centered in the chuck which translates into a wobble.
A third brace that was tried is marked Samson. It has a 12" sweep and was a rust hunt gloat. Since I was trying all my braces, this one was tried and found to have a little wobble also. When it was later disassembled, it was found that the jaws were of different design and size, but turning them around in the shell corrected the wobble. The part that slides in the shell is flat and filing was a consideration, but it looks like the manufacturing took care of the difference. Most likely the wobble was caused by someone taking it apart in the past and changing the orientation of the jaws in the shell.
All of my other braces are Stanley except on that is a Millers Falls. None of them displayed any wobble. From the oldest to the newest model, they all seem to hold the bits securely.
Anyone else notice wobble problems or find other causes for concern on finding old braces for the shop?
jim