Brace & Bit - Which model?

[Jacob Reverb]

Hello, all,

I would like to get a brace and bit for driving screws, hogging out mortises, etc., and would prefer to buy something used, maybe off ebay, but now I see there are about a zillion models and types.

Can anyone advise me on what I want and what I should avoid? I've never owned a B&B and have only used one once or twice when I was a kid, so I'm coming in on this cold.

Thanks for any tips.

Jacob

[Casey Gooding]

Chris Schwarz says the Yankee 2101 is the best brace ever made. I tend to agree. You can find it under the names Yankee, Bell Systems, Stanley and a few more I believe. If you can find them, get 8" 10" and 12" sweeps. They can go for a mint, but if you keep your eyes open, you can find them for under $20 that need some cleanup.
As far as bits. Find some made of good steel without damage. Jennings and Irwin are two brands that can be found in abundance on the bay.

[Wallis Hampson]

My vote goes to the Stanley 2101a. (Mine says Bell Systems as some were made for the phone co) and i also think sometimes they'll say North Bros. 10'' swing for me is good. I'd probably prefer an 8'' for smaller jobs. Jennings bits are good but normally pricey on the Bay with collectors bidding as well. Good Luck.

[Keith Outten]

I don't have much to say about older tools but I can offer this suggestion concerning a new brace. Garrett Wade has a very nice 9" brace that has a 1/2" square drive for $43.90. This is a great feature as you can use it with square drive sockets. They also sell a second 3 jaw chuck as an option for $10.30 which is really nice to own, even if you just use it occasionally with a socket wrench. I recently purchased the whole set which included both the 3 and 4 jaw chucks plus a set of socket based drivers for both phillips and standard screws and everything is 1/2" square drive.

Something different to consider.

.

[Bill Houghton]

I've heard several different opinions on the best brace, but I'm not sure you need the best brace to make holes.

There are LOTS of braces out there in the wild; I've rarely paid more than a couple of dollars for them, including some really lustworthy ones.

I wouldn't buy on eBay - you want to hold it in your hand. If your neighborhood has garage sales, you should be able to find a brace in a weekend or so. Make sure the parts work without excessive wobble, and that the ratchet works. Look for ball bearings under the knob. Look at the chuck jaws and pick out a brace on which they're in good shape (though I used for years a brace on which the jaws were as worn as an old man's teeth, and it was fine), and make sure the chuck opens and closes smoothly, and that the jaws work OK.

If the brace is worn out, you have something on the other end of the range from "best," and you'll be really frustrated in using it.

Bits: there are two major types normally to be found, solid center and Jennings, which are a flat piece of steel twisted into a helix. Solid center tend to be carpentry (softwood) bits, Jennings optimized for hardwood, but for smaller bits, up to 1/2" or so, it may not matter. Sharpness is more important, for which you want an auger bit file. See most sharpening chapters in older woodworking books, and even some current ones, for the sharpening, which is pretty obvious once you've read how.

[Johnny Kleso]

As others said the Stanley 2101 and Stanley> Russel/Jennings bits are better than the Irwins

[Wiley Horne]

in regard to braces, here are a couple of thoughts....

1. Drilling holes vs. driving screws. I especially like braces for driving screws. The key reason I like the Yankee braces (2101 and 2100, North Bros. or Stanley), is the light ratchet action. First off, I like the ratchet because once I get the bit engaged with the screw, I don't want to have to turn through 360 degrees and try to maintain good contact. Probably use about 1/4 to 1/3 of the brace's total sweep. The light ratchet action helps if you are in a location where you _have_ to ratchet--such as under your bench trying to fit a vise, or you're under the house up against a floor joist. The light ratchet means that if you can get a quarter turn on a screw, the ratchet action itself won't back the screw out on you. It's kinda hard to appreciate this unless you've been there.

2. Bit shanks. Back in the day, everything was mainly tapered square shank--drills, drivers, reamers, what have you--and many of the vintage braces will only get a good grip on square tapered shanks. But you may want to use your brace with hex shanks and round shanks, in addition to square tapered. Universal chucks will allow this. Some of the braces that have this feature and will accept virtually any shank are: Yankee 2101 and 2100; Stanley 923 and 813 (there may be other Stanleys which will work also, I'm not certain); Millers Falls 730 series and 770 series (Lion chucks); as well as the Pexto's and PS&W's with the Samson chuck (it'll have 'Samson' written on the chuck).

Wiley

[Bill Houghton]

[with some editing] Russell Jennings bits are better than the Irwins

They're different: Jennings bits tend to have a fine thread on the lead screw, which makes for slower going, but better ability to cut hardwood without the pressure of the cut stripping out the thread. Irwin bits (aka solid center) tend to have coarse thread, faster in softwood but sometimes strip out in hardwood. By "strip out," I mean the center screw breaks out of the wood. You want that center screw pulling the bit through the wood.

[Jim Koepke]

They're different: Jennings bits tend to have a fine thread on the lead screw, which makes for slower going, but better ability to cut hardwood without the pressure of the cut stripping out the thread. Irwin bits (aka solid center) tend to have coarse thread, faster in softwood but sometimes strip out in hardwood. By "strip out," I mean the center screw breaks out of the wood. You want that center screw pulling the bit through the wood.

Irwin actually made a lot of different auger bits. I suspect other makers did the same.

If my recolector is working, the lead screws had three different pitches, fine, fast and ultra fast for rough work.

In the used market, we find what was the most popular models sold years ago.

There are also regular sized bits that are the most common. If you put a caliper on these, you will find they are about .015 inch over the indicated size. Then there are dowelling bits. These will be right on the marked size so a dowel will be tight in the bored hole. These are a bit uncommon and some of the sets sold in the "old" days only had 4 or 5 sizes included. They were usually from 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

I have bought the files from Lie-Nielsen, but I think they are also available from Lee Valley.

I would advise getting one or two of these. Even a new bit may need sharpening.

Go to Google and search on "how to sharpen an auger bit" without the quotes and you will find the information needed.

One last note, for the larger bits, it is a good idea to drill a pilot hole for the lead screw. Otherwise, the screw may split the wood before the spurs even start to cut.

jim

[Larry Williams]

For boring big holes, there are a lot of different braces out there that are good. I don't do much of that and can't say I've got experience to say which would be the best brace.

Boring small holes and driving screws call for something different. You want a brace that gives you feed-back. One without a lot of unnecessary mass to get in the way of what you can feel. I think a Fray brace with a Spofford chuck is the best brace ever made for small holes and screws.

The one in the photo is a 7" brace which I think is the shortest throw Fray made in this brace. It's hands-down the best brace I've ever used.

[Jacob Reverb]

I love it when you ask a question on an Internet forum and get WAY more than you could have ever hoped for.

This is one of those times.

Thank you all very much. I have some reading and research to do now.

Jacob

[Bill Houghton]

The one in the photo is a 7" brace which I think is the shortest throw Fray made in this brace.

Here we've been, discussing braces, and haven't talked about the tradeoffs of different brace swings, or throws as Larry calls them (same thing, regional or even personal preferences as best I understand the terminology). How can we confuse Jacob properly if we don't toss [I carefully did not say "throw"] every possible nuance into the conversation?

The throw or swing is generally measured as twice the distance from the centerline of the chuck to the centerline of the crank handle. So, Larry's 7" brace should measure 3-1/2" over that distance, if he's using the same conventions I do. From the photo, that looks about right.

Larger swings allow you to bore larger holes, because they let you apply more torque; they're also slower, because humans tend to have an optimum speed at which we do that sort of motion, and can be hard to use if you're boring in a tight space. This last is less critical for shop woodworking than it is for carpentry, and I suspect precious few holes get bored in carpentry work these days with a brace (including by me: [parental advisory: power tool reference] it's hard to beat a battery-powered cordless drill when you're standing on a ladder or lying on the dirt in the crawl space running plumbing or electrical lines). Braces with large swings, by which I mean 12" or 14" can also be awkward when working with smaller bits - like using a sledgehammer to drive a brad.

The opposite is true for small swings: faster, and smaller holes are possible, but larger ones harder. A small swing is usually enough for driving screws, one of the marvelous uses for braces.

In my years of wandering through garage sales (known among social scientists as "gaining field experience"), I've encountered more braces with 10" swings than any other size, and this is what I'd recommend for your first one. It's kind of a Goldilocks size: not too big, not too small. With a bit of grunting, or not, depending on your strength, it can bore a 1" hole, but it's small enough to bore a 1/4" hole without feeling super-awkward.

If you're shopping the garage sales, DON'T turn down any good braces in other swings that you find at good prices. It took me years to accumulate 8" and 14" braces (12" less common than 10", but not too hard), and I had to inherit my 6" brace from my father.

If you've got children, look for the smaller swings sooner - kids often have a hard time with a larger swing.

[Larry Williams]

Bill, you're right. I should have defined throw.

I should also have talked about ratcheting feature on braces. I've used braces a lot over the last 30 years and used to think the ratcheting feature was important in a brace. I don't miss it in my Fray brace. I can think of only two times I actually used the ratcheting feature on my Millers Falls brace that I used for a very long time. Once it was helpful but not necessary and the other time I did need it because I failed to bore a hole before assembling my first good work bench. Proper execution would have made it a lot easier and eliminated the need for the ratcheting feature.

[David Keller NC]

A note about the "Bell System" braces - several posters have alluded to this, but this brace design was patented by a company called North Brothers in the 1930's (might've been in the late 20's - but I can't find my brace books at the moment). What they came up with that was unique at the time was a sealed, ball bearing chuck.

Stanley bought out the company in late 1930's, and continued producing the braces in two models - the 2100 and the 2101. Both models were made in a variety of throws, but the 2101 was an upgraded-appearance model with nickel plating (and rarely) rosewood handles instead of bakelite/phenolic.

Ma Bell - back when there was only one telephone company, needed a "cordless" drill for their lineman before there were such things as cordless drills. Since they worked in all kinds of weather, a sealed chuck was perfect, and the brace was so heavy duty that it would stand a wrench being put on the chuck to aid in removing a rusted junction box screw.

Fortunately for us hand tool enthusiasts, the "Bell System" brace was made in incredible numbers by Stanley, so it isn't too tough to come up with a good one. There's a number of resources on the web that describe this history, and even some instructions on how to take apart the chuck in the event the gear grease gets old and seizes up.

Failing a North brother's brace, the Stanley #923 is also a superb brace, and the older ones come with a rosewood handle and head.

Finally, I like to have an "egg-beater" brace around like those made by Millers Falls and Goodell & Pratt. They're not as cool as an 18th century gimlet, but they're a lot easier to come by. And a heck of a lot lighter and easier to use than a yellow and black monster with a 2 lb. nickel-metal hydride battery hanging off of it.

[Derek Cohen]

I have a half dozen braces that run between throws of 6" and 10". I am on the look out for a 12" for heavier work, but mostly I use a 8" or 10".

There are both ratchet 2100/2101 and non-ratchet types such as the Frey. I agree with Wiley that the North/Bell type offer a smooth mechanism ( but I really do not have a wide range of experience here). At the same time I like the directness of the non-ratchet type. I always feel like I have more feel and control with these.

As noted, these work well for both driving and boring.

An early 10" Millers Falls ..

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Drills/MFbrace.jpg

and a couple of ratchets (8" and 10") ..

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Drills/YankeesandRJaugers1.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek