Category: Drilling Tools – Hand Powered

Manufactured Gimlet Bit Handles

If you are seriously pursuing collecting a wide variety of boring and drilling tools, you will find my post today of interest. The subject is manufactured gimlet bit handles. You probably have a bunch of gimlets that are permanently fitted in wooden or metal handles because they are common. Handles that accept a variety of bits are not so common. In this post I show you some of the latter in my collection. Now that you know what they look like, go out there and find some.

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W.A. Clark Expansive Bits by Eric Brown

W.A. Clark expansive bits by Eric Brown Clark, William A. (Bethany, Woodbridge & New Haven, CT.) Clarks Patent # 20,192 May 11, 1858 Bethany, CT. […]

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An Early Brace circa 1820’s

James E. Price I attended The Great Planes Trading Company antique tool auction last Saturday in St. Peter’s, Missouri and came away with less money […]

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G.L. Holt’s Bit for Boring Wood

By James Price Inventors in the 19th Century sought patents for improvements to tools to make them perform better and sometimes, with more precision. Such […]

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North Brothers “YANKEE” No.1003

The No.1003 and its big brother the No.1005 are wonderfully refined little drill presses and grand examples of North Brothers mfg. design excellence. The build quality is […]

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Millers Falls Drill Presses

Note that sadly, these are not my collection ref: Millers Falls Catalogue #35 – 1915 Written in collaboration with Other general references: rhyolith  http://oldtoolheaven.com/index.html Millers […]

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Common Gear Drill Problems/Ailments

This article provides an overview of across the board issues and ailments that plague second hand gear drills. It will not cover makes and models of […]

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Millers Falls No.2

Arguably the most successful hand drill in history, the No.2 has had many variants over nearly a century of production. The first variants were produced […]

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North Brothers “YANKEE” No.1435

Possibly the smallest 2-geared hand drill in existence. This is a high quality tool, has a solid feel and smooth mechanism. Its downfall is that […]

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