# New auger bits in old brace



## llwynog (May 5, 2011)

Hello.
I have a few auger bits with hexagonal shafts but my electrical drills do not pack enough power to operate them.
I remembered that I had 2 braces laying around so I decided to use them instead.
You may already have guessed my problem: these old braces have a 2-jaw chuck on them and are designed to work with tapered square shafts and will not grab the new hex shaft.

Do you know of a way to adapt hex shaft auger bits on a 2-jaw brace ?
I know that nowadays they sell braces with 3 jaws for this purpose but I would rather not buy a new full brace (they cost at least 70$) when I have 2 perfectly operational braces as it is (plus one of the 2 was my grand father's so if I could use it more often it would be a good thing)

2 solutions I thought of but could not find anything so far would be to change the chuck only (but where to find a proper chuck, at what price and is the thread even standard ?), or to find a separate chuck mounted on a tapered square shaft that could chuck itself inside the brace's chuck (a chuck in a chuck…).

Any ideas ? When I try to google for this problem, I seem to find only posts explaining how to grind old square-shafted bits to be used in modern drills. I want to do the opposite.

Bonus question, any one knows of a good resource on how to sharpen those old auger bits ?

Cheers,


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## Brit (Aug 14, 2010)

Llwynog - The best bet for you is Dieter Schmid Fine Tools in Germany. Here is the link to the page on their website. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see these. I have the second one and it works great in my braces. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities.


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## llwynog (May 5, 2011)

Brilliant ! this is exactly what I needed !
Thanks a lot Andy.


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## Brit (Aug 14, 2010)

FYI - Anyone living in the US or Canada can get these adaptors from Lee Valley.

For the bonus question, here are some links on sharpening auger bits. Buy yourself an auger file from Dieter Schmid at the same time you buy your adaptor and you will be good to go. Sharpening augers is easy. Only sharpen them as much as you need to help prolong their life. It takes about 30 seconds.

How to Sharpen Auger bits- from Dieter Schmid Fine Tools.
Sharpening Drill Bits - from Workshop Companion.
Sharpening Auger Bits - from Popular Mechanic.


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## llwynog (May 5, 2011)

Just added the file to my order…. Thanks a lot, I am looking forward to sharpening my old auger bits.


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Timely. I actually already had the bits in my Lee-Valley shopping cart waiting for my next purchase from them. I will have to look for an Auger file. I'm also on the hunt for a 6" sweep brace to use with these.


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