Auger Bits

[Vann]

With recent threads discussing the future of Clifton and Clico, I was very pleased to read that Clico will continue to manufacture auger bits. From that thread:

Any idea what will become of the Clico augur bits ? They seem to be the last manufacturer in Europe at least, and they are a pleasure to use. I hope they will still be made...

Alan Reid, Managing Director of Clico (Sheffield) Tooling Ltd., was in touch with me today and he confirmed that the wood boring tools (augers, Jennings pattern bits, spoon bits, mortice chisels and bits, etc) will remain as Clico products and will continue in production.

In another thread I mentioned that I had bought some auger bit files from the States. At the same time I bought two auger bits

Auger Bits:
Irwin 15/16" $US13.38 from Amazon;
Clico 7/16" $US32.95 from Tools for Working Wood.

They both came in plastic sleeves. The Irwin must be old stock as the sleeve has perished and is barely holding together. The Clico has additional protection in the form of glube (for want of a better name) on the tip. The Irwin is stamped 15/16" and Brazil, but no mention of Irwin. The Clico is etched Clico 79 9/16" SHEFFIELD MADE IN ENGLAND , which is disappointing as it will soon wear off. Also disappointing is that there is no size number stamped on the tapered square of either bit (15 or 9 respectively). The finish on the Clico looks rougher than the Irwin.

The cutting faces on the Irwin look serviceable but quite rough (I was warned of this in reviews on Amazon's website) with chips out of the router cutters.

The cutters on the Clico don't look brilliant either.

The reason I bought the Clico from a US seller is that they're hard to find listed anywhere, and I found that disappointing. I also found it disappointing that Clico merely etched their brand on the bit, vrs the proud "Clifton" cast into the lever-cap and bed of my Clifton planes, and stamped (probably at great cost) into the cutting irons. Surely a lasting stamp on the augers isn't too much to expect?

If they can't afford to have stamps made, maybe they still have the old "Morrisons" stamps laying about - as they operate out of Morrisons old Burton Weir plant (hammer)

When I looked through my original few auger bits, issued to me when I started my apprenticeship back in 1973, I found two scotch-pattern bits made by Morrisons - no doubt in the same factory.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Andy Kev.]

The Clico bits are listed on the Dieter Schmid website here:

http://www.fine-tools.com/bohr2.htm

If memory serves, they might be on the Thos. Flinn site too.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I recently bought a Clico 1/2" Jennings pattern auger from Toonut. I also bought a 5/8, 1" and 1 1/8" NOS Irwin pattern augers from Dieter Schmidt, along with a file.

The Dieter Schmidt ones, it says on the website, are NOS from a now closed German factory. However, the ones I got are stamped with sizes, and "Irwin". No mention of Brazil though. They did need a bit of a spruce up with the file to remove burrs and clean up cutting edges before any critical use. The Clico I used straight out of the packet. The 5/8" Irwin and the 1/2" Clico I used to drill the mortices for my chair. Both were a great improvement on the collection of old ones I have off e-bay, many of which have either a damaged lead screw, or spurs filed on the outside, etc.

 

[Dangermouse.]

While at the Great Dorset Steam Fair I purchased a roll of auger bits from a no4 to a no20. all old but hardly used. After a sharpen they cut like a razor. They are made sooooooo much better than any new ones, including clico. the screw threads are clean and sharp, no lumps, bumps or chips anywhere and I got them for £10, so less than a single clico bit. Always amazes me when there are so many old and good auger bits out there ( and other old tools) people will still buy far east and cheaply made ,if not priced, new stuff. Is it just the easy way out, no hunting in markets, boot sales or ebay I suppose. But I'm sure I get the best of the bunch when I find a nice, old tool.

 

[Racers]

Yes I pass loads at car boot sales most have surface rust but they can be cleaned and sharpened.

Pete

 

[AndyT]

The Clico bits are listed on the Dieter Schmid website here:

http://www.fine-tools.com/bohr2.htm

If memory serves, they might be on the Thos. Flinn site too.

Well yes, sort of - http://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/acatalog/CLICO-TOOLING.html

Although the Flinn-Garlick site looks like a good one-stop site for Sheffield-made products, the only Clico bits listed are the ones designed for electric drills, not for a hand brace. (Except for the green woodworker's Spoon bits that is.)

Axminster really didn't help Clico when they dropped them from their range.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I found Clico Irwin pattern bits on the Woodsmith store here:

http://woodsmithexperience.co.uk/shop/p ... auger-bits

And the Jennings pattern here:

http://www.toolnut.co.uk/products/drill ... gs_pattern

 

[t8hants]

I have some W. Marples & Sons large diameter ones up to 2 1/4" inch most of the big ones seem to have only cutting edge, with the other edge squared off, and no nicking edge on that side either. Is this normal for the larger diameter auger bits. I post a pic, but the camera batteries are flat at the moment.

 

[SteveF]

i never realised people still used them

maybe i should bundle mine up and offer them for sale
they are just dust collectors to me

Steve

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I still use mine, quite often. They have their limitations; I find that 3/4" is about the largest I can comfortably turn in hardwoods with an 10" sweep brace, though softwoods are a bit more forgiving. If you have a lot of holes to drill, a powered drill would save elbow strain, but for the few here and there that I come across, they're ideal. It saved me a lot of faffing about with long extension cables or waiting for batteries to recharge whilst replacing the back fence last winter - you can use them anywhere as long as you can get a bit of weight behind the brace to keep them on line.

One thing that does slightly puzzle me is the scarcity of larger sweep braces. I've got a couple of 10" Stanleys that 'found' me, and a nice little 6" sweep Skinner that's super for countersinking and such like, but a 14" sweep or similar (like the old wagon builders' brace) would be a help when a larger hole has to be drilled in something. It needs some real grunt to turn a 1" Jennings bit through beech with an 10" brace, so much that I feel I'm losing control of hole direction (that may be why the larger sizes of bit only have one cutting edge). One old trick the shipwrights used was to make a thing like a big tap-wrench for turning larger bits; maybe that might be a solution.

Edit to add - from experience, I'd suggest if you want to start a set, look for smaller ones first. I seem to use the sizes up to 1/2", plus 3/4", much more often than anything larger. Add larger ones later as you find you need them. Alternatively, there seem to quite a lot of old sets on the dreaded 'bay - buying one with a bit roll would solve the storage problem, too.

 

[Vann]

Always amazes me when there are so many old and good auger bits out there ( and other old tools) people will still buy far east and cheaply made ,if not priced, new stuff. Is it just the easy way out, no hunting in markets, boot sales or ebay I suppose.

Boot sales are like hens teeth where I am, and the few garage sales I've been to have had no old tools. On line auctions are a real gamble and probably 50% plus augers are butchered in some way, or seriously rusted.
Anyway I bought the No.15 (15/16") as I hadn't managed to pick up one of that size (I didn't think Brazil was "far east" - far south-west maybe (hammer) ).
And I bought the Clico out of interest (and because the No.9 (9/16") augers I've picked-up were a motley bunch). At that point I hadn't picked up a single Russell-Jennings pattern bit. All augers I'd won were ~50% Irwin pattern; ~40% Scotch pattern; and the rest a mixed bunch of other patterns.

Cheers, Vann.