MIMF

I don't know if anybody here has a hankering to use an eggbeater hand drill, but maybe so. There may be times when a very slow drill speed might be desired.

I recently acquired a Millers Falls No. 2A drill (circa 1957) in very good condition, but I found it very clumsy to use at my first attempts. So I searched online and found information about restoration, but only two that illustrated a technique about how to use the drill in the vertical position. They showed holding the drill as if beating eggs, with the elbows close to the body and the crank perpendicular to body. The results were as unsatisfactory as my first attempts. So I worked out this way of using it:

1. Stand up straight. Do not rest your left hand and/or head on the top of the handle (and never hit a nail with your head, btw). Grasp the handle such that your palm is vertical. The thumb may rest on the top of the handle

2. Hold the drill directly in front of your sternum, so that your forearms are at 45 degrees relative to the line between your shoulders. Orient the drill so that the crankwheel is in line with your left (or right) forearm, i.e. also at 45 degrees to the line between your shoulders. This will greatly reduce wobbling while drilling.

3. Turn the crank with the knob between your right (left) thumb and forefinger, while putting moderate downward pressure with the left hand. Keep the speed steady but do not stop, and let the drill bit do the work.

4. Use brad-point bits or the old-school 2-flute bits when possible. Most ordinary jobber bits will work, but I haven't discover the ideal bit profile yet. But I've found that a 4-edged spear-point glass bit cuts very nicely too, especially for starting a hole. I've managed drilling up 3/8" holes in oak with good results.

I hold my breath too.

All kidding aside, I have and use one too. It was my Dad's, probably fiftys era also. I use it for MOP dot holes, pins for fretboard/bridge indexing before glueing among other things. I've cranked it backwards in some drilling situations to prevent chipping the edge of holes in some woods (ebony for instance) with twist drills. Slow and easy does it.

I use an old Stanley that I picked up at a flea market and repaired. I use it for all sorts of stuff because its handy. Even more, I often use a home-made drill which is simply a large handled screwdriver with a keyless 3/8" drill chuck. If I need to be very careful, this is my go-to tool.

Mark says... "a large handled screwdriver with a keyless 3/8" drill chuck"

A macho pin vise, I like that!! I have all the parts, need to put that together!!
I use pin vises all the time for drilling small holes - that's really all i use to drill holes < 1/8" in wood.

Mark says... "a large handled screwdriver with a keyless 3/8" drill chuck"

I've got a hefty one, and a fancy one. The hefty one that I made on my lathe, is for chucking up homemade detail chisels that I make from spade bits (they're most often used on the lathe), and a beautifully make orthopedic surgery instrument intended for inserting metal rods into bones.

If you want to make one, here's a very nice German-made 1/64-5/16 chuck at a very good price $15.

https://www.wttool.com/index/page/produ ... pping=true

Not an eggbeater, not old but a chinese copy of an old 2 gear drill. Quality "chinese prejudice", i.e. not very usable in fast gear, but really nice in the slow gear, takes normal drill bits. I have already used it for pickup winding (actually bought it for that purpose...)

Beate, That looks like drill that was made for timberframing a house or barn, as the Amish do in the USA. It looks like it's meant to be used in the horizontal position with the foot pressed against the torso.

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Looks like a breast drill. In use, your chest would apply pressure to the top plate while turning the crank with your hand.

But You can also use it vertically as i did in a recent project - a recumbent bike seat:
I used my chin to hold at the top. Or drilled really slow and used just my two hands.

That thread finally did inspire me to look for an old eggbeater drill (i was thinking about that a while ago) - the recent ones seem to be mostly toys. And it looks as if i was lucky - that one looks pretty decent, doesn't it?
So, thanks for the posting, thanks for the inspiration. Now i can start practising a bit.

Gosh, I feel better about posting this now. Here's a link to a video by Mr. Chickadee, who is busting a homestead out of the trees of Kentucky. He uses 18th & 19th century tools, and in this video he demonstrates the technique of using an eggbeater drill, pretty much as I described it above. You might like his other videos as well.

https://youtu.be/zQGsiiK38I0

I think I have pretty much always had one like Beate's. It probably got more use before I finally succumbed to buying a battery operated drill/electric screwdriver but it is regularly used nonetheless. I can't really imaging being without one. I would quite like to have a brace (as in brace and bit) as well.

Simon Magennis wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2020 3:41 pm I think I have pretty much always had one like Beate's. It probably got more use before I finally succumbed to buying a battery operated drill/electric screwdriver but it is regularly used nonetheless. I can't really imaging being without one. I would quite like to have a brace (as in brace and bit) as well.

Dieter Schmid has a selection of braces & bits. I think a 3-jaw chuck would be the most desirable these, with hex and socket wrench adapters

https://www.fine-tools.com/bohr1.html

If you were local, I'd be happy to send you one - I've got three or four and only need one.

Reading Marks post up thread I decided to search my pics. Here is my take on what he described. And old drill chuck from an obsolete battery drill, and a chunk of curly maple that once was firewood but I couldn’t burn it. It has proved very useful.



Jim

And you can use a brad or other small nail with the head nipped off instead of a bit for small screws