Old wood bits

[Tom RS]

Does anyone use these anymore?
From my grandpas.

 

[Dopp Creek]

I don't use them but I have a full set. If we have a natural disaster (or man-made) and there's no electricity to run or charge a drill, I'll by building up my forearms.

 

[Steve in VA]

I do use them with my hand brace. In many cases its faster than a cordless.

 

[sms]

I have a bunch of them, have used them with a brace. Been years now since I have portable generators. I have some like that with straight shanks for electric drill and some that the square may have been cut off.

 

[TimV]

I've got a bunch of them, and a number of braces also. They're handy in many circumstances--I carry a brace in my truck's toolbox, and it's saved the day on a number of occasions where electricity or battery powered tools weren't available. Always gets a grin from friends when I say 'let me get my cordless drill' and I grab a brace instead of what they might have been expecting. Among other uses, the typical 2 or 3 jaw chucks hold 1/4 inch hex bits very firmly and let you apply more, and more controlled, torque than you can get with a standard screwdriver. I've even used an appropriately-sized auger bit to center-punch and then extract stuck batteries from way down inside things like multi-cell maglites.

 

[544hydro]

Ive cut the end off some of mine and used them in my cordless drill.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

I still use them on the farm for hanging gate hinges . The 3/4" holes needed are a bit much ( an unintentional pun ) for a battery drill . The brace and bit cuts through pine posts quickly and so quietly that I can hear the birds over my puffing .

 

[SkipperII]

Gave the set I had to my grandson a couple years ago. I had inherited them from my father-in-law, when he passed away. He was an electrician.

 

[unc]

I have my dad's brace, and a pretty good set of bits. I use my cordless drills a lot, but occasionally still use the brace and bit. Seems like I use the brace and a screwdriver bit a lot for roofing and siding, or for boring deep holes with a car bit. unc

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I have cut off the ends and used them in a drill.
I like auger bits over spade bits. If you have to, flatten 3 sides with grinder.
I have a new set of auger bits I use when drilling holes in studs when running electric wire..

 

[T.R.K.]

I'm with TimV on this. To hang gates and do other jobs where electricity not available, still very handy to have a set around. After I quit doing remodeling and maintenance, my battery drill always had two dead batteries in the case, while the Brace and bits were ready to go.

I wonder how well an ordinary 3/8 battery drill would do turning one of those big augers?

 

[Mule Meat]

Power, telephone and CATV/fiber optics still use them.

I use to have a Tanaka (now owned by Metabo) gas powered drill that was great for auger bits. I think they stopped make their drills tho.

 

[544hydro]

(quoted from post at 17:29:18 04/09/22) I'm with TimV on this. To hang gates and do other jobs where electricity not available, still very handy to have a set around. After I quit doing remodeling and maintenance, my battery drill always had two dead batteries in the case, while the Brace and bits were ready to go.

I wonder how well an ordinary 3/8 battery drill would do turning one of those big augers?

My Milwaukee drill turns them with ease.

 

[Russ from MN]

I have a whole set of them, and the brace to turn them, all Craftsman, bought in 1970 when I started doing carpenter work. We were working outside in the winter in International Falls MN, I bored a lot of holes by hand, it was one way to stay warm!

 

[Bret4207]

I have 2 complete sets up to 1", one with a fine lead screw for hardwoods and one with a coarse lead screw for softwoods. They still work great. I also have a number of other bits for screw driving, socket driving, countersinking etc.

 

[JustIn Case]

I havent used on in a long time. One thing they are good at is they can leave a fairly clean hole on the backside compared to a spade bit. And you can go to the other side to finish the cleanly.

 

[Russ from MN]

And here is the proper file to sharpen them with! It says Nicholson on it, I used it today, needed to slot a small hole.

 

[Tony in SD]

My construction linemen use an 11/16 X 18 bit like the fourth one down in the picture for drilling though poles. However they dont even have a bit brace in the truck anymore. All battery powered drills and impacts now.

 

[SVcummins]

A good brace and a good bit is pretty fun to drill holes with . But I will also grab for the hacksaw instead of the cut off wheel

 

[Bonnan]

Are these available? When I google bit file all I get is digital gumbo.

 

[Russ from MN]

Google Nicholson auger bit file, lots of them showed up, but they sure are proud of them! If I didn't have one I think a small 3-cornerd file would work fine. I have maybe had this one for 50 years!

 

[KEB in GCMS]

I have a few and 2 or 3 old hand drills from my grandfather's tool stash I got when he passed.

 

[Tony in SD]

SV might be fun for one or two holes but if you had to drill 30 to 50 holes per day, as my linemen do day after day, you would use the battery drill. Just as you drive a tractor instead of plowing behind a horse.

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 18:34:15 04/10/22) My construction linemen use an 11/16 X 18 bit like the fourth one down in the picture for drilling though poles. However they dont even have a bit brace in the truck anymore. All battery powered drills and impacts now.

Tony, my dad called it a bit brace too. I'll bet I was maybe twelve when my father bought his first electric drill. I remember him using his bit brace and hand crank drill, and I used them a little too.

 

[Alvin 41]

I've got a big 1 1/2" auger bit about 18" long with a 20" wood T handle my Dad claimed was for drilling holes in stumps for placing dynamite.

 

[SVcummins]

Only because I dont have a draft team and harnesses . Thats one of my biggest dreams hopefully someday