Three Jaw Brace
Ever have to fight with a thirty foot cord on a cold day? This tool has no cord. And no batteries. No worry about theft, obsolescence, charging. Imagine being able to remove #4 Phillips screws, long embedded with their heads effectively stripped before they were painted over. By hand. The same tool, with a "no moving parts" adapter, is a speed wrench for 3/8" drive sockets. And you can use 1/4" hex bits as well.
The traditional hand brace does all this, and weighs less than a commercial-duty battery pack. That's why I have two old braces in my on-site tool kit, where I do a vast array of kludge-like repairs to building systems -- everything from removing the third set of windows in a building's life, to re-hanging wood and steel doors (remember those stripped, self-tapping, Phillips screws?), boring holes to run a fish-tape through, and taking mechanical stuff apart.
I just bought my first-ever "new" brace from Lee Valley Tools. Made in France this version will accept traditional square-taper auger bits, and with its three jaw chuck, any round or hex shank tool up to about 15 mm (9/16") diameter. This new one together with two power tools -- a 25-year-old Black and Decker screw gun, and a Makita 7 1/4" circular saw -- makes my tool kit.
-- Lou Parsons
Three Jaw Brace
$67
Available from Lee Valley
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A cool tool is anything useful that is superior to comparable items. If you think this tool is inferior suggest a better one. You are welcome to insult a tool, but comments containing insults to individual people will be deleted. Corrections of fact are always welcomed, if stated politely. Recommendations of better tools are dearly wanted and may be elevated to the front page.
AAAndrew
I just finished building myself a new workbench with a four-inch-thick top made of hard maple. I wanted to bore 3/4" holes through it for a system of holding down work. There was no way any normal corded drill would be able to drill one 3/4" hole through 4 inches of hard maple, let alone my cordless drill.
Instead, I chucked up a 12" sweep brace (an antique one, but simpler than these in design) and a sharp 3/4" Irwin bit, and went to town. It was work, I won't kid you, but I was able to bore 13 holes in my bench in not too much more time than it would have taken me with the massive drill it would have required to do it with motors, and the only burn-out I risked was me. For that all I need is a lemonade, not a new motor.
For that same bench I also used the same brace to drill a 1.25" hole through the leg to mount a vise screw. Again, it would have fried any normal drill but was no problem for an old brace.