# Is there anything I can't do with my bit and brace that you can do with...



## basswood (Dec 18, 2013)

...just wondering out loud… I imagine that most who ordinarily prefer hand tools for woodworking still reach for the new variety of cordless driver/drills and impacts before they reach for the original cordless drill/drivers-the brace and bit or yankee screwdrivers. Is this true?

Are there tasks the old tools excel at?

I used to keep a yankee drill in my tool box, but stopped doing that about 15 years or so ago, when the local hardware stopped carrying replacement bits for it.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

http://www.leevalley.com/US/images/item/Woodworking/Screwdrivers/24k0555ia.jpg










HTH


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

I sweat more when using hand tools… but that is about it.

many electricians have gone from the yankee screwdriver to this - - instead of a cordless, to avoid cracking faceplates.


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## runswithscissors (Nov 8, 2012)

A brace with a screwdriver bit is a very powerful driver, as long as you can keep the bit from jumping the slot.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

I can change batteries.

As soon as I find some bits I'll go back to using my yankee drill in the shop. I do need to get my brace and bit out and start using them again, I just haven't felt like getting out the box of bits out that I bought at the flea market to check for sharpness and wear.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

I just received my first brace from a fellow jock not too long ago. While technology allows us to do many things that couldn't or would have been very difficult in the past, I find my self reaching for the brace more and more. It has more to do with honing skill than getting the job done as fast as possible. The speed thing I already have a pretty good handle on, old school skill is what I'm concentrating more on now. I think my next tool is going to be an adze.


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## carver1942 (Sep 25, 2013)

You might not be able to drill a 1 1/2 inch hole thru a 12 inch thick piece of Elm without getting a heart attach.  
regards
Ed


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

I like the additional control you get with a hand drill and/or brace.


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## 111 (Sep 2, 2013)

Can you drive a 2 1/2" screw into a 2" backrail of a cabinet while holding the cabinet to the wall with one hand?


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## jbald (Dec 11, 2011)

Of course I have cordless hand tools like everyone else but unless you use them everyday they're dead or dying the moment you reach for them. Of course it might help if I replaced the battery.

My old Yankee however is calling me from the bottom of the tool chest somewhere.


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## TheBoxWhisperer (Sep 24, 2012)

hand tools will always have their place, and for me its the finer furniture, etc, things like that. Setting up my shop, I drilled hundreds of pocket holes. hundreds, in a day or 2. I'm not saying it couldn't be done as per the original question, but in an example like mine, why would you want to?


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## jdh122 (Sep 8, 2010)

Like Wayne says, the main advantage of a brace is the control. If you need to drill an angled hole you can set up a square and a bevel and follow it pretty closely. And with a screwtip auger bit you can count the number of turns and get the exact same depth every time. I also have an eggbeater drill and use it sometimes, but mostly just for the fun of it, whereas I do think that the brace and bit offer real advantages in some situations over power drills.
Never used a Yankee drill, but now that I've seen pictures of them I'll have to start looking for one at the flea markets.


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## 12strings (Nov 15, 2011)

The one-handed thing is a big advantage of the powered drill…and in my experience, my hand drill is not great at driving phillips screws once they get tight, the bit keeps jumping out. I can apply more downward pressure when using a powered drill. So for me…

-Pocket holes: cordless drill
-Small holes: cordless drill, unless I just want to say I used the hand drill.
-driving screws: cordless drill, or simple screwdriver
-Large holes (1/4" and bigger): Brace & Bit


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## basswood (Dec 18, 2013)

It seems that of all the old school woodworking hand tools (planes, saws, etc.) The Brace and Bit is more likely to be collecting dust or on display (rather than used). They are fun to use and not too difficult to master, so this surprises me, to some extent. For production, electric drills, corded or battery powered, are hard to beat. The one-handed use is a big benefit too.

When I started in this business, corded drills had taken over, but we still used the brace and bit and Yankee screwdrivers in some situations. My first cordless drill was the venerable 9.6 volt Makita. Someone stole it out of my work van, but did not get the charger, so a lot of good it did them (now days they could find a charger on CL, but not back then).

The new Lithium batteries hold a charge for a long time between uses, so even that disadvantage has gone away. The clutch settings also provide more control than electric drills used to have, but the feed back between the wood and user is more direct with a brace or Yankee.

I brought this up, because people try to compare new and older tools and their advantages pretty often here.

Sometimes we over-romanticize the past. Most woodworkers 100 years ago would quickly adopt the newest technology. We have the benefit of both the old tools and the new, if we know when and how to use them.


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## basswood (Dec 18, 2013)

12strings,

That is precisely what the phillips screw was designed for. When the screw is set, the driver automatically cams out of the head, preventing the threads from stripping out the wood.

What we hate most about Phillips screws is what they were designed to do. I appreciate what you are saying though.

Here is a fun history of the screw: http://www.amazon.com/One-Good-Turn-Natural-Screwdriver/dp/0684867303


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## Tim457 (Jan 11, 2013)

"Sometimes we over-romanticize the past. Most woodworkers 100 years ago would quickly adopt the newest technology. We have the benefit of both the old tools and the new, if we know when and how to use them."

If you're in a production environment or really just need to get something done ASAP, then power tools are usually going to be more efficient and most woodworkers 100 years ago were in production so indeed would have jumped on anything that would make them more efficient. In fact they did and now most people are doing something else for work.

Many of us now are hobbyists though that can choose how we work and choose to enjoy the process. If you enjoy a power tool have at it, but hand tools have a lot of advantages if production speed isn't your only objective.


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## basswood (Dec 18, 2013)

Hi Tim,

I agree. Though of all the traditional hand tools, the Brace and Bit seem to be more often overlooked, even among hobbyists. That is why I noted, "They are fun to use and not too difficult to master, so this (lack of use) surprises me, to some extent."


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## basswood (Dec 18, 2013)

Perhaps part of the answer is how similar the results of the old and new methods of drilling and driving… little qualitative difference in exchange for the effort expended?

Hand planing and handcut dovetails, etc. are able to convey subtle differences in craftsmanship more so than holes drilled by hand, No?


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## runswithscissors (Nov 8, 2012)

Basswood and Tim raise an interesting point. Early power tools were not marketed to hobbyists, but to pros. Pros were the first adopters simply for the benefits in productivity. That's one reason early power tools, like the worm drive Skilsaws, were built so robust and tough. Best tool Skil ever made. I've seen them decades old still in use. Note: I'm not always a fan of old stuff. The early homeowner power tools (I'm old enough to remember the 1/4" electric drill, the crappy little jigsaws/saber saws, and sanders that turned your hand numb instead of actually sanding the wood) were often of cheesy construction and poor design.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

"Can you drive a 2 1/2" screw into a 2" backrail of a cabinet while holding the cabinet to the wall with one hand?" 
They make a lift that raises the wall cabinet in place. Installation is a one-man job.


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## 111 (Sep 2, 2013)

Really?


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## basswood (Dec 18, 2013)

Runwithscissors,

You bring up an interesting point about the early power tools being pretty much pro tools. This is my Dad's saw and it weighs a good 25 pounds. It was built so well it is still a gem 60 years later.


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## basswood (Dec 18, 2013)

Kevin and Knothead,

I worked for several years as a cabinet installer both with crews and solo. I install the bases first and use a box-jig on the lower cabinets to set the uppers on. Makes it pretty painless and we never damaged a lower cabinet doing it this way.


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## Grandpa (Jan 28, 2011)

I own a splitting maul too but I have never used it and I have no plans to change any of that as long as this 22 Ton splitter in my shed fires off and works. That is the difference. It is all in your want to's.


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## 111 (Sep 2, 2013)

I've ran my own cabinet shop for thirty years, probably installed a few thousand myself.


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## jumbojack (Mar 20, 2011)

I still use my brace. I did end up cutting the top part off.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

Being an old timer, the tools that were available to me 70+ years ago were braces and bitts, planes, hand saws and screwdrivers. I learned to use them well. Later on when new tools became available, I gradually let go of my old tools and embraced the new. Occasionally, a situation will come up when I have to revert back to an old and well used tool of the past.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

I use little hand drills sometimes for small od drill bits because the
low speed allows me to control the direction better since the
bits flex easily. Drilling tie-block holes in guitar bridges for example.

In some styles of furniture making spoon bits in a brace are
used because, as I understand it, small corrections in the
direction of the hole can be made. Read up on Windsor 
chairmaking for more on it.


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

I was watching some episodes of the woodwrights shop… A discussion was being had about using the spoon bit verses an Auger bit. It reminds me of the conversations in this thread… It was kinda like… "I noticed your using a 19th century auger bit…what would they have used in the 17th century…" "well this spoon bit… I use it when I am trying to be really authentic, but the auger is easier to drill a straight hole… so I'm using it today" Same conversation.. only the context and the time spans between the tools are different..


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