Bits for Old Hand Drill

[Curtis Hinckley]

Hello all,

First-time post. I've been reading a bit here as I assemble a shop of old hand tools (just getting into woodworking) and this forum has been most helpful. Thanks!

I recently bought an old Millers Falls hand drill and now I need a set of bits for it. For some reason, I'm having trouble honing in on the search term that will yield the best results on eBay. I've tried a number of variants of "twist drill", "drill bit", and the like, but the kinds of bits that come up have been all over the place. On the other hand, when I was shopping for auger bits for a brace, searching for "auger bit set" gave me exactly what I needed.

Also, what antique/vintage manufacturers should I look out for? Are there any current manufacturers of high quality?

Thank you.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

If you're looking for standard round shank bits for an eggbeater type drill, the brad point bits from lee valley (http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=42247&cat=1,180,42240) are the cats meow. Their twist bits are nice too, but I prefer brad point for wood working.

[Mike Siemsen]

Either twist bits or brad point twist bits would work fine and are available at any hardware store or home center. You prably want sizes from 1/8th to 1/4". For small holes in wood use a nail or brad with the head cut off for a bit.

[Archie England]

Welcome!

Perhaps if you could post a picture of your drill, we would have a better chance of recommending bits...

thanks,

Arch

[David White II]

Are you thinking of the untwisted double fluted kind? I don't know if they have any advantage over twisty ones, but a search for "drill point" turns up several sets like this. Right now, a search for '"drill point" egg beaters' has a picture of what I'm thinking of.

[Jim Koepke]

Curtis,

Welcome to the Creek. Your profile does not indicate your location.

If you live in my area I will be glad to spend some one on one time and even introduce you to my favorite used tool sites in town. There are also a few in Portland, OR.

If you have one of the common of the Millers Falls egg beater style drills, you may have some bits inside the handle. The top unscrews. If you have a spiral hand drill like a Yankee push drill, then all bets are off.

For my drills I have acquired a couple old metal drill indexes, size 1 - 60. Extra bits have been acquired when found and the sizes used for screw pilot holes are stored inside the handle. My Millers Falls #2 can use any of those bits and a few bigger.

jtk

[Bill Houghton]

Are you thinking of the untwisted double fluted kind? I don't know if they have any advantage over twisty ones, but a search for "drill point" turns up several sets like this. Right now, a search for '"drill point" egg beaters' has a picture of what I'm thinking of.

Drill points, which have no twist, don't pull into the wood like a twist bit, and are less frustrating in the larger sizes (twist bits develop more resistance as they go through the wood, and can spin in the hand-tightened chuck of an eggbeater drill); however, I've never found them except in limited sizes and fairly short lengths.

I've been thinking about experimenting with the bits with hex shanks, to avoid the spinning-in-the-chuck problem; an example of this style: http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=66394&cat=1,180,42240

[Mike Holbrook]

I think what Archie was saying is the right direction. There is quite a range of hand drills, many of them are just not designed to work with larger bits, certainly 1/4" or less. These drills also have quite a variety of chucks that vary a great deal in what kind of bits they work with. There are adapters available for many of these drills that may increase the range of more modern bits your drill can use. Lee Valley and Highland Woodworking, for instance, offer several different types of adapters that allow one to use hex bits, for egg beater and push drills, which may increase the versatility of your hand drill.

My North Bros 1545 or Millers Falls 980 egg beaters can use bits that would cause my little Stanley 610 or a Millers Falls #5 to wet themselves.

The point being that depending on the specific type/size/chuck/adapters you have there are probably modern bits available, even at the local Borg that you can use. Unlike braces which love the older auger style bits I think you will find most people use smaller modern bits in their egg beater & push drills.

[Curtis Hinckley]

It's a Millers Falls No. 3:

221449

The specs are here (http://oldtoolheaven.com/hand_drills/drill2.htm). It's the pre-1925, springless chuck version.


Welcome!

Perhaps if you could post a picture of your drill, we would have a better chance of recommending bits...

thanks,

Arch

[Curtis Hinckley]

Hi Jim. As a matter of fact, I'm right up here in Tacoma. Funny. How'd you know?

Yes, the top does unscrew, but alas, no bits. My drill is a Millers Falls No. 3.


Curtis,

Welcome to the Creek. Your profile does not indicate your location.

If you live in my area I will be glad to spend some one on one time and even introduce you to my favorite used tool sites in town. There are also a few in Portland, OR.

If you have one of the common of the Millers Falls egg beater style drills, you may have some bits inside the handle. The top unscrews. If you have a spiral hand drill like a Yankee push drill, then all bets are off.

For my drills I have acquired a couple old metal drill indexes, size 1 - 60. Extra bits have been acquired when found and the sizes used for screw pilot holes are stored inside the handle. My Millers Falls #2 can use any of those bits and a few bigger.

jtk

[Curtis Hinckley]

I've been using Aldren Watson's Hand Tools as my tool shopping guide and he calls the bits "twist drills", which yields mostly items that aren't what I'm looking for, particularly in the Collectibles category on eBay.


Are you thinking of the untwisted double fluted kind? I don't know if they have any advantage over twisty ones, but a search for "drill point" turns up several sets like this. Right now, a search for '"drill point" egg beaters' has a picture of what I'm thinking of.

[Curtis Hinckley]

Yeah, those look nice. They're what I need and affordable. However, my first choice, if feasible, would be an antique/vintage set, if for no other reason than to maintain consistency with the tool collection that I'm assembling. From my research, it appeared that the consensus was that old auger bits are of higher quality than new ones and that a few brands (Irwin, Jennings, Swan) stood out. As I said, sorting through this on eBay was straightforward. I'd like a similar experience with the hand drill bits, but that has been elusive thus far.


If you're looking for standard round shank bits for an eggbeater type drill, the brad point bits from lee valley (http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=42247&cat=1,180,42240) are the cats meow. Their twist bits are nice too, but I prefer brad point for wood working.