HANDTOOLS: 14" 2101 Bell System Brace, Nice

[Admiral]

Came across a nice Stanley Yankee 2101 Bell System Brace, in the hard to find 14" throw size (ashamed to admit it, I thought it was a 12" at first, after I bought it I saw it was a 14", I never expected to find one); most of these I've come across, maybe 5 or 6 in the last 25 years, were beaten up, as they were used by linemen to drill holes in telephone poles and were often dropped, which is precisely why Ma Bell selected the Yankee braces for their lineman kits as they were totally bullet proof; but this one, other than having a small amount of nickel loss in spots, see pics, is in very nice condition.  Again, if you're not familiar with these, they are arguably the finest braces made, the standard against which all others are judged.  They were only made in 8, 10, 12 and 14 inch throw.  The 14" throw gives you extra torque for bigger bits.  As with all 2101s, they originally lubed the chuck stem and ratchet assembly with green grease, which hardened and gummed up the works, so I disassembled and cleaned it all out and lubed with white lithium grease, and now it operates as smooth as the day it was made.  Ball bearing chuck is just dandy, and ball bearing knob on the top spins like one, 100% mechanically, with only minor apologies, as noted above.  Great addition to the shop for those larger holes.  Pics:














Great example of a great design. It sounds trite, but nobody makes them like this anymore; look for a new one and you'll pay $75 at LV for an open ratchet brace of much less quality; and never in a 14" throw.

Due to its throw size, it can be yours for $60 plus shipping, first PM with an unequivocal "I'll take it" gets priority, and please include your shipping address so I can quote postage and print up mailing labels.  I don't have paypal, so payment by USPS money order or if I know you from the forum checks are ok.

Quality user tools that I would own and put to work, sold at reasonable prices.  Thanks for looking.

[SteveF]

Thant's a beauty and incredibly cheap to boot!

[Greg Jones]

PM sent-I'll take it if it is available.

[Admiral]

I've got three guys lined up, so it pretty much sold. Thanks to all for looking.

[DaveParkis]

To whomever bought this......Thank you.
)

[Admiral]

I've got three guys lined up, so it pretty much sold. Thanks to all for looking.

Confirmed sold.

[HomerLee]

That was a bargain. I just got $125 plus shipping, buy it now, on ebay (took about six hours) for the Yankee 2100 brace/Yankee screwdriver that didn't sell here.

[Admiral]

I'm not in it for the dough, its just somehow I can't abide seeing worthy old tools not being put to use. Over the years I've gotten some incredible deals on tools that I still use regularly, so I figure this is sort of paying it forward.  Which reminds me, I've got a bunch of worthy 5's, 6's and a few 4s and a 7 somewhere that I have to clean up and get back into circulation, gotta get around to that soon.....

Edit:  actually, your brace was a bit different, very nice earlier date and more of a collectible due to age and condition, mine was from Stanley production; that makes a difference.

[HomerLee]

The reason I asked $125 was that one like yours sold in February for $125 on ebay. Research I had done indicated the one I had was more valuable and I had the chrome Yankee screwdriver to throw in with it so I thought it should move.

I had recently picked the brace up at a moving sale where there was an almost unbelievable amount of junk. Most people don't think much of old braces, including me; haven't had much luck selling them. I was a couple hours late to the sale and it was still laying on the table. I asked how much and was told $10. I wasn't interested at that and said "how about $7"? The man thought awhile and said OK. I wavered and almost didn't buy it, but decided to take a chance. I was very surprised when I did some research after I got home. Now I'll probably never see another.