Please tell me about this Brace.

[Kev Godwin]

This brace came home with me today. It is in excellent condition. What was it used for? Thx.
Kev


brace.jpg

[Jim Koepke]

Think about drilling holes in a corner.

jtk

[Sean Richards]

It is a corner brace - used for drilling holes close up into a corner where you cannot swing a normal brace.

Sean

[Jim Matthews]

It's why the internet was invented.

[ray hampton]

I can see using the back brace but how can we turn the front brace without getting hit on the hand ?

[Peter Pedisich]

Lots of older homes had heating pipes running up to the second floor just in the corner of a downstairs room to share some heat along the way.

Your tool enabled one to drill that hole without a corresponding rise in blood pressure.

[Mike Holbrook]

The Millers Falls web site has tons of information about their drills & braces and patents.

[Bill Houghton]

I can see using the back brace but how can we turn the front brace without getting hit on the hand ?

Carefully, of course. I think you'd grip it, run your hand around once slowly, and adjust the grip as needed to avoid finger pinching. Or grab it, start boring, stop while you dance around the room sucking your fingers and whimpering, and THEN adjust your grip. The first technique probably follows pretty reliably after one or (for slow learners) two attempts at the second technique.

[Kev Godwin]

Thanks for telling me what it is. Perhaps the members here can give me more insight.

I wiped off much of the storage grease and found it is manufactured by Stanley and has the Sweetheart Logo.
Kev

[ray hampton]

Carefully, of course. I think you'd grip it, run your hand around once slowly, and adjust the grip as needed to avoid finger pinching. Or grab it, start boring, stop while you dance around the room sucking your fingers and whimpering, and THEN adjust your grip. The first technique probably follows pretty reliably after one or (for slow learners) two attempts at the second technique.

or three or four attempts for the users that got a cell phone in their hand

[ray hampton]

when you are holding the round knob , can you turn both cranks at one time or is the outer crank held stationary while the inner crank rotate ?
a short video of the operator using this brace would help

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I've never used one, so perhaps I'm wrong, but my understanding was that only the smaller, conventionally-shaped brace handle rotated - if you look at the longer one, I'm not sure how that would rotate. Besides adding a point to hold, the longer bar would seem reinforce the whole tool, so you aren't putting undo stress on the gears.

If you look at the pictures here a bit down the page here :

http://oldtoolheaven.com/brace/brace4.htm

You can kind of see how the handles rotate - and seeing it on it's side kind of makes sense - seems like if you were drilling into the floor in a corner, you could hold the brace by the second tube-styled handle, and if you were drilling into the wall at a low height, you could hold it by the pad, sort of pushing down diagonally.

Seems like it'd be handy for a installer back in the day, but for cabinet making it's probably a bit large - but something like the small ratchet braces (like the MF 737) with just a pad and perpendicular handle might be handy someday.

[Gary Herrmann]

I agree with Joshua. I've got a Stanley 984 corner brace or braces of that style.

What you've got there looks to be a Miller Falls #502.

[Greg Wease]

Since it is marked Stanley, the model # is 992 or 993. These two are identical except for the chuck. I have one that belonged to my grandfather but have never used it.