Yankees, Braces, and eggbeaters

[davidagage]

As a kid I used to play with all my grand dads Braces and Bits, Yankee Screw Drivers, and Eggbeater drills. Now I find myself out looking for them to actually use them. With all the new technology out there, it sure is nice to see the old standards still are the best tool for the job.

[Bill R]

Yup.

The more I learn, the more I find myself reaching for the old hand tools first, instead or the modern power tools.

[Jim Ledger]

Power hacksaw's nice, though.

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Never Had much need for the eggbeaters, but the brace and bit get used. Wish I had a good Yankee.

[Harry Miller]

I'm surprised there isn't one there now Allan but I've bought 2 Yankee braces on ebay. They're quite common.

[davidagage]

The things are all over ebay, and for a good price too. That is where I got my first Brace and Bit and now another brace, a yankee and an eggbeater. I can't wait to put them all to good use.

[rbgarr]

Originally Posted by davidagage

As a kid I used to play with all my grand dads Braces and Bits, Yankee Screw Drivers, and Eggbeater drills.

The original cordless tools.

[Mrleft8]

"Acoustic screwdrivers"

[Paul Pless]

Originally Posted by S/V Laura Ellen

Never Had much need for the eggbeaters, but the brace and bit get used. Wish I had a good Yankee.

I pointed three of them out to you at the antique store the other day.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

I have two Yankees, a large and a medium, and I am looking for the smallest size.

Two eggbeaters; one common or garden and one larger two speed.

Seven braces; one joint brace, which is an incredibly handy boatbuilders tool, and six regular types, two with very small swings.

The reasons for the proliferation of braces are a combination of very low price secondhand and the convenience of changing brace rather than changing bit.

As to bits, there is no end to them; I don't have a chair maker's spoon (yet!) but I do have an awful lot of other stuff: fast, slow, medium, barefoot auger bits, tank cutters, adjustable bits, screwdriver bits, etc. etc.

[Hal Forsen]

This post got me thinkin' about my old pal Doc Fleming.
Here's a story from his early shipwright years he told here several years back:


When I began my apprenticeship, I went hog wild buying every tool in the Stanley catalog or so it seemed.

I had NO experience with tools before this so didn't know my arse from a tea kettle about old stuff.

Came a time to use my brand new Stanley/Yankee 131A Quick Return screwdriver.
I proudly take it from my tool chest and begin walking across the yard. Yard foreman,Eddie Banks, sees me zipping the thing in and out and calls me over. He asks to see the driver and works the mechanism a few times. Eddie has me come with him to the tool shed where he takes a screwdriver and removes the big black slotted screw from the top of the handle and takes out the spring. He goes to the door and flings the spring into San Franciso Bay. I'm standing there with a dumbfounded look on my face when he turns and gives a chuckle. Kid, he says, my father did the same thing to me when I bought my first Yankee. Believe me you will thank me for doing that. Eddie opened a drawer of his tool chest and took out another 131A, worked the mechanism to show it still had the spring in it. He walked over to some scrap lumber and grabbed a screw off the back of the bench, drilled a pilot hole in the wood scrap and gave both to me.
I inserted the bit and placed it on the head of the screw in the pilot hole. I held the driver and pushed down. Donk, the bit slipped right off the screw and the spring send it right into the wood scrap. Eddie smiled and said, Kid you made your first and hopefully only 'donkey mark'.
I looked puzzled so he explained that a 'donkey mark' is something only an 'Arse' would make using a spring loaded Yankee on joiner work.

He reached into his tool chest and gave me a new spring still in the waxie Stanley wrapper.
I still have that spring in the wrapper along with all the old North Bros. Yankee tools I have collected over the years.

I miss Doc.

[Captain Blight]

I wish I still had my Miller's Falls breast drill, that was a nice tool. I do have one of the medium Yankee screwdrivers, though I only have a flat bit for it. It's proven invaluable for any number of things, including, oddly enough, tinkerin' with bicycles. 2-1/2 turns per push works out to just about right in many cases.

I never knew Mr Fleming. But I miss him too.

[Captain Blight]

FWIW, I just did some searching and Lee Valley sells an adapter that will let one use 1/4" hex-ended bits in a Yankee driver:

Linkage.

[johngsandusky]

I got all mine at yard sales, over time.

[Scot L T]

There used to be an old guy in my circle of travel that was the source of almost any woodworking hand tool ever made. He passed on a few years ago but a day doesn't go by without me using one of the planes, chisels or hand drills I liberated from him....I miss that old fella.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

The chuck on my breast drill is temperamental.

This may be because I used three ball point pen springs in it when it arrived in bits.

[seanz]

Five braces.
Two breast drills
Two Yankees
One egg beater
One push drill
And a joist brace......

And a backsmiths drill that I haven't used yet becuase there isn't the wall space to set it up
I think that's it

Hi, my name is Sean........


You've got to love the braces....they can drill holes as easily and more accurately than using a power drill.......and (in the larger sizes) with less smoke.

[John Meachen]

Two braces,one joist brace,two egg beaters,one Yankee and an Archimedes drill.All of which have outlasted my first four cordless drills.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Two braces, Three yankees in different sizes, but the real gem is a Peugeot two speed breast drill. I will still be drilling metal well after armageddon has come and gone.

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

I have an assortment of braces bought at yard sales. The Yankee 12 incher has the slickest rachetting mechanism there is.
Have a really pretty Miller Falls breast drill with a bent spindle. I've had it in the hydraulic press numerous times but can't seem to straighten it. Hope springs eternal.

[TomF]

I use eggbeater drills all the time - they're ideal for most little tasks 'round the house.

[RFNK]

I will still be drilling metal well after armageddon has come and gone.

Just you and all those cockroaches! Rick

[Timo_N62.9_E27.7]

What a coincidence! This morning I actually posted on another forum asking for the English name of this tool.

I just started working in our shared workshop (me, my Dad and my bro) after a long time. Couldn´t find a cordless drill (probably dumped because of a dead battery), but did find an old faithful:


Unfortunately it hadn´t been used for decade(s), totally stuck. So I had to spend half an hour to oil and make it work again.

My first memories of this particular tool are from the early sixties, when I wasn´t strong enough to push it but now it worked like a charm.

BTW, that was the first sawdust made in my new build, an 18´3" glued clinker schooner . Sure feels good having started.

[Dr.Spoke]

Surely an "eggbeater" drill should really be called wheel-brace, or?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Verily, good Doctor Spoke, thou hast the right of it.

They are indeed wheel braces.

[Bob Cleek]

I've got the full range of Yankees, but I've gotta get around to grabbing a set of matching hex shaft adapters for them as mentioned above. I'd expect that would really be useful, given all the odd slots these days.

The one I use most, though, is a small all metal one that bears a "Bell Telephone Co." imprint. It holds a set of drills in the cap and is designed for drilling starter holes for screws. While you wouldn't want to use it for fine work where you wanted tapered holes matching the screw shank tapers, it is damn handy for making holes when size don't matter.

[Dr.Spoke]

Thanks Andrew,
I knew immediately what an "egg-beater" was.... But something was gnawing in my head that it had a "real" name. I was on the point of phoning my father to ask him ( not an easy thing to do after-all he taught me the real name, but easier now I don't use english daily), then up from the dregs of memory - maybe 25+ years ago - comes the name!
"YouSmell!" as Archimedes would have it ( even though he hadn't finished bathing himself), I must post this re-aquired knowledge for the edification of the forum.
Even while doing so that age old adage ran through my head "nobody likes a smart-arse!"....

'Would love to get some good quality older tools, I have learnt at some stage to use most of them... But, the tools I have - drills etc. - I have learnt to use for the jobs I do. Maybe if I were building from scratch, or re-build/renovation, i might consider the investment. I know that the correct hand-tool is often faster, and usually easier to control

Phil

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by Hal Forsen

This post got me thinkin' about my old pal Doc Fleming.
Here's a story from his early shipwright years he told here several years back:

Thanks Hal. That made my day...

[Stan D]

My name is Stan, and I have an addiction to tools. (crowd-"Hi Stan").

I have not bought many hand tools on my own, I have inherited most of what I have. I would rather have the people, but as we all know, that is not an option. But back on topic.

I have 3 sizes of Yankee, 2 braces, and 3 eggbeaters. The largest eggbeater is a Millers Falls #2, with a hollow wood handle a wood cap to store bits. I'm sure that this is not so unusual, but I think it's so cool.

[Harry Miller]

Many posters seem to think a "Yankee" is only a spiral screwdriver. North Bros. - eventually bought by Stanley - manufactured very high quality braces under the name "Yankee"

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

In Britain, Yankee screwdrivers made by Spiralux were and are better than Yankee screwdrivers made by Stanley.

[Bob Smalser]

These Yankee chucks are handy if you can find one. I suggest setting a "saved search with email notification" on eBay.

[seanz]

Just picked up a Stanley Yankee #135 (along with a rusty Disston D8) for $1 at a garage sale.

Help meeeeeee.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Bob Smalser

These Yankee chucks are handy if you can find one. I suggest setting a "saved search with email notification" on eBay.

I was able to file some old screwdriver ends to fit my old Yankee when the blades wore out.

It shouldn't be too hard to grind the shaft of an old rechargable drill to make a Yankee Chuck. I will have to keep an eye out at the junk market.

[davidagage]

Originally Posted by Paul Fitzgerald

It shouldn't be too hard to grind the shaft of an old rechargable drill to make a Yankee Chuck.

Now there's a good idea. The batteries finally gave up the charge on my dewalt and replacements cost like $85 and I am cheap. I will have to look into cannabalizing the drill....

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Maybe there is a use for those silly drill bits with a hex base after all, in a yankee with a hex adapter.

[Stan D]

Originally Posted by davidagage

Now there's a good idea. The batteries finally gave up the charge on my dewalt and replacements cost like $85 and I am cheap. I will have to look into cannabalizing the drill....

Not knowing where "Watching The Strawberries Grow" is, but if there is a Batteries Plus store near you, they rebuild battery packs for $35.00.

And not that a battery drill is better than a Yankee, but every tool has it's place.

[Captain Blight]

Originally Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett

In Britain, Yankee screwdrivers made by Spiralux were and are better than Yankee screwdrivers made by Stanley.

Better, how?

[Simon R]

Another old drill. This one was my grandfather's archimedes drill. It's good for making tiny pilot holes. The bit is chisel shaped, like an bradawl. Quick, efficient, and the batteries never run out.

[Harry Miller]

If you're looking for a good brace this is one. One day 4 hr left.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/1925-NORTH-BROS-Y...item4cebefee2f