Example - Centre Bit Storage

[Eric Brown]

I have a set of Mathieson centre bits (England) and the canvas roll they were in was rotted away. They were also rusty so I cleaned them up. I wanted a way to store them in my tool cabinet but haven't decided yet if in a drawer or on the door. One common way to hold auger bits is to simply bore a bunch of holes and drop them in. I ask "Where's the fun in that?" I decided to use square holes instead. However, for best fit, the square holes needed to be tapered also.

Here's how I did it. First I drew a line square to the edge of a board and then put a board against that edge. Putting a bit on the center line allows a bevel square to match the angle of the taper. This was then transferred to a band saw. Measuring the square tapers I determined a board about 2" thick would work.

Mathieson 1.jpgMathieson 2.jpgMathieson 3.JPG

I then found a couple of suitable boards about 2" square by 20" long, flattened and squared them using handplanes and then used the bandsaw to taper the one face. Sticking a bit in between the two tapered boards allows you to determine how thick a wedge is required.

Mathieson 4.jpg

Using the same angle as before, cut a long wedge the length of your tapered boards.

Put this wedge between your boards and check that your bits will fit ok. If not, make adjustments. Now for the tricky part.
Take the wedge to the bandsaw and using the same angle as before, cut up all the dividers. My bandsaw tilts the left side up.
Putting the narrow edge of the wedge up, cut off the left end. Now flip it top to bottom and mark the spacing you want between bits. I used 5/8".

Now keeping the wide part of the wedge up, cut at the mark you just made. Repeat for the total you need.

Next I started gluing the wedges in one at a time. This allowed me to use the bit going in that location to help with the placement and I made adjustments for each bit as they all are a little different. After all were glued to one face, I stood it up and put the bits in to verify alignment.
Mathieson 5.jpg Mathieson 6.jpg

After everything was ok, I glued on the other board. After the glue dried I trued up the surfaces using handplanes.

Mathieson 7.JPGP1060946.jpg

Now my Henry Brown brace has a set of bits to match.

[steven c newman]

Looks good. I have seen a set of these bits stored flat in a tray. Tray was in the top of an old tool chest. They had each bit sitting in a carved out recess, with a small hole under the business end of each bit. You pushed down a bit's end, and the other would pop up to be grabbed. They were setting flush with the surface of the tray. Might have been a bit more work to do.....

[Richard Line]

I love it. What really appeals to me is that we can always complicate anything, even when there is no absolute necessity. I've been known to take this approach. Was the band saw really needed; could have planned that taper. Okay, I'm just being a wise guy. I've got a few center bits and quite like them.

[Eric Brown]

Richard your right of course. I could have hand planed the taper and the long wedge and then hand sawed all the wedges. But my time is limited and I wanted to get something accomplished. One setup of the bandsaw with all the angles being the same made it much easier. I suppose that I could also have cut tapered slots and chiseled out the waste. Many different ways to do it. I also like using these bits. Easy to maintain and they make pretty smooth holes, just not very deep and sometimes not as straight as regular augers.

[Jim Koepke]

Nice job.

jtk