Auger Bit Lead Screw

[Brad Woods]

I just picked up some auger bits and the 4/16 bit is pretty messed up. The lead screw is mostly gone. I can figure out how to fix the spurs and sharpen the rest, but is there anyway to fix the lead screw? Thanks

Brad

[Bill Houghton]

I don't know of any. What type of auger bit - Jennings or solid center - and how coarse a lead screw in the set (there are three different "pitches," but coarse and fine are most common, with fine being most often found with Jennings and coarse with solid center, at least in my experience).

[harry strasil]

if you can see any of the lead screw ridges, just use a thin saw sharpening file to file them deeper.

You always sharpen an auger bit by filing the top side of the cutting edge and only the inside of the spurs.

[Brad Woods]

Thanks to Bill & to Harry. These are Craftsman bits, made by the C E Jennings company, not the Jennings that Stanley bought and that lends its name to the Jennings pattern. They are solid center bits with a resonabley fine thread on the lead screw. They cut equally well in both hard and soft woods which is quite amazing. I did find a company that will repair industrial bits. I'll have to see what they can do with these. Thanks for the help.

Brad

[James Mittlefehldt]

Happy new year Harry wondered where you have been, as I have not seen your face hereabouts for some time.

I hope you are well and your back is not troubling you, happy new year.

[Rick Whitehead]

There are instructions for sharpening the lead screws on the Cornish Workshop website:http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/bracecleaning.html.
You might try filing the threads first, as Harry suggested.
I tried this and it works!
Rick

[Brad Woods]

My problem is that there are almost no lead screw threads left. I talked to company in Florida that repairs bits. They said that if the bit has a shaft of 1/8" or greater, they can replace the lead screw. They machine off the old one and then bore a hole and braze in a new one. I'm not sure that this bit has a shank of 1/8", but if it does it is $10 to replace the screw. These are supposed to be great bits, so I'm tempted to do it, but I only paid $25 including shipping for the whole set of 13. Decisions, decisions, ...

Brad

[Rick Whitehead]

If I were you, I'd just try to find a replacement bit. There are thousands of old auger bits around, and you can buy a whole lot of them for the $10.00 it would cost to have yours repaired.
By the way, what is the name of the company that repairs bits?
Rick

[Brad Woods]

The company is B&A manufacturing company (http://www.bamanufacturing.com/index.html).

Brad