Brand Newbie

[Jeremy Hicks]

Hello all,

I’m brand new at this and found that hand tools are incredibly relaxing for me. I built this workbench over the course of the last year with (almost) all hand tools. It’s made of doug fir and pine as that’s what I could afford. There are a lot of mistakes but it’s flat(ish) and sturdy, so I’m happy with it for now as I learn. The other picture is the vise I’m working on installing right now. Thanks for all of the great information that I’ve used over the last year plus.

Jeremy396947396948

[Jim Koepke]

Nice bench Jeremy, welcome to the Creek.

jtk

[Joe A Faulkner]

Congratulations on the bench. Are the stretchers joined via half-laps with pegs? Looks massive. Are you planing for dog holes?

[Phil Mueller]

Nice work, Jeremy. Great looking bench. There’s a Paul Sellers YouTube video on how he installs a front vise like the one you have...just in case you’re looking for some options. Enjoy the bench!

[James Pallas]

Nice work. Time to put it to work and use what you learned making it.
Jim

[Jeremy Hicks]

Thank you everyone. I definitely learned a lot during this project. Those are half-lapped but I didn’t peg them. Maybe I should. They’re just glued. I will be drilling dog holes soon and following Paul Sellers’ example for the vise. I really like his videos.

It has been really hard to find square tapered bits for my brace. The ones I seem to find have the brad point pretty well trashed. I’m thinking of getting an attachment so I can use more modern brad point bits.

Jeremy

[Dave Parkis]

Where are you located? Auger bits for your brace should be really easy to find. I have tons.

[Jim Koepke]

What brace do you have. Many of them were made to accept standard twist drills. My first employment outside of the family business was with the phone company. We had 'bell hanger' bits. They were like regular drill bits, except they were 18" long. They have a small hole in the flutes about 2" from the point. The hole made it so a wire could be easily pulled through a wall after drilling a hole.

If there are no yard sales or junk stores in your area you may have to purchase bits online.

Learn a bit about auger bits to help understand what you want to be looking for when buying from auction sites or online sellers.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?131238

This doesn't have all to look for, another would be the underside of the cutting edges. The underside of the cutting edges should not be filed.

At first my inclination was to buy what ever was inexpensive. This made for a few duplicates and quite a few bits that are extras needing to be cleaned and sharpened.

Now it is a struggle for me to walk past any decent auger bits if they are in good shape and priced low.

jtk

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Wow, that's quite a nice bench for a "Brand-Newbie"!!!! I think many skilled folks would be proud of that. Well done. Welcome to the creek.

[Jeremy Hicks]

Where are you located? Auger bits for your brace should be really easy to find. I have tons.


I am in Central Pennsylvania. I seem to keep finding rounded over points on the bits I’m finding.

[Jeremy Hicks]

Wow, that's quite a nice bench for a "Brand-Newbie"!!!! I think many skilled folks would be proud of that. Well done. Welcome to the creek.


Thank you, you’re too kind. I made sure the phone picture didn’t capture all of the not so good spots. But I am very happy with it and it certainly showed me that even with mistakes you can come out with a good product to be happy with. Can’t wait to get the vise on it and holes drilled and get some real projects going.

Jeremy

[Jeremy Hicks]

What brace do you have. Many of them were made to accept standard twist drills. My first employment outside of the family business was with the phone company. We had 'bell hanger' bits. They were like regular drill bits, except they were 18" long. They have a small hole in the flutes about 2" from the point. The hole made it so a wire could be easily pulled through a wall after drilling a hole.

If there are no yard sales or junk stores in your area you may have to purchase bits online.

Learn a bit about auger bits to help understand what you want to be looking for when buying from auction sites or online sellers.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?131238

This doesn't have all to look for, another would be the underside of the cutting edges. The underside of the cutting edges should not be filed.

At first my inclination was to buy what ever was inexpensive. This made for a few duplicates and quite a few bits that are extras needing to be cleaned and sharpened.

Now it is a struggle for me to walk past any decent auger bits if they are in good shape and priced low.

jtk

Thanks for all of the information. I have the two piece chuck that is to take square tapered bits I think. I’ll try to get a picture of both of them later when I get home.

JH

[Jim Koepke]

If you can find a maker's mark and a number that would help. A lot of the two piece chucks were made to be able to use round bits as well as bits with an auger tang.

Maybe a picture of the brace and the jaws removed would help someone identify the brace if you can't find any information on the brace itself.

jtk

[ken hatch]

Jeremy,

Be careful out there. Building benches is addictive and before you know what happened benches will be like rabbits in your shop :D.

Looks like a nice bench for your first go at it. Build some things on it, in a year or so you may find things that drive you to barking at the moon. When that happens build another to fix or change the problems. After a couple or three cycles you could end up with the perfect bench for your work.

Good luck, it is a great journey.

ken

[Jeremy Hicks]

I am in Central Pennsylvania. I seem to keep finding rounded over points on the bits I’m finding.


If you can find a maker's mark and a number that would help. A lot of the two piece chucks were made to be able to use round bits as well as bits with an auger tang.

Maybe a picture of the brace and the jaws removed would help someone identify the brace if you can't find any information on the brace itself.

jtk


Looks like it’s a Stanley No.965 - 10 inch. (Not sure why my pictures are always sideways but you get the idea.


397021

[Jim Koepke]

The #965 has type J or regular jaws, no spring, according to a Stanley catalog and the John Walter book. Only meant for tanged bits.

There are a lot of different boring devices made for this kind of driver. Braces and auger bits are all over the junk and antique shops.

Habitat for Humanity has stores you may want to try them.

Some of my best finds have come from talking to people in antique and second hand stores.

If you do not have the free time for rust hunting in the wild, you might consider purchasing groups of bits on ebay. Buy a bunch cheap and you can end up with a good set and some to use on wood that might have nails inside.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

I seem to keep finding rounded over points on the bits I’m finding.

This makes me curios. Do you have any of these? Could you post an image?

One of my odd bits is actually made without a lead screw.

jtk