I'm packing up all the tools I'll need in North Carolina for the coming week, and I was a bit shocked this morning as I went through my checklist.

One of the "Woodwright's Shop" television programs Roy Underhill and I are shooting this weekend will deal with the typical toolkit of a joiner circa 1839. I compiled my list based on an old book, "The Joiner & Cabinet Maker," which detailed the fictional life of a young apprentice.

During the book, the apprentice builds three projects – a packing box, a dovetailed schoolbox and a full-scale chest of drawers. Last year I built all three of these projects using only hand tools (the school box was featured in the Autumn 2009 issue of Woodworking Magazine).

Today I made up a list of the 41 tools mentioned in the construction of the three projects in the book. This includes everything from pencils to chalk and plow planes to bowsaws. What was surprising was how few tools there were. I fit them all easily on my 20"-wide x 6'-long workbench. To be sure, there would be several tools that I would have liked to have had in that toolkit, such as a sliding bevel square, but they are all tools of convenience instead of necessity.

Here's the list (and yes, I know that some people think a dozen chisels are not one item. I do. Just ask my wife. If I have 100 cans of tomato soup I'll go through the express lane at the grocery store and say: It's one item. So there).

2' rule
Try square
Chalk
Chalk line
Handsaw
Ripsaw
Bench brush
Two sawbenches
Pencil
Striking knife (a joiner's marker)
Jack plane
Trying plane
Smoothing plane
Rubstone
Wooden straightedge
Marking gauge
Panel gauge
Brad awl
Hammer
Piece of iron or steel for clenching/straightening nails
Nail set
Broad chisel, dullish (for scraping glue)
Sash saw
Shooting board
Bench hook
Dovetail saw
Chisels (a dozen, 1/16" up to 1"; then two or three wider than that)
Rattail file
Turnscrews
Brace
Countersink
Rasp
File
Sandpaper
Mallet
Name stamp
Rebate plane
Plow plane
Mortise chisel
Mortise gauge
Frame saw (bowsaw)

— Christopher Schwarz

Want More on Early Tools and Technology?

• Visit Gary Roberts's excellent Toolemera.com. No, I'm not sure how to pronounce it, either. It combines "tool" with "ephemera." In any case, Gary's site is chock full of catalogs and early books that you can download or order.

• Jeff Gorman's web site is back up! Neanderthals rejoice. www.amgron.clara.net. There is lots of good stuff there on traditional technique from a British perspective.

• The Evenfall Woodworks Library is another free repository of great old books. Stop in when you have some bandwidth you want to suck up with some great downloads.

I love me some blue masking tape. I have at least four rolls of the stuff at my bench and use it for all sorts of tasks, from shimming a shooting board to stopping the flow of blood.

Yet, there is one common use of the tape that I dislike: Using masking tape as a depth indicator on a drill bit. Sure, the first couple holes you make will be OK. But the tape soon slips up the bit and you are drilling too deep – sometimes clear through your workpiece.

For many years I used the Stanley No. 49 bit gauge, which threads onto an auger. I'd show you a photo of it but mine is lost somewhere behind my bench. I've never liked the thing. It is fussy to adjust – like a really slow handscrew clamp.

About two or three years back I bought a new old stock Stanley No. 47 bit gauge from Tools for Working Wood. Joel Moskowitz stumbled on a cache of the suckers that were still attached to their original cards.

I snapped one up. Boy am I glad I did.

This gizmo is fast, accurate and doesn't slip. You loosen one thumbscrew, then you can slide the stop up or down the shaft of your auger. And while it's loose you can also move the springy stop for fine adjustments.

And, best of all, the spring makes an intoxicating "sproing" noise when agitated – just like the springy door stops of my youth. Those were one of my favorite toys. This was before cable television.

If you see one of these guys, snap it up. I've seen them for sale for about $20. Perhaps someone makes this style of bit gauge and can provide a link in the comments section below.

— Christopher Schwarz

My sister-in-law killed her college landlord with a voodoo doll, so don't try tell me that curses don't exist.

The curse du jour is an innocent flat-panel door I'm building for a wall-hung cabinet. It couldn't be a simpler piece of work. It's a single panel of cherry with two battens on the backside that are nailed and clinched.

On the last nail on the last batten, the batten split in twain as I clinched it. So that meant I had to de-clinch five nails, remove them from the door and do all of this without damaging the rest of the door.

Here's how I did it.

If awls rule the afterlife (and I hope they do not), they are going to have an especially pointy place reserved for me when I depart for the workroom in the sky. That's because I have found birdcage awls to be excellent at removing clinched nails.

I simply use the awl to burrow a hole next to and under the nail. Then I lever the clinched section up with the awl. Birdcage and brad awls are especially good at this because they are boring tools, unlike the scratch awl.

Then I can use my nippers to pull the nails out and start over again.

So how do I know this door is cursed? Check out this hinge mortise. Yup. I snapped two brass screws as I was driving them home. Lucky for me, Glen Huey has a 1/4" screw extractor.

This will teach me to never leave my chicken bones at home.

— Christopher Schwarz

Today most of the magazine's staff spent the day with Ron Herman, a seventh-generation housewright in Columbus, Ohio, who has spent the last 29 years building, remodeling and restoring homes and historic sites – in many cases using only traditional tools.

His small shop north of the city is one of the wonders of the Western world. Amongst the machinery (much of it converted from a line-shaft system) are more hand tools than your eye can possibly take in. If this were a tool collection, it would be stupendous. The fact that Herman sets up all these tools and uses them is mind-blowing.

Herman spoke on handsaws at out last Woodworking in America Conference. But he knows about a lot more than saws.

I'm still trying to process all my notes and photos for a future article. Herman can talk. And his shop is a feast for the camera. In the meantime, I've pulled out a few good quotes from my notebook and some of the photos I took during our visit.

"You have to have good mojo. You don't screw widders and orphans for tools. Some guys will come in here and say, 'I got this saw for $1 and it's worth $500.' I tell them to get it out of here. It's bad mojo. That saw won't cut straight or hold an edge. I believe in that stuff. Bad mojo will follow you around."

"Tools all have life left in them if they fit your hand. Strip the handle. Salvage the parts. Whatever you do, don't s*&tcan a tool."

"We don't own these. We are their stewards for the next generation. We keep them and prepare them for the next generation."

"The more tools you have the more problems you can solve."

"I drive tool collectors nuts. They bring me something mint in the box and I give them the box back. I have no problems using a tool from the 1700s. I say to (the tool), 'How does that feel to have wood in your mouth again?' "

"The earth's gravity is a constant. I haven't seen it change. It doesn't run out of batteries. You can't kick it down a hill by accident. It's doesn't lie. It can't."

— Christopher Schwarz

I like corded drills – as long as it's an umbilical cord.

Actually, I do like my Makita corded drill for some things (mixing paint, for example). And I do like to use a battery drill when I have a heap of screws to drill and drive. But for most of my onesie-twosie jobs, I much prefer the meat-powered varieties of drills.

Now some beginning woodworkers get confused about what each boring instrument is used for. And, like people who buy a No. 1 plane all the way up to a No. 8 plane, they think you need all the tools to do good work. Not so.

Here are some of the common pork-powered drills in woodshops and their intended uses. I think you need one solution for small holes and one for big holes – though there is a lot of overlap and oddness ahead.

Gimlets
These little guys are – in their modern form – essentially a piece of wire that has been sharpened at one end and twisted into a handle at the other. Old gimlets were a drill bit mounted in a wooden handle. There are several flavors of gimlets (such as shell and wire-fret gimlets) but the vast majority are what we now call "twist gimlets."

These have a small screw thread at their point that then changes into your typical drill flutes, which are designed to remove waste from the hole. The smallest one I have is 5/64" in diameter, and R.A. Salaman's "Dictionary of Woodworking Tools" says they were available up to 3/8". That's a gutload of gimlet.

I like the little suckers. They're cheap. And they are handy when boring a few scant holes for nails when I'm toenailing the inside of a carcase. Do you want to use them for all your small holes? The answer is Socratic: Does your health insurance cover chronic wrist injuries?

Roy Underhill describes gimlets thusly:

"...(T)hey are a nuisance to sharpen, easily broken, kill your arm, and split the wood. Other than that, they're great."

Awls
Bradawls and birdcage awls are actually boring tools. They are ideal for making small holes in confined spaces. Or where you need a lot of control. I prefer the so-called bircage awl to the bradawl. The square shank of the birdcage awl scrapes a hole. The bradawl seems to mostly push fibers aside.

Hand Drills
These gizmos are what we call "eggbeater" drills and operate by turning a crank, which spins the chuck. After a 100 or so holes with a gimlet, these guys will seem like your best friend. They are, however, greatly limited by what size of bit they can spin. The biggest bit I can spin is about 1/4" – which is good because that is as big as the chuck is on the typical hand drill. The bits get pretty small, the smallest one in my kit is 1/16".

I've written a lot about hand drills, and I use them as much as I use my cordless electric drill. They have infinitely variable speed and torque. You can bore with immense precision by starting very slowly. They make a fun noise.

Look for ones that have a fully functional chuck – many are gummed up or the springs have sprung. And the side handle – sometimes called the "chef's hat"--  is a great place to hang on while you ride.

The hand drill is, to my eye, the more evolved member of the bow-drill family. This primitive form goes back to Egypt (at least). A stringed bow wraps around the shaft of the drill. Move the bow forward and the bit spins. Pull the bow back and it spins backwards. I've used them. There's a good reason that it looks like a Native American way of making fire.

Archimedean Drill

These tools are generally for small holes, sometimes very small holes. the shaft is a spiral. By moving the head up and down, the drill spins. They work, but their job has largely been supplanted by the hand drill. However, the technology lives on in the spiral screwdrivers that old-school carpenters and woodworkers still use – the spiral is just typically hidden by a steel sleeve.

To make bigger holes, there are different tools:

Breast Drills
These are the bigger cousins of the hand drill and work on the same principle. However, instead of being topped with a handle, they have a breastplate. This makes them ideal for drilling big holes while holding the drill horizontally. It's more of a home construction tool. I own one, but it's mostly for the kids to play with. I have yet to find the woodworking job that made me glad I had spent $5 on the tool.

The Brace
This crank-based tool is one of the most widely used boring tools in the woodshop. I've had one since I was a kid. With this tool you can do a remarkable range of work. If Ronco had been around in the 15th century, they would have made one of these tools. Not only do they bore holes – a typical 13-piece set of bits is 1/4" to 1" – but they are good for countersinking and driving screws. You can ream holes with them. Make round tenons. Create plugs. There are even special bits for reaming out the ends of trees so you can join them end-to-end into one giant floating raft.

Typical woodworking sizes of the brace range from a 6" throw (for wussies) up to the 14" throw (for those with gorilla arms). The most typical sizes are the 8" and 10" throw. The bigger the brace, the easier it is to turn the big bits. But you need more clearance. And you need to make sure you don't punch yourself in the liver.

They come in an almost infinite variety. There are all manner of nutty chucks. Crazy pads and handles. Byzantine ratcheting systems. Be sure to hunt down the rare Whimble brace. Not to buy it. But to wonder at it.

There are some jobs that the brace will do that will poop out a cordless drill or cook a corded one. Whenever I bore the dog holes in my workbenches, I use a brace. I think you should get one, too. But don't buy a new one. I've only seen stinky ones (including one with three jaws. Why?).

Do you research at Sanford Moss's site, save up $5 or $10 and go buy one.

Augers
Another old-school way of making big holes was to use an auger, which is essentially an enormous gimlet. There is a big bit with a big wooden T-handle. Many of the handles could accept a variety of bits. Augers work extremely well, though you really have to use them vertically, which isn't always an option in a shop.

I have some augers and break them out occasionally, though I much prefer my brace(es).

I'm sure I've forgotten some ways to make a hole (drips of water plus 10,000 years, pump drills, pillar drills, Passer drills), but these cover most of the tools I've had experience with. I think most woodworkers can get by with one tool for small holes and one tool for large holes. For me, I like the hand drill for small holes and a 10" brace for big ones.

— Christopher Schwarz

Reader Aaron Cashion writes:

"Watched your DVD about drawboring today after reading your 'Workbenches' book. Really enjoyed both. I had never heard of drawboring, and this will defintely be going into my arsenal. Where can I get a good eggbeater style hand drill? Are there new quality ones being made or should I go the eBay route and look for a vintage one? I prefer to buy quality and not some Asian import for $4.99."

Ah Aaron, I relish opening this can of oligochaetes.

I have yet to encounter a newly manufactured eggbeater drill that I like. That doesn't mean there aren't any. I've always been curious about this drill from Germany. However, I've never seen one boring in the wild.

Most of the eggbeaters – more properly called "hand drills" – that I've used have been from the venerable Millers Falls company. This company made a shocking quantity and variety of these drills, and you can learn all about the different models here at Old Tool Heaven.

In the Midwest and East, you can find these tools at almost any antique store, flea market or garage sale. I typically pick them up for $5 to $15 when they are in good working order. Look for a chuck that has jaws that open and close properly (they can be missing their springs). You want the gear train to move smoothly – through usually a little cleaning and lubrication can fix things up.

Typical hand drills will be missing their removable side handles, so snatch up any that of those that you stumble on.

These drills come up every darn day on eBay, though you cannot tell if the thing is clapped out. Here's a search script that will take you to a page of drills. However, I prefer to take my drills for a spin before spending my American dollars.

The other option is to spend a bit more and get a drill that is better than new.

Wiktor Kuc of New Mexico buys these old drills and rebuilds them so that they look and work better than when they came from the factory. I've had a few of Wiktor's drills pass through my hands, and all I can say is that the man charges far too little for the work he does. If drill restoration is an art form, Wiktor is the Leonardo.

You can purchase these drills from Wiktor at his web site wktools.com. You might have to wait a bit for one, but it's worth it.

— Christopher Schwarz

In the interest of full disclosure, the following book – "The Perfect Edge" – is being published by my parent company, F+W Media. Also, I consider the author, Ron Hock, a good friend. Oh, and once I got on stage and shook it with a belly dancer in Greece after too many grape leaves and shots of ouzo.

OK, now that all that's on the table, I think I can also say I'm a big fan of the two other big sharpening books out there: "The Complete Guide to Sharpening" by Leonard Lee (Taunton) and "Taunton's Complete Illustrated Guide to Sharpening" by Thomas Lie-Nielsen. I've also sharpened a few tools in the last 15 years using everything from a brick to a $1,000 electric-powered record player.

So let's get the most important question out of the way. If you already own the books by Lee or Lie-Nielsen, do you need "The Perfect Edge?" Well, unless you are a sharpening geek, no. All three books are outstanding works, in my opinion. All three will teach you how to sharpen a wide variety of tools. All three will take you from rank amateur to a zero-radius-intersection connoisseur.

If, however, you don't own a book on sharpening, I think "The Perfect Edge" should be at the top of the list, if only for the fact that it covers the latest innovations in sharpening equipment and is written in a very breezy style that makes the technical information easy to digest.

Hock is one of the founding fathers of the hand-tool renaissance that has been blossoming during the last 20 years. He started out supplying plane irons to James Krenov and his students at the College of the Redwoods. From that modest beginning, Hock Tools grew to sell all sorts of blades, tools and even shellac through his company in Northern California. In fact, the term "Hock blade" is almost becoming the generic term for an aftermarket plane iron.

So Hock knows a good deal about woodworking tools, steel and sharpening. And what is remarkable is that this ironmonger also happens to be a fine writer. Reading about sharpening can be, for the lack of a better expression, a real grind. There's a lot to know about abrasives, steel, ergonomics, lubricants and (if you are lucky) common sense.

As a long-time sharpener, I think Hock did a better job of explaining the abrasive side of the sharpening equation than anyone else. "The Perfect Edge" finally made the light bulb go on in my head on the topic of how different abrasives work the steel.

Hock's book also is strong in other areas. While all three books do a fine job of explaining how to sharpen chisels and plane irons, "The Perfect Edge" really does an excellent job with turning tools, knives and saws as well.

Hock also covers all the new powered sharpening equipment and many of the honing guides on the market today. It's quite up-to-date for a book. Plus, I think the photography is great. It's sharp and gets right up on the action – plus Hock offer pages and pages of microscopic images of edges, which are very helpful for anyone trying to understand how steel becomes sharp and then dull again.

One last point of disclosure is in order here. Though I got to read Hock's book in its entirety before it went to the printer, I had absolutely nothing to do with the effort to get it written, photographed, edited and published.

But I wish I had.

"The Perfect Edge" is now available for pre-order in our store for $29.99. The book is scheduled for general release in December, when it will be available from suppliers nationwide. Oh, and here's a little hint: If you want a copy signed by Hock himself, you can order the book through the Hock Tools web site.

As you might remember, we have a bit of a competition going among some of the women attending the Woodworking in America conference this week. Megan Fitzpatrick, Heather Griffin (one of the conference organizers) and Kari Hultman from the blog The Village Carpenter are all vying to be the best borer.

As a result, they'll be competing in the Hand Tool Olympics, sinking a 3/4" bit through yellow pine to see who is the fastest (points off for a hole that isn't plumb).

Today we gave Heather a few pointers on boring, then Megan showed us how she was doing. Then Megan tried to kick Heather in the head. Really. It's in the movie.

By the way, apologies to everyone in advance here. I called both of them "girls" during this short video. Yes it took only 1:09 for my Southerness to shine through. In Arkansas we call 70-year-old grandmothers "girls." And until my voice changed, they called me "girl," too.

In any case, the boring climax of this competition will occur at the Saturday-night banquet at Woodworking in America. It's a full card: Roy Underhill and a catfight.

— Christopher Schwarz

I mean, who doesn't like a good girl fight?

In high school, fights among the boys were boring. Lots of posturing. Maybe some shoving. At best they might clasp into some Greco-Roman grip that would immobilize both of them for up to five minutes. Yawn.

Give me Heather "Cat Food" Barker vs. Tammy "Runs With Scissors" Gentry any day. There was always some hair pulling. The occasional dirty punch. And, if you got lucky, some good bloody fingernail scratches.

And that is exactly what you are going to see at Woodworking in America in Valley Forge, Pa., on Oct. 2-4. Heather Griffin, the conference's organizer, and Megan Fitzpatrick, our managing editor, have vowed to compete head-to-head in the boring competition at the conference's Hand Tool Olympics.

The two first met in boring battle at the Hand Tool Olympics in St. Charles, Ill., where they vied for last place (Megan came in third from last. Go Megan!)

This week in the office, things are getting ugly.

Heather stopped me in the lunch room and said she had three (printable) words for Megan: "Game on, girl!"

I took the message to Megan. She replied:

"Oh, she is going down!"

Quick side note: Megan issued this counter-challenge while snacking on a little spreadable goat cheese that was blended with Vermont butter and spread on a freshly baked herbed mini-baguette.

But before you put all your money on Heather, rest assured that Megan is going to practice at boring. I told her she didn't need any practice.

I am so dead.

— Christopher Schwarz

For those of us who buy old tools, one of the fantasies involves time travel. Wouldn't it be cool to walk into a hardware store in the late 19th century and buy a new Stanley Bed Rock plane off the shelf? Or how about an entire set of chisels from James Swan?

Until we build a time machine, we're just going to have to be satisfied with the work of Wiktor Kuc, who rebuilds hand drills to better-than-new glory.

Back in April I wrote a blog entry about a Millers Falls No. 5 that Kuc restored. Last week he loaned me a Millers Falls 2A for evaluation. I was so blown away by the tool, I had to show off some photos here on the blog. And I also decided to break the color barrier to do it.

And I wasn't the only one who was impressed. This drill was sitting on my desk a few days ago when Publisher Steve Shanesy stopped by. He picked up the hand drill and had a confused look on his face.

"Did Millers Falls start making these again?" he asked. "This is incredible."

Then Steve did what I did when I got the drill: He looked at the knurling on the chuck. I have a beloved 2A that I use all the time in my work and I thought my drill was minty. Apparently I don't know minty. The chuck on Wiktor's drill looks like it should still be covered in lubricant from the factory floor. It's just that perfect.

The entire frame has been repainted and baked. Not a flake or worn spot can be found. The wooden parts have been replaced with new turned parts – plus new ferrules. The only evidence I can find on this drill that it is not 5 minutes old (instead of 40+ years old) is that the drive gear has the slightest evidence that it was once pockmarked by rust. The rust is gone, but the tiny pits remain, if you look close enough.

In use, the thing is as good as it looks. All the gears mesh tightly and the crank handle spins with very little effort thanks to the thorough de-gunking from Kuc.

Of course, there is an ethical issue here to be debated. When I posted my last blog entry I received a fair number of private e-mails from people who were worried that restoration work like this could easily get out of hand. That anything other than a gentle cleaning ruins a tool's status with collectors. And even if it were a user tool in question, one should only do what it takes to get the tool running again. Removing the patina of use erases the tool's beauty and the evidence of the craftsmen who used it before.

These are good points that should be debated. Here's my take: I see these drills at every tools sale and flea market I haunt. They show up on eBay like clockwork. As far as I know there are enough of these drills for 100 museums dedicated to the great hand drills of Millers Falls.

Even someone with Kuc's work ethic shouldn't be able to deplete our supply of Millers Falls drills.

And Kuc is providing a service that might not be obvious. I love old tools and their patina, but there are lots of customers who will buy only new tools. I once spent a half hour begging a guy to buy an old brace instead of a new one. No matter how excellent (and inexpensive) the old ones were, he had to buy new. And this guy isn't alone.

So if you like old tools and want a vintage hand drill, here's what you should do: Visit OldToolHeaven.com – the best site for researching Millers Falls products. Pick out a few of the drills you like and start haunting the flea markets and online auction sites. I guarantee you'll find a decent drill for about $25 that will work with little or no restoration work on your part.

Or, if you like new and shiny, then visit WKTools.com and browse through his selection. Kuc has excellent taste in drills; I didn't see any of the low-rent hand drills that were intended for light-duty on his site. Just the premium iron.

— Christopher Schwarz

Today I'm abandoning a prototype design I've been working on this week between bouts of tending our gerund farm. I'd like to have a Viking funeral for this little end table, but I'm sure the fire inspector would scowl.

Despite the failed design, the experience hasn't been a total loss. While Senior Editor Robert W. Lang wasn't looking, I snitched his Bosch I-Driver, which I've been using all week. You see, I'm in the market for a new cordless drill. My 12-volt tools are more than five years old and feel like they weigh a ton compared to the newest generation of tools.

The I-Driver, what Bosch calls the PS10-2, is just about everything I want in a cordless tool. Where to start? The sucker is built like a tank. Everything is tightly constructed on this tool; many low-priced drills feel like they are going to fall apart on you (and we've had several flame out on us over the years as well).

Second: I love the pivoting head. The chuck pivots 90°, which allows you to get into places that no other drill will go. The low-profile chuck also aids in making this the sneakiest drill I've ever used. The chuck accepts ¼" hex-shank tooling, which some will see as a downside, but I consider it a minor inconvenience for the low profile.

What else? The tool goes and goes. Yes, it's only 10.8 volts, but it took me a long time to drain the battery – and these batteries are a couple years old and have lots of cycles on them. Other plusses: It has a fine clutch (not all right-angle dills do, which is stupid). Plus, the oversized trigger allows you to use two fingers, so your control of the speed is greatly enhanced.

I think I've found my next drill. Sure, it's not going to easily spin 1/16" twist bits, but that's what I have my Millers Falls eggbeater drill for, right?

And now to see if we have any gasoline in the shop. I have a prototype to deal with.

— Christopher Schwarz

The best hand drills ever made came out of the Millers Falls factory in the first half of the 20th century. While many people used these drills for boring holes in metal, the tools proved remarkably adept at becoming the first generation of cordless drills for woodworking.

These drills are today called eggbeater drills because of the way the drive mechanism works. The main gear turns either one or two pinions on the tool’s shaft to turn the chuck backward or forward – just like an old kitchen eggbeater.

My favorite eggbeater drills are the Nos. 2, 2A and 5 made by Millers Falls. These drills were made to an astonishingly high degree of precision, and are easily comparable to tools manufactured today by Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, Veritas, Wenzloff & Sons, Adria or Gramercy.

The eggbeater drills are fairly common at flea markets, but they are also usually in dogmeat shape. The gears are rusted. The bearings are gummed up. The wood knobs are dried out and cracked. The frames have lost all their paint.

But now Wiktor Kuc, the owner of WKTools.com and WKFineTools.com, is restoring and selling these drills on his website and on eBay. He recently sent me a Millers Falls No. 5 that he has restored, and I am just stunned by the quality of the restoration.

This tool looks better than any example of a Millers Falls I’ve ever seen. It looks good no matter how close you examine it. Inside the chuck. At the seam between the ferrule and the handle. Where the pinions mesh with the main gear.

Kuc says he’s been restoring these kinds of drills for a year. He’s been learning the best way to disassemble and clean the tools, how to apply principles from jewelers to polish the metalwork, and how to deal with the dried-out wood.

“I started doing this for myself,” Kuc says. “I love to restore old tools. I read Herb Keane’s book (‘Restoring Antique Tools’) and it blew my roof off. I had to learn to do that.”

Since he started restoring drills (and some braces), Kuc’s resurrected more than 130 Millers Falls drills, 30 Goodell-Pratt drills and a number of braces.

He takes all the drills apart as much as possible, strips them clean and then rebuilds them so they look and work perfectly. The ones he can restore to their full glory Kuc sells on his web site after four to five coats of paint and refinishing everything. The drills that he cannot get perfect he sells on eBay at a reduced price, though they are functionally perfect.

The perfect drills cost between $60 and $110, depending on their rarity. On eBay, the current crop of drills cost between $50 and $90. Are they worth it? Absolutely. If you want a cordless drill that will never run out of juice (until you run out of juice) an eggbeater like this is ideal for any toolbox.

These tools have small chucks that are great for furniture-scale twists and brad-point bits. I use hand drills all the time when making pilot holes, especially for screws or nails.

And one more thing: If you already have a Millers Falls drill, Kuc also sells reproduction parts for these drills that are usually missing, such as the side knobs and the bits that are stored in the handles.

Millers Falls drills are very common, so if you don’t want a restored one you’ll be able to find them at garage sales, flea markets and eBay (they are not scarce by any measure). But if you want the best – a tool that looks as good as it works, check out Kuc’s selection. Highly recommended by me (and banned by wivesagainstschwarz.com).

— Christopher Schwarz

Though my 12-volt cordless drill is always close at hand, I keep my brace and bit just as close. My brace and my augers allow me to drill deep holes in stout stock that my cordless drill struggles with. The brace also gives me more precision when boring to a certain depth because it's easy to take things slow.

Plus – and I know I'm going to take some grief for this statement – I think it's about the same amount of work to bore a ¾" hole with a brace as it is with a cordless drill. Sometimes we forget that electric drills require a fair amount of strength to control when drilling sizable holes.

The only real trick to using a brace and bit is to learn to sharpen the augers (it's easier than filing your fingernails) and to get a decent used brace. Please don't buy a new one. I have yet to find a new brace that is anything more than a shadow of the vintage ones.

I've used a lot of braces in my lifetime – it was the only tool my father and I had for boring bolt holes in joists when we were building our houses on our farm. And I have a few favorite brands that have good chucks and a smooth ratcheting action. Here's the best news: The very best braces ever made can still be found for about $10 at flea markets, tool swaps and (if you shop with care) on eBay.

By far, my favorite brace is the North Bros. Yankee 2101A brace. It is the Mercedes of the brace world. I first got my hands on one at my grandfather's house. He worked for Western Electric and the Yankee 2101A was standard equipment for Western Electric/Bell System employees who installed phone equipment. He had one that he used around the house and in his woodshop. That first brace spoiled me.

What's so good about it? Lots. The alligator-style chuck jaws close tightly and quickly on square-shanked auger bits or round-shanked twist bits. The ratcheting chuck runs like a top. The ratcheting chuck is a nice feature on high-end braces. The ratcheting allows you to work up against walls and to use your arms in tight spaces or more efficiently (some motions with a brace are more tiring than others). You can run the ratcheting either in forward or reverse, just like on a ratcheting wrench.

Most ratcheting braces have a fairly coarse ratcheting action. Each click shakes the tool. The North Bros. brace, however, is as smooth as silk and is quiet, like the ticking of a fine mechanical wristwatch.

All the knurling on all the parts is quite fine. The pad at the top fits tightly and rotates smoothly. I even like the handles, which are some sort of rubber or composite. They are very durable and comfortable. I've bought about a dozen of these in the last five years, usually for $10 to $20. They're fairly common in the used market. (Just look out for the ones marked "Stanley." After Stanley took over North Bros., a Philadelphia company, the quality declined.)

I've fixed up all of the braces (they didn't need much, usually just a cleaning) and have sent them out to other woodworkers or tool aficionados as gifts. I have other brands that I really like as well, including Peck, Stow and Wilcox. If you want to read more about braces and the manufacturers, I recommend Sanford Moss's excellent site: SYDNAS SLOOT. Sanford also sells a lot of braces, so if you're looking for one, he's a good man to know.

About the Augers
Once you get a good brace, you need to sharpen the auger. It's simple work with an auger bit file. An auger bit file is a file with two arrow-shaped ends. On one end the faces of the tool have file teeth, but the edges are toothless. On the other end of the tool, the edges have teeth but the faces do not. These sections without teeth are called "safe edges" and allow you to file in localized areas. You can get auger bit files from a wide variety of sources for less than $10.

When you sharpen an auger (or any tool), the less you sharpen it, the better. If you file aggressively you'll only ruin the cutting geometry of the auger and it won't cut butter. There are two places you need to file: the cutting lip and the inside of the spurs. Anyplace else that you file will probably make things worse.

First work the cutting lip. The lip levers out the waste and pushes it up the flutes. Put the auger point down against some scrap and gently file the lip. Mimic the existing edge geometry; secondary bevels won't help you here. I'll take four strokes or so until the lip gets shiny. Then I stop.

The spurs score the rim of the hole and allow the cutting lip to lever the waste up cleanly. File only the inside of the curves. The filing motion is more complex because the spur is vaguely football-shaped. As a result, I like to clamp the auger upright in a vise. Again, mimic the existing edge geometry and gently file the entire surface of the interior of the spur.

Don't file the outside of the spur. Bad things can happen.

If the lead screw of the auger bit gets clogged you can clean it out with dental floss. Other than that, there's not much to maintaining your auger bits.

Once you've sharpened up your first auger, try making a hole with your brace in some scrap. A sharp auger will beaver through wood at a remarkable rate. And then I think you'll be hooked.

— Christopher Schwarz