In Salaman's Dictionary of Woodworking Tools, under "Drill" there is an illustration of what he says was variously listed as an Angle Brace, Gearing Brace, Drill Brace or Corner Drill.
He says they were earlier than the more familiar American pattern of the 1870s and were "most probably imported from the Continent." Two similar ones were listed in the fourth Arnold and Walker catalogue in 1976, one of them from Salaman's collection, no 270, priced at £65, and a plainer one, no 271, at £40, but with no comment on their origin.
Proudfoot and Walker's 1984 book on tool collecting has this picture of a similar one, and just says "the beautifully made iron bevel-gear drill on the left is stamped I. Peter, Lenz but was probably imported to the UK from Switzerland when new in the early 19th century."
I recently bought this one on eBay, for quite a bit less than that, in scruffy condition
and have cleaned it up a bit, so it now looks like this:
I was interested to see that a very similar one, but with a replaced wooden handle, just sold on eBay for £65.78 - showing that I am not the only one who rather likes these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301071069068?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 though another one optimistically on buy-it-now for £220 has been around for quite a while.
I can show some w-i-p pics of the cleaning if anyone wants, but what I am intrigued by is to try and understand how these would have been made. I think it's late enough to be made to a standard pattern, for stock, so not as a one-off, but the chamfering looks like hand work. Would the body have been hand forged on an anvil, then drilled and assembled? I can't tell if the gears were cast or cut from solid.
Does anyone else have one of these, or any thoughts on how it would have been made?
He says they were earlier than the more familiar American pattern of the 1870s and were "most probably imported from the Continent." Two similar ones were listed in the fourth Arnold and Walker catalogue in 1976, one of them from Salaman's collection, no 270, priced at £65, and a plainer one, no 271, at £40, but with no comment on their origin.
Proudfoot and Walker's 1984 book on tool collecting has this picture of a similar one, and just says "the beautifully made iron bevel-gear drill on the left is stamped I. Peter, Lenz but was probably imported to the UK from Switzerland when new in the early 19th century."
I recently bought this one on eBay, for quite a bit less than that, in scruffy condition
and have cleaned it up a bit, so it now looks like this:
I was interested to see that a very similar one, but with a replaced wooden handle, just sold on eBay for £65.78 - showing that I am not the only one who rather likes these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301071069068?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 though another one optimistically on buy-it-now for £220 has been around for quite a while.
I can show some w-i-p pics of the cleaning if anyone wants, but what I am intrigued by is to try and understand how these would have been made. I think it's late enough to be made to a standard pattern, for stock, so not as a one-off, but the chamfering looks like hand work. Would the body have been hand forged on an anvil, then drilled and assembled? I can't tell if the gears were cast or cut from solid.
Does anyone else have one of these, or any thoughts on how it would have been made?
