Someone went to a lot of trouble...

[Stephen Shepherd]

to make this 3/8" twist drill bit, just two inches longer. It has been heated up in a forge, the tang drawn out and forge welded onto another square tapered tang (marked 7) from a broken bit.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii105/shepherd1857/justalittleshort.jpg

Stephen

[Ray Sheley]

A lot of trouble for most of us but maybe a neat solution with tools on hand for a particular problem. Some folks are pretty resourceful.
How straight is it?

[Stephen Shepherd]

Ray,

I can just see that woodworker going into the blacksmith with his favorite 3/8" drill bit and a broken shaft from another and saying 'this is my favorite bit if it were only 2 inches longer!' I have a couple of other bits this was done to, but the entire shaft and tang were added to add several inches to the bits, but this one is unusual.

Yes it is straight and doesn't wobble in the brace, the smith did a good job.

Stephen

[John Schreiber]

It sure makes me think of what it was like back in a time when you couldn't order whatever you wanted from McMaster Carr.

[Alan DuBoff]

to make this 3/8" twist drill bit, just two inches longer. It has been heated up in a forge, the tang drawn out and forge welded onto another square tapered tang (marked 7) from a broken bit.Maybe that's not what really happened?

Not uncommon for farm equipment and/or tools to be hand forged, and it seems highly likely that a tang would have been adapted to use in a brace. But there's a lot of strange old tools and equipment around farms...could have been in a post drill, that didn't use a tang, and adapted to be used with one...or could have been broken and repaired, etc...probably has an interesting history if it could talk...seems that a long auger like that would be useful for a lot of stuff, I'm sure they didn't want to toss it given how scarce tools were...

Given the size, it would appear to be used for furniture, opposed to home construction. How old do you think it is? What do you think the bit was used for?

It's interesting as it looks like a crude farm type repair, but the bit seems like something that would be more useful to a woodworker and/or cabinet maker. Maybe a woodworker doing the forge weld repair would render these results?

[Jim Koepke]

There are many types of Auger bits. Most Auger bits are about 15 thousandths over size.
Some are exact size for dowelling.

jtk

[Stephen Shepherd]

The drill bit is a fairly early Russel Jennings (serifs on the stamping) 3/8" twist bit The RJ is full length, the shoulders from the shaft to the tang are just visible, the tang was drawn out and welded to a broken(?) 7/16" auger. It is stamped 7 on the welded on tang.

The work was done by someone who knew what they were doing as the shaft and addition are perfectly straight after the forge weld. It is the way you can tell new forged work to the old stuff, the old stuff is always straight and balanced. But that is another issue.

Stephen

[Bruce Page]

It sure makes me think of what it was like back in a time when you couldn't order whatever you wanted from McMaster Carr.
A hundred years from now everyone will have a “Molecular Transporter” on their workbench. They’ll just click on the item they need and presto!:cool:

[John Schreiber]

A hundred years from now everyone will have a “Molecular Transporter” on their workbench. They’ll just click on the item they need and presto!:cool:
Or will the "Molecular Transporter" be the workbench?

[Alan Schwabacher]

A hundred years from now everyone will have a “Molecular Transporter” on their workbench. They’ll just click on the item they need and presto!:cool:

A matter compiler ought to do it. See Neal Stephenson's "The Diamond Age".