Braces, egg beaters and cordless

[bgeva]

For some time I am going down the slope of hand tools (almost unplugged).

Besides band saw which I am not going to drop, the last bastion left is the drilling section. I was keeping this for last as I did not feel the modern tools are inferior to hand tools. Finally I got some egg beaters, braces and auger bits.

So far I am NOT impressed. Both entrance and exit holes are not clean, it is more difficult for me to keep it straight etc. Please tell me it is me and not the best I can get out of these tools. Somewhat reminds me my first attempts of using planes, chisels and handsaws - took some time until I was able to get what I want out of these and enjoy...

So what do you think - can I get really clean and straight holes where I need them?

BG

[AHill]

It's probably not you, but the bits. If your problem is with auger bits, then they need to be sharpened. Also, don't drill all the way through the wood. Drill until the lead screw can be seen on the other side. Then flip the piece over and drill from the opposite side. I get perfectly smooth holes this way with my bits. There's somewhat of an art to sharpening the bits. Once you've figure that out, then you'll be amazed at how well they cut.

[Admiral]

What Alan said.

Get an auger bit file. TFWW.

link

[blackhat]

I don't disagree that a truly sharp auger can cut a clean hole but IMO, auger bits are not really a cabinetmakers first choice. Forstners, brad points, even a standard twist bit are often a better choice. A lot of braces will grab a hex shanked bit. Many of my forstners have such a shank. Some will grab a round shank just fine, especially the 1/4" size. You can buy or adapt a Jacobs style chuck to fit in a brace or breast drill as well. For a clean face, use a bit with cutting spurs and turn it backwards to score the edge of the hole. It doesn't matter what you turn or how, the backside will blowout if you don't use a backer board or drill from both sides. A sweat powered post drill can bring the accuracy of a drill press to a cordless shop but my kids will have to deal with my drill press after I'm gone.

[Admiral]

Yup, like this

LV link

Get em before they are gone.

[bgeva]

I actually forgot to mention that I even tried the egg beater with LV brad points - the ones they resharpen (so far the best brad points I've seen). These ones creates super clean entry and exit if I feed slow with both my drill press and cordless + backer. However, not so good with egg beater.

With augers I tried to drill from both sides. A bit better. The only thing I did not try was turning back first to score the circle.

As for the bits - some are new in wax. I assumed these are sharp, but did not inspect thoroughly. Will do some more experimenting tomorrow.

Thanks,

BG

[blackhat]

I try to always drill with the drill horizontal and my non cranking hand braced against my body. Body leaning into the drill. That helps keep the top end of the drill from waving about.

[C. in Indy]

So far my experience is like the OP's. Power drilling allows an engineered balancing of chip-ejection vs. burning-prevention (rotating speed choices), along with the ability of the quill lever to prevent a too-rapid bit progress through the hole sometimes. So if I have important holes that must be crisp, I'll go powered. If I can't go powered, sometimes I'll clamp a guide-hole block onto the workpiece, so the bit can't rattle around when starting.

[Bibliophile 13]

I use both powered and hand drills frequently. My drill press still sees a lot of use, but I also reach for my braces and eggbeaters a lot, too. Both have their place. Here's my take:


Drill Press is good for...
- holes that need to be dead-straight
- holes that need to be a precise depth
- lots of holes of the same size/depth
- shallow holes

Electric hand-held drill is good for...
- lots of small holes drilled quickly
- driving screws without pilot holes
- drilling in wood that may contain metal or other debris

Brace is good for...
- deep holes bored quickly
- holes in large workpieces (e.g. drawboring mortise-and-tenon joints on a door rail)
- driving screws (Seriously, get yourself a bit holder for a brace. No more stripped-out Phillips heads!) '

Eggbeater is good for...
- small-diameter pilot holes
- driving small screws

[Downwindtracker2]

I found geometry of the cutting lips on Irwin bits to be less than ideal, I much preferred Stanley. As a poor apprentice I had to buy bits individually , so I have no experience with the rich Russel Jennings. Now it's a couple of bucks a hand full.