Thread: Identify these braces

Hi Kenny,
I can't help you with the masonic logo, though I've got a feeling I've seen it before. The brace itself looks a lot like a John Fray model as shown on page 18 of this 1911 Fray catalogue. Although the models on that page show a round chuck shell, earlier on in the catalogue (P4) they mention decagonal sleeves being available. My example, a No 105, has an octagonal shell.

Fray's Bit Braces, Breast and Hand Drills : Catalogue No. 26 : John S. Fray Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Your other brace I've got two of and had always assumed they're Australian, like yours no markings, so hard to prove. But what I hadn't realised, until you pointed it out, is the spring at the bottom of the chuck recess. One of mine has got that but I had assumed it was a screw thread. I'll have to have another look at it, it must be rusted in perhaps. The other one has nothing down there so probably the spring has fallen out.

Cheers,
Geoff.

Hi Kenny,
I couldn't resist digging out my two examples of your second brace. I decided to take the heads off for a look and found an interesting anomaly.
IMGP1529.jpg
As you can see in the photo the one on the left is in better condition than the other, with a load bearing ball in a cup in the centre, but the anomaly is, there are two circles where the screws are located. The outer ring is for the four screws used in our braces, and there is an inner ring with three screw holes. This makes me think the heads are originally off a different brace. One of the braces, I bought here in WA, the other had a label hanging on it saying "Port Adelaide markets 2009.
If you get the time, Kenny, take the head of yours and see if it's the same.

Cheers,
Geoff.

Geoff... no ball evident.. no marks on rivetted end. pad appears to be pine, as opposed to the grip.... also pic of jaws from brace 1... note the spring.

Hi Kenny,
I should have noticed from the photo in your first post that the head on yours is secured with three screws, both mine use four screws.
That's an unusual looking set of jaws, I'll have to do a bit more looking.

Cheers,
Geoff.

Peter Ludwig Schmidt in Germany used this logo with dividers and square:
Deutsche Werkzeughersteller und -handler: Peter Ludwig Schmidt

Wolfgang

Wolfgang,
Thanks, I felt sure I'd seen that logo before but couldn't find it.
Cheers,
Geoff.

100_4632.jpg
In regard to this brace that Kenny showed us in his original post, I commented that I have two of these, one with a spring in the bottom of the chuck and one without. It turns out that my one without a spring has either an original different inner profile or has been bored out. The other, the spring was rusted solid inside so I decided a radical surgery (butchery) was called for. I sawed the end of the chuck off with the angle grinder, forced the spring and collar out, then split the chuck in two.
IMGP1532.jpg IMGP1533.jpg

This is quite an unusual inner profile and may be designed to hold a specific tool. The taper of the chuck goes from 9/16" at the mouth to 3/8" over a distance of 1 1/8", at the bottom of the taper it steps back up to 7/16" where a sleeve and a coil spring are housed. The sleeve and spring would have been placed in the bottom of the chuck prior to the crank of the brace being inserted and pinned.
This is a more abrupt taper than a Morse, for instance, and whatever spiggot on the end of the tool pressed on the collar would compress the spring less than 1/2".
Any ideas?

Cheers,
Geoff.