The pad
is lignum vitae;
the wrist handle is rosewood:
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Model # ?
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Patent date, etc. ?
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B&D-151
Price: $30.00
plus shipping
There
is a multitude of pits in the wrought iron parts of this brace, and
someone has attempted to adjust the opening of the saw cut so as to
make it easier to insert bits, with the resulting crack shown at the
center, below:
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Wrought iron is a fairly
tough metal because of the plethora of slag stringers that remain after
manufacture, so the frame isn't in any danger. No more adjustments !
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That said, the
brace appears to have been carried around a lot, but not really used,
as the small pair of notches intended to hold points or bits for making
starting holes for auger bits has no discernible wear. I can still see
remnants of Holt's patent date (December 14, 1880) so the brace was
made during the life of that patent, the last fifth of the 19th century.
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I have seen a
few Spofford braces with similar notches to the ones shown in Figure 1
at left, but none are shown in Spofford's various patents of his
clamshell chuck design.
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