Thread: Hand Powered Drills

I'd suggest you look at second hand drills.

Look for a drill with two pinions (the upper one is just an idler, but it makes for a better drill). Millers Falls (USA) are popular, as are most hand drills with spoked wheels. But probably your best bet is a humble Stanley (UK) No.803. These seem to run smoothly and you can still get chucks and jaws from Stanley. Which reminds me, ask the seller if the chuck works or if the jaws are equally spaced as they open (this indicates all three chuck springs are present and working equally).

HTH

Cheers, Vann.

I had to search to know what it was, so ... Stanley Hand Drill no. 803

It looks nice and solid - I can imagine holding it. Old Miller Falls and others are pretty as well as solid

Don't get anything wobbly

Cheers,
Paul

The Stanley 803s are what we had in woodwork class at school, and also at the apprentice training school when I started work IIRC

Originally Posted by pmcgee

Don't get anything wobbly

Hence the idler pinion. The Stanley 805 looks very similar, but only has a single pinion. It's rubbish in comparison (in my o-pinion ).

Some early eggbeaters (e.g. Millers Falls) had a clip, or even a little wheel, on the outside of the main cog that does the same job.

Cheers, Vann.

Cheers for the replies.

There are a few Stanley 803s available on EBay, should be able to get hold of one.

What size drill bits can the 803 be used with?

Without seeing the actual drill or chuck, I would say nothing bigger than 1/4".

Originally Posted by Russell Cook

What size drill bits can the 803 be used with?

The chuck is nominally 5/16" but I can get a 8.5mm bit into my 803.

The Stanley #803 is based on the earlier JA Chapman #105 drill. Stanley bought out JA Chapman in 1936 and this became Stanley UKs manufacturing base. Some early Stanley #803s have the Chapman chuck which is nominally 1/4" and the largest bit I can fit is 6.5mm (my drills are in 0.5mm increments). The drill shown in Paul's post has the earlier Chapman 1/4" chuck.

Cheers, Vann.

I had a stanley drill about 40 years ago. Cant remember what number it was but I was happy the day I could afford a power drill. The stanley had a tendency to stick due to play in the moving parts. Drilled a hole but difficult.
I am keen on hand tools but after those early experiences I use a power drill. There are perhaps better ones than stanley out there.
The brace now is another story and I still use one for larger holes and also to drive large screws.
Regards
John

I have an #803 Stanley from my apprentice day's when the kid's were young and asked to borrow a cordless drill I would hand them the 803 they would look at it and walk away, back then (when an apprentice) it was what you had. I can't remember the brand but there was a drill that was a triangular shaped body and the handle was across the top like a wedge of cake with a chuck and the crank handle was flush with the body, at the time I was told that it was a better drill than the Stanley.
Regards Rod.

Originally Posted by orraloon

I had a stanley drill about 40 years ago. Cant remember what number it was but I was happy the day I could afford a power drill. The stanley had a tendency to stick due to play in the moving parts.

I bet it only had a single pinion gear . I must admit to being a power/battery drill man myself until recently. I still grab the battery drill if I need three hands (not being Taswegian - refer other thread ). But I'm using the eggbeaters more and more. Once the gear teeth have been purged of years of gunk, and a bit of oil applied, the two pinion models seem to run smoothly.

Originally Posted by Rod Gilbert

I can't remember the brand but there was a drill that was a triangular shaped body and the handle was across the top like a wedge of cake with a chuck and the crank handle was flush with the body...

Rod, was that a Leytool brand?

Cheers, Vann.

I originally picked up a second hand Stanley and found that I was using this more as it was just quicker then getting the power drill out. The only drawback was with the size of bit it took. So I looked for another second hand one that would take a larger drill bit shaft, sorry not sure on the brand.

On both occausion I went for a second hand one with two pinions and picked up at a tool sale. So I was able to play with it to gage what it was like when drilling.

The Leytool ...

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/u...hlight=leytool
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f152/l...hlight=leytool

There is a pretty simple Falcon Pope hand-drill available online atm.

If I may wade in and complicate things unnecessarily again...

I assume you've been looking at "eggbeater" style drills. Like this.

MillersFalls1.jpg

[Note - Image taken from Woodworking Projects, Plans, Techniques, Tools & Supplies | Popular Woodworking Magazine. Unfortunately I don't own this guy.]

Might I suggest that, instead, you buy a single brace, and leave it at that? I mean one of these:

IMG_0662.jpg

These two specimens are a Millers Falls (on the right) and an early Atkins. I'm not sure what postage would cost you from the United States, but you should at least investigate the cost of shipping a vintage Millers Falls brace from an eBay seller or similar. Millers Falls made an enormous number of these tools, and they are almost without exception of fantastic quality (and being common, are rather cheap).

As usual, I can only really recommend a vintage tool for this purpose. I don't know of any manufacturer that produces a brace worth a damn - I was recently using a new Stanley brace to drill fence posts, and the shaft exploded through the top handle and impaled my chest. Surprise! The expression on my face must have been quite something; my old man nearly died laughing. It hurt a lot. Stupid Stanley junk.

Why buy a brace instead of an eggbeater? Well, because a brace with a moderate sweep can do the job of an eggbeater drill, whereas the opposite is not the case.

Sure, it takes a bit longer to drill small holes than when using an eggbeater drill, but only a little. If you're going to be building traditional furniture with traditional tools (and guessing by your preference for a hand-cranked grinder, I'm suspecting you might be) then you won't be using screws very often, and thus won't need to drill for them. I think that it's sometimes necessary to pre-drill for large cut nails, but I don't know much about that. In any case, you will be drilling larger holes with a brace quite often - for wasting mortices, for example, or for drawbored or dowel joints.

If you are lucky enough to find a vintage brace "in the wild", then you should check that the top pad spins relatively easily, and that it does not wobble too much. If it wobbles too much, the bearings are worn out, and I don't know any way to repair them (of course, another forumite probably will know - they always do). The other handle should also spin without much force. Both should be made of wood. Don't buy plastic. Also, these tools are rather difficult to de-rust because much of the mechanism is not readily accessible, and because of their awkward shape. So finding a specimen with minimal rust is important.

On the subject of drilling, you'll need a few auger bits, some brad-point bits and a special auger bit file to sharpen them. None of these items are terribly expensive, and sharpening is very simple. But more on that another day.

P.S. I don't actually woodwork, really, I just collect rusty objects and then stare at them lovingly. Accordingly, and at the risk of diverting this thread a little, I'd be delighted to see pics of any other forum member's braces and bits, if they use them...

Originally Posted by snafuspyramid

P.S. I don't actually woodwork, really, I just collect rusty objects and then stare at them lovingly. Accordingly, and at the risk of diverting this thread a little, I'd be delighted to see pics of any other forum member's braces and bits, if they use them...

Geoff ! Steady, Geoff ! Down, boy, down!



(Dat's dis fella ...)

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