Thread: Carbatec French brace or vintage?

Send a pm to Boringgeoff. I believe he had some braces for sale on the weekend.
I would go vintage.

What does one look for in a good vintage brace? What size do people like? Like a lot of vintage tools, the prices seem to vary wildly.

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Try this -http://lumberjocks.com/Brit/blog/25435

You could buy 10 exxy vintage ones for the price of a new French one. All mine work equally and they're all from different places and are different models. Also they hold hex bits well, haven't needed an adaptor.
One of the hand best tools to own in my opinion.

I also find a brace good for large screws. MOAD (mother of all drivers)More torque than an 18v drill. I bought a stanley brace back in the 70tes and since then rescued 2 others.
Regards
John

Hi all,
I've been in touch with Dom and explained that I'm not really a seller even though I had a table at the HTPSWA sale at the weekend. To suit his quality workmanship he needs a classy looking tool and in that regard I'm in agreement with NCArcher when he says go vintage.
All of my braces are purchased because of who they were made by or an example of an interesting (to me) patent, which means that many of them are not particularly good users and in fact some never were in the first place.
Doms requirements are: capable of holding square and hex bits, ratcheting and look tidy. An Aussie Stanley A144, A78 or A73 in good condition would probably foot the bill with the A73 possibly the pick for being capable of holding round shanks as well.
Ideally we need someone near Dom, in Melbourne, who's got one that he can have a look at and assess it's suitability.
Hope this is of some help.
Cheers,
Geoff.

The next HTPAA sale in Melbourne in July should provide lots of examples, a North Bros Yankee is probably the rolls royce of braces, and certainly the best of my collection of users. Lots on eBay as well, or how about Camberwell(sp) markets.

Cheers
Peter

Dom,

Vintage, hands down.

And I can appreciate that you scrutinize your tool purchases, but this is not one to spend excessive time overthinking. Unless you're going for some kind of purist approach, or you're going to make lots of chairs, you're unlikely to use your brace very often at all. Not to mention that braces are arguably the single most abundant old tool in antique stores. They are absolutely everywhere. Every time I go into an antique store I look for old tools, and, invariably, there are a couple of braces whether there is anything else at all. Buying one new is, in my opinion, bordering on unethical. In the time it will take me to write this, several "golden era" braces likely went in the trash.

I bought a two jaw and a four jaw brace for a total of $AU10 out of a junk bin. Both were 100% usable with no restoration or even cleaning required. That was three years ago. The four jaw has literally never been used, and the two jaw has maybe drilled twenty holes. The wall candy they serve as was worth ten bucks, but would not have been worth much more.

I'd spend $20 or less on a four jaw brace from Stanley, Miller's Falls or the like, hang it on the wall where it will likely spend 99.999 (infinitely repeating decimal) percent of its life, and then move on to the next tool.

But, to clarify, I would definitely buy one, but just save your money for a few good augers. I'm not being dismissive of the brace. When you need a 5/8" or larger hole and you can't use a drill press, you gotta have a brace. It is a must have for any woodwork shop, as far as I'm concerned.

Good luck,
Luke

Originally Posted by DomAU

...it would need to look new ish.

Can you elaborate on this? I'm curious of the use of the word "need" in lieu of "want". Is it for an exhibit of some kind?

Thanks guys.

I'll need a brace for some timber framing work I want to try my hand at where I'll need to bore a bunch of 1" holes in hardwood - likely ironbark or spotted gum for mortises and dowels.

I'd also use it for drilling 3/4" or 20mm dog holes in a future bench build and for trying some staked furniture.

On the new-ish requirement. It's a nice to have not a need but I'm more than happy to pay an extra say $100 for a mint condition vs poor condition brace if they are both top-quality to begin with.

So the need or primary concern is top functional design&quality and then great condition on top of that if it's just a matter of money .

So I bought this "Worth USA" branded 10" 2 jaw braces form tool exchange. Not sure if it's good bad or otherwise compared with other vintage braces.
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Nickel plating is still mostly in tact and minimal wear overall. The inside of the chuck was a little scraped up from the springs in the jaws protruding through. This was forcing the jaws to slide across each other when tightening. I smoothed out both and it appears much better.

Don't have any square shank bits yet, but it appears to hold a hex shank auger Ok. We'll enough to drill 12mm holes in 40mm thick hardwood with no issues in any case.

Anyone know or care to deduce anything about this brace? Can't find anything about it online, except that Worth braces were often made by some other company that I can't remember right now.

About half a mm or less of play vertically in the chuck and top knob. Everything turns nice and smooth and easy.

The very best braces are the Stanley Yankee Bell System braces, such as the 2101. These are ratchet braces, which is helpful in restricted areas. The Bell System braces were designed for use by the Bell phone company for use by their technicians when up a telephone pole. Google "Georges Basement" to purchase one.

Most work can be done with a 10" swing, with an 8" for smaller bits and screws, and 12" for larger bits (1" and above).

Here are two of mine ...



For a lot of work, one does not need a ratchet type, such as this 12" version. This vintage Miller's Falls is a joy to use ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks Derek,

Yeah I was aware that the 2100/2101 is considered top of the line, but couldn't find any except for one's that appeared really worn out. So this was a bit of a stop gap until I find one of these in good nick.

I'll keep an eye out for one at markets. Would be good to inspect one in person to check that it's not a total lemon.

Cheers, Dom

I picked up this Stanley No.60 ? brace with a J.A. Chapman chuck ? whilst I was in the UK for $10 au! I believe this is a pretty old model but it's in really good condition in my inexperienced opinion and has less slop and feels more solid than the Worth brace I recently bought here. Seemed like a bargain!

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Good one Dom, Chapman braces are very good, solid users and that one of yours certainly looks nice and tidy. No 60 is a Chapman model number and is listed as their "D" quality product. I've seen braces by other makers who's best aren't as well made as Chapmans D grade.
It could well be a Stanley with a Chapman chuck but that looks to me like a pre 1936 Chapman. There should be written on the other side of the frame "No 60" and "British (JAC) Made"
Cheers,
Geoff.