Comments on: Tune up a Hand Drill in 30 Minutes

By: affyx

affyx — Sun, 06 May 2012 19:12:55 +0000

gave $6 for a Millers Falls breast drill like this http://oldtoolheaven.com/breast_drills/drillimages/bd7740larg.jpg at the flea market today, could hardly get 360 degrees around but she had all her teeth; watched Chris’s vid, borrowed my kid’s toothbrush, grabbed the wd40, and voila! she’s a beauty!

By: mitchellm

mitchellm — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 22:01:27 +0000

I notice that this drill like many others I have seen has a three jaw chuck. I picked up a breast drill that has a two jaw system similar to a brace. I can’t imagine that an auger bit could be turned this way so were spoon bits used back in the day? or something else?

By: Edward_Clarke

Edward_Clarke — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:34:18 +0000

Are the chucks on these drills some standard size? I just finished cleaning up a double spur eggbeater and it works very well – except for the chuck. This one seems to have one of the chucks without the springs – and it is indeed a pain in the butt.

But it works… and it was given to me by my wife’s uncle shortly before he passed on. Replacing the chuck would improve things immensely. For large work I’ll stick with my 10 and 12 inch braces.

By: adrian

adrian — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:21:01 +0000

I have yet to encounter a drill whose chuck worked properly as found. It seems like the chuck jaws are always too gunked up to retract properly. But assuming it’s got the protected springs, the chucks always seem to be OK and after being disassembled and cleaned they work fine. (When I got a Goodell-Pratt with exposed springs that was a mistake, though. I had to wind new springs for it.)

By: esincox

esincox — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:16:41 +0000

I use Preserve toothbrushes (they’re made from 100% recycled materials and you can send them back to the company for free to be recycled when you’re done with them; Oh, and they work really well, too – look them up if you give an iota about the planet), on my own teeth, so my tool-cleaning toothbrushes are all the nice Reach Advantage brushes my dentist gives me and my wife every six months. Haven’t paid for a tool-cleaning toothbrush in at least six years.

And lately I’ve been working on doing a “pay it forward” kind of thing like you do, Chris. If I go to an estate sale or a garage sale and see a quality hand plane (last one was a Millers Falls #4 with a frog of the same quality as a Stanley Type 11 for $5) that I don’t need, for a cheap price, I’ll still pick it up. Then I take it home, clean it up a bit, sharpen the blade, and then find someone who is just getting started/interested in hand tools and give it to them. Bah, I just passed up an eggbeater drill this last weekend (because I already have three) and probably shouldn’t have.

Another thing I might start doing with some of these tools is to bring it in to the guild meeting and offer it up as one of the raffle door prizes for that month.

The only danger is that you have to be comfortable enough with your own set of tools that you don’t start hoarding the tools you pick up to give away. Apparently I’m at a stage where I’m comfortable with my own tools, because, so far, I’ve managed to give away every tool I’ve bought with this intention.

By: Brentpmed

Brentpmed — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:34:27 +0000

Truly a good southern boy, excellent use of the word “wallered”. These drills are very handy and incredibly useful.

By: Christopher Schwarz

Christopher Schwarz — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:55:07 +0000

Note that I wrote “your” toothbrush. Not mine.

By: Joe "the Pro" Sainz

Joe "the Pro" Sainz — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:28:32 +0000

Looks good. I’d add one thing:
*Rinse toothbrush off before using to brush teeth.