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:
- (31.8 KiB)
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:
- (337.74 KiB)
- (310.88 KiB)
- (180.43 KiB)
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!