An Auger Stock

[rxh]

I recently received a request to make a stock or handle for holding an auger bit instead of using a brace. I believe that such stocks used to be quite common in the USA but I have never seen one in the UK. This is what I came up with. It is made from a piece of 1" diameter steel barstock, tapped to receive threaded rods that attach the handles. The wing screw seems to be sufficient to hold the bit in place but the hex screw can be tightened with a spanner if an extra firm grip is desired.

 

[novocaine]

Very nice.

Not overly common in the workshop but in the woods they stand their ground.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Looks nice. For big holes a brace can be hard work. I guess scotch eye augers was perhaps the British solution?

What is the construction - the steel part has tangs into the handles ... any WIP pictures ?

 

[Argus]

Very nicely made.

I have an ancient version of something very similar that was tossed into a box of odds and sods in a junk shop - it must be Victorian and well worn through use, but still works if a bit of leverage is needed.

I must confess that it doesn't get used much, but I'll try to find it for a picture.

 

[rxh]

Very nice.

Not overly common in the workshop but in the woods they stand their ground.

Thanks novocaine - I'll be interested to find details of other examples and the uses that have been found for them.

 

[rxh]

Looks nice. For big holes a brace can be hard work. I guess scotch eye augers was perhaps the British solution?

What is the construction - the steel part has tangs into the handles ... any WIP pictures ?

Thanks Tony, this photo should make the method of handle attachment clear. The threaded rods are inserted about 90 mm into holes in the handles and secured with epoxy. Most of the work was straightforward turning and threading operations. I step-drilled the hole for the square tapered bit end to remove most of the waste and then filed it to the square taper shape. I made the wing screw by lock-nutting a wing nut and a hex nut tightly together on a piece of threaded rod, having first applied thread lock liquid. Then I turned the flats off the hex nut. The hex screw was made from a piece of hex barstock.

 

[rxh]

Very nicely made.

I have an ancient version of something very similar that was tossed into a box of odds and sods in a junk shop - it must be Victorian and well worn through use, but still works if a bit of leverage is needed.

I must confess that it doesn't get used much, but I'll try to find it for a picture.

Thanks Argus - I would be pleased to a picture of your one.

 

[rxh]

I forgot to mention that the wood of the handles is holly.

 

[Woodbloke]

Interesting job; not seen one of those before - Rob

 

[Doug]

Interesting job; not seen one of those before - Rob

Nor I, I’ve seen augers with eyes for a Tommy bar my father had a set for site work but nothing for holding small bits.

 

[novocaine]

Interesting job; not seen one of those before - Rob

Nor I, I’ve seen augers with eyes for a Tommy bar my father had a set for site work but nothing for holding small bits.

they are called scotch eye augers as Tony described above. a very useful tool and far more practical for most in the woods as you didn't have to carry anything but the bit, you simply found a suitable stick. quite complex to make the auger though. the stock and normal auger are a bit easier to mass produce (the once I've seen rarely looked as good as this).
I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of the one or 2 I've seen, I don't even have a picture of the scotch eye augers I've seen. :lol:

 

[Alf]

Ooo, that's smart, is that. Proper job. :eusa-clap:

Must admit for a wee bit like that I'd just get out the 16" sweep brace, but not everyone may have one of those. But this reminded me that I do have an adjustable auger bit handle:



Sorry, that's literally the closest I can get to it. Put them up there about, um, fifteen, twenty years ago as temporary safe storage. Er, yes. Well, moving on...

 

[Lons]

I like that, a nicely made tool :eusa-clap: I might pinch your idea if I can think of an occasion when I might use it.

On site many years ago I improvised by using the ratchet spanner fitted with extension bar from a socket set to hold a large auger, struck me as a good idea at the time and it worked very well on a hard as nails old oak gate post

 

[Lons]

Does the threaded rod of the handles do in far enough to engage the shank of the auger?

 

[Cabinetman]

The book (sorry can’t remember the title but thoroughly enjoyed it, bought it after being recommended on here.) details all sorts of old ways of woodwork in the US. Including making underground water pipes from wooden logs, part of the process was boring very very long holes for the water to flow through using a stock like that. But just not so beautifully made! Ian

 

[Pete Maddex]

The book (sorry can’t remember the title but thoroughly enjoyed it, bought it after being recommended on here.) details all sorts of old ways of woodwork in the US. Including making underground water pipes from wooden logs, part of the process was boring very very long holes for the water to flow through using a stock like that. But just not so beautifully made! Ian

The Village Carpenter Walter Rose

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=the+villag ... qsg8qo2j_b

Uk not US

Pete

 

[Argus]

Very nicely made.

I have an ancient version of something very similar that was tossed into a box of odds and sods in a junk shop - it must be Victorian and well worn through use, but still works if a bit of leverage is needed.

I must confess that it doesn't get used much, but I'll try to find it for a picture.

Thanks Argus - I would be pleased to a picture of your one.

Thanks for that - I've got it out for a couple of glamour-shots.

I usually generically describe most of my older tools as "Pre-War", though this one is probably "Pre-Boer-War" or even "Pre-Crimea-War". It seems to be professionally made, though there is no makers name or a user's stamp:



Close-up of the attachment clamp.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Interesting design. I assume from what I can see, the wing nut operates some king of yoke inside the wooden body, so that the wood parts are in compression rather than being pushed apart ?

One of the popular designs of travisher uses a blade clamping arrangement that is badly designed in this sense - over-tightening the clamping screws can split the body in two. Unfortunately I didn't think of this before I copied the design, so now I have to be careful with mine !

 

[Argus]

Tony, it would be destructive to take it apart because I don't think that the screws will re-locate correctly.

Anyway, to describe it -
The other side mirrors this one and has an identical square yoke-plate; the wing nut engages a bolt that terminates internally in a captive squared yoke.

A tapered auger shank is inserted through the sides, passes through the square yoke in the middle, out the far side and the ends engage in each of the square side holes. As the nut is tightened it pulls the yoke and the auger shank into tension and tightens the whole lot.

I had an idea, based on the shape, that this was a Preston design, but I can't pin that down.

Basically the same as the OP's design.............

it doesn't get used much, but there's nothing wrong with it - works well.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Tony, it would be destructive to take it apart because I don't think that the screws will re-locate correctly.

No please don't do that. The description is good enough !

 

[AndyT]

Richard, that's another lovely tool you've made there and an elegant solution to the problems of holding the bit and fitting the pair of handles.

And I like the digression into commercial versions - especially Argus's. I managed to find it in the Preston catalogue - there was, naturally, a choice of sizes:



The one above it also exists with the Marples name on it, very nicely made in boxwood and brass, but much smaller, intended to fit in one hand.

This is my one - cruder, all metal - shown with a countersink which is the sort of thing it's ok for. There are two different sized holes for different sizes of bits, bored at 90 degrees to each other, with the bit held by a simple screw.








I've no idea who or when Neweys Ltd were. I don't think they could have been the Birmingham maker of hooks, eyes and press studs, or half of Newey and Eyre, the electrical wholesaler. Any leads gratefully received.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

That seems a more obvious design - a bit like a tap wrench.

I like the look of Preston one too ... something else to make one day.

 

[Mike G]

I recently received a request to make a stock or handle for holding an auger bit.......

That is really posh! If one of those North American boutique tool makers made something like that it would be on sale for hundreds. I hope your customer likes it, because they should. Much too smart to make it into my workshop, though.

 

[rxh]

Ooo, that's smart, is that. Proper job. :eusa-clap:

Must admit for a wee bit like that I'd just get out the 16" sweep brace, but not everyone may have one of those. But this reminded me that I do have an adjustable auger bit handle:



Sorry, that's literally the closest I can get to it. Put them up there about, um, fifteen, twenty years ago as temporary safe storage. Er, yes. Well, moving on...

Thanks Alf - an interesting handle and some fine looking augers you have there.

 

[rxh]

Richard, that's another lovely tool you've made there and an elegant solution to the problems of holding the bit and fitting the pair of handles.

And I like the digression into commercial versions - especially Argus's. I managed to find it in the Preston catalogue - there was, naturally, a choice of sizes:

View attachment 3

The one above it also exists with the Marples name on it, very nicely made in boxwood and brass, but much smaller, intended to fit in one hand.

This is my one - cruder, all metal - shown with a countersink which is the sort of thing it's ok for. There are two different sized holes for different sizes of bits, bored at 90 degrees to each other, with the bit held by a simple screw.

View attachment 2

View attachment 1




I've no idea who or when Neweys Ltd were. I don't think they could have been the Birmingham maker of hooks, eyes and press studs, or half of Newey and Eyre, the electrical wholesaler. Any leads gratefully received.

Thanks Andy - I had a look in a Marples catalogue but didn't see any examples there. Your small one is very interesting - I wonder if the countersunk hole in the thumb turn had any purpose.

 

[rxh]

I recently received a request to make a stock or handle for holding an auger bit.......

That is really posh! If one of those North American boutique tool makers made something like that it would be on sale for hundreds. I hope your customer likes it, because they should. Much too smart to make it into my workshop, though.

Thanks Mike - I don't make things for sale but I came to another arrangement with the recipient

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Thanks Andy - I had a look in a Marples catalogue but didn't see any examples there. Your small one is very interesting - I wonder if the countersunk hole in the thumb turn had any purpose.

Well the obvious one is for a tommy bar - possibly a user mod ?

 

[AndyT]

It looks like it's original. Maybe just to hang it on a hook or on a bit of string?

 

[spb]

Hanging hole would be my guess - without a bit in, the handle would hang nicely vertically down from the hole.

 

[AndyT]

Just a quick footnote to something from earlier on. Preston's Improved Universal Brace Bit Holder turns up in the 1938 Marples catalogue looking like this:



ie exactly the same as in the Preston catalogue, except for the maker's name, so presumably the design registration (if there was one) had expired by then. It also appeared in Tyzack's 1908 catalogue, but maybe that wasn't the "improved" version. The engravings, however, don't bring out the charm of the thing itself, so I hope Andy (Toolsntat) won't mind me sharing some jealous pictures I took a few years ago of his one, unused, in the original box:







As you can see, a turned boxwood handle (like those used on brewer's gimlets) has a transverse square tapered hole. It also has a transverse brass pin, threaded for a brass-headed steel screw, which tightens against the bit shank. A lovely, neat little thing.

I'll leave the pictures there as a reminder to anyone with a lathe and some skill in these areas wondering what to make next!

 

[Alf]

I'll leave the pictures there as a reminder to anyone with a lathe and some skill in these areas wondering what to make next!

I was just thinking that could be an inspiration for a Secret Santa, could it not? Lovely thing.

 

[MattS]

I used one of these at the weekend on some green wood

http://www.findmytool.co.uk/stanley-bra ... review.php

The ratchet gave you some extra force and worked great, personally, I'd never seen one before. I also had never seen auger bits for end grain. The guy referred to them as bull nose or something else I've now forgotten!

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Bull nose or Gedge pattern augers work better on end grain. Though none make it easy; the lead screw has a poorer purchase in to the end grain which often causes problems.

 

[rxh]

Just a quick footnote to something from earlier on. Preston's Improved Universal Brace Bit Holder turns up in the 1938 Marples catalogue looking like this:

View attachment 4

ie exactly the same as in the Preston catalogue, except for the maker's name, so presumably the design registration (if there was one) had expired by then. It also appeared in Tyzack's 1908 catalogue, but maybe that wasn't the "improved" version. The engravings, however, don't bring out the charm of the thing itself, so I hope Andy (Toolsntat) won't mind me sharing some jealous pictures I took a few years ago of his one, unused, in the original box:

View attachment 7

View attachment 6

View attachment 5

As you can see, a turned boxwood handle (like those used on brewer's gimlets) has a transverse square tapered hole. It also has a transverse brass pin, threaded for a brass-headed steel screw, which tightens against the bit shank. A lovely, neat little thing.

I'll leave the pictures there as a reminder to anyone with a lathe and some skill in these areas wondering what to make next!

Well Andy, I couldn't resist making one
It is made of boxwood and the brass knob has hand-cut rope knurling.

 

[novocaine]

fancy pants.

 

[AndyT]

Brilliant!

Don't you love it when a plan comes together!

:eusa-clap: bscene-drinkingcheers: :eusa-clap:

 

[toolsntat]

Just a quick footnote to something from earlier on. Preston's Improved Universal Brace Bit Holder turns up in the 1938 Marples catalogue looking like this:



ie exactly the same as in the Preston catalogue, except for the maker's name, so presumably the design registration (if there was one) had expired by then. It also appeared in Tyzack's 1908 catalogue, but maybe that wasn't the "improved" version. The engravings, however, don't bring out the charm of the thing itself, so I hope Andy (Toolsntat) won't mind me sharing some jealous pictures I took a few years ago of his one, unused, in the original box:

View attachment 3

View attachment 2

View attachment 1

As you can see, a turned boxwood handle (like those used on brewer's gimlets) has a transverse square tapered hole. It also has a transverse brass pin, threaded for a brass-headed steel screw, which tightens against the bit shank. A lovely, neat little thing.

I'll leave the pictures there as a reminder to anyone with a lathe and some skill in these areas wondering what to make next!

Wow, is that really mine Andy?
I recognised the green flock cover but cannot remember having the Marples model :eusa-think:
I wonder if someone brought it over to show me and you happened to snap it?
That said, I hope it is mine.... :eusa-dance: :lol:
Cheers Andy

 

[Alf]

Well Andy, I couldn't resist making one
It is made of boxwood and the brass knob has hand-cut rope knurling.

Proper job. :eusa-clap:

 

[AndyT]

Wow, is that really mine Andy?
I recognised the green flock cover but cannot remember having the Marples model :eusa-think:
I wonder if someone brought it over to show me and you happened to snap it?
That said, I hope it is mine.... :eusa-dance: :lol:
Cheers Andy

Well, as you can see from the filenames, it was on 30 November 2014, and it was at a very fine MAC Timbers open day. Other illustrious visitors included Richard (RXH) with his new Silchester plane, Pete Maddex (with blackcurrant jam,) Sheffield Tony, Richard Arnold (with a benchload of old planes to explore) Bill Carter, Ollie Sparks, Emma Tomes, Jim Hendricks, Douglas Coates...

I was also much taken by this little toolkit



and these floats that you had on the green tablecloth that day.



Do they help jog the memory? Is it in a box somewhere?

 

[Raymedullary]

During my yacht/ships joinery apprenticeship, I was advised by my foreman to always keep a stop cock wheel in my toolbox as the square in them fits over the taper of a twist bit. Yachts being what they are... full of tight spaces they could have been handy.