Brace & bits identification

[Blackswanwood]

One of my neighbours has given me a brace and bits which she said was just cluttering up her garage. It belonged to her husband (she's in her eighties) but didn't know when he acquired it.

I cannot see any makers marks and wondered if any of the old tool experts had any thoughts on likely age?

 

[AndyT]

The topic of braces is a huge specialist area that I don't know in detail, but I can say for sure that you have a "plated brace" in beech, which would have been a step above a common brace without the extra bits of brass screwed on, but one down from a "framed brace" where a brass outer layer surrounds a wooden infill. From a quick and unscientific glance at some old catalogues, they were still listed by the big London dealer Melhuish in their 1899 catalogue (24 shillings, with a set of bits). In the 1921 catalogue the price had gone up to 31s 6d in the illustrated book, but an accompanying price list says it's been cancelled.



Salaman, in his Dictionary of Woodworking Tools, gives a date range for the plated brace of 1800-1910.

So it's probably Victorian, but could be early 20th century. British makers seem to have been happy to keep older designs available long after newer alternatives (eg metal ratchet braces) had been introduced.

It's a nice gift and if you wanted to try the bits out, you might be quite pleased to see how little effort those centre bits need, even in the larger sizes.

 

[Lons]

That's really nice and worth keeping, it's been well looked after. It looks like a well made storage box as well possibly the old guy made it himself?