Jennings Pattern Auger Bit for Braces

These brand new, traditional Jennings-pattern brace bits are made by a leading European drill manufacture in their cutting edge machine and grinding shop. They are the highest quality auger bits on the market: At least as good, maybe better, than original stock Jennings bits of a half century ago.

We're proud to say these Jennings pattern bits are the product of Joel's relationship with our favorite European bit manufacture, and Joel's expansive collection of antique and vintage tools. On a recent visit, our rep asked us asked if there was any style of bit we wanted - Joel's answer: "Traditional Jennings Brace Bits!" We sent our rep home with a collection of unused 60 year old brace bits, as well our collected years of knowledge on the specifications that make a great Jennings Auger Bit. They needed to get the spurs right, the cutting edges right, and the twist and length right but most of all, we wanted a proper fine lead screw for hardwoods, not the more common coarse pitched lead screw (which is useless for cabinetry).

These auger bits exceeded our expectations. They feed easily and cleanly, and they cut through hardwood with aplomb. The bits are well balanced, with a fast clearing action that is preferred by furniture makers and other crafts workers. The two cutting spurs cut the fibers of the wood as the screw thread tip pulls the bit through the wood, feeding at the correct rate without the need to push the brace into the workpiece. The traditional square taper shank fits two jaw braces.

Hand tools like these auger bits are especially wonderful when you are dealing with irregular or complex work. For example, many times it's pretty easy to waste out the bulk of a mortise using a power drill and then clean up with mortise and paring chisels. But as your work gets more complicated, you cannot beat a brace and bit for drilling big holes at odd angles in irregular work for which clamping the wood under a drill press would require extensive and time-consuming setup. Clean through holes are easy to produce with an Auger bit: As soon as the lead screw pireces the work, reverse the bit, remove it from the hole, and start it on the opposing side of the workpiece, locating the bit on the piercing. The sharp spurs of the bit sever the wood fibers cleanly, eliminating torn grain.

Note: By design Jennings bits drill holes with a "running fit" that is a few thousands of an inch over the nominal size. These new bits continue that practice.

Made in Western Europe.


N.B. Unlike antique bits, these brand new machined bits have very sharp spiral flutes. We found that the flutes are so sharp that in some cases they catch the edge of the hole. The simple solution is to break the edges of the flutes (not the spurs or cutting edges) with some sand paper.