Bit Braces

[Larry Feltner]

I recently bought these braces. They work just fine. One is a 10" North Bros. Yankee 2101 Bell System brace. One is a 10" Craftsman. I can't find a model number, so I don't know what it is, or how old it is, or who made it for Craftsman. The other two are Millers Falls. I can't make out the model number though. One looks like one is a 12" and the other is between the two 10" braces and the 12". Did Millers Falls make an 11"? They all work very well. I also bought this egg beater drill. The whole set was $40. I thought it was a good price. My question is if I wanted to try and clean them up/restore them, how do you go about it? I have used Evaporust for saw blades, etc., but not sure how that product would work on these since I assume you wouldn't want to submerge them in the solution. Is it better to just leave them as they are or should I try and restore them to some degree. I'm not planning on selling them, although I might sell a couple of them. I'm more interested in finding some bits and using them.

[Jim Koepke]

Mine all seem to work well without the bother of rust stripping.

jtk

[Archie England]

I've cleaned mine up to some degree by using sand flex pads. These do a good job of removing heavy to moderate rust quickly but do not ever seem to achieve that desired shiny surface. YMMV.

[Chris Hachet]

I find that a little bit of cleaning and oiling and then put it back to work....is the best policy.

Personally I like old tools that look old, myself!

[Adrian Ponik]

This series of articles from Lumberjocks is probably more info than you'll ever want/need:

http://lumberjocks.com/Brit/blog/24957 (http://lumberjocks.com/Brit/blog/24957)


Personally I've had good luck just using a gray scotch-brite pad dampened with some mineral spirits. I know the North Bros is plated, so you'll have to be a little bit gentle, but other than that the metalwork cleans up pretty quickly and easily using a gray pad and some mineral spirits. Good luck!

[Jacob Nothstine]

I would test them out first before cleaning, then clean the one that works best for you. I was happy with the brace I had then pick up a Millers Falls at a garage sale for $5.00 and it worked a lot better then the one I had. Not all braces are the same.

Here is a great page for brace history.
http://www.sydnassloot.com/brace.htm#index

[Jim Matthews]

If you're just trying to clean them, how would a scotch brite abrasive pad with a little polishing compound do?

My favorite brace has a ball bearing race under the rotating top knob.
A couple drops of machine oil keeps that smooth.

Don't short change the egg beater - they're really handy.
I use mine to pre-drill for brads near the edge of boards.