Reamers

[DutchGramps]

In one of the excellent entries by James Wilson Everett on old threading tools there was question about reamers to bring holes to be threaded to the desired size.
Many years ago I was too late to pick up any tools in an abandoned old blacksmith shop; only things remaining (besides a 500lbs anvil....) was a heap of rusty nails and rivets.
Cleaning my garage I found that heap again, now rusted together, and I decided to have another look. There were a lot of square rivets with approx 1/2" shanks and square heads, but also a selection of things that could have been reamers. They are all heavily rusted so it is difficult to measure the size, but all have square shanks. And the tips are very hard, only a new file will scratch it.
Am I right or wrong...

[James Wilson Everett]

Looking at the photos of these tools, my guess is that they are metal cutting drill bits that the blacksmith would have used in some sort of a drilling fixture/drill press.  Drilling a hole in wrought iron using a hand brace or bitstock becomes nearly impossible once the bit diameter exceeds about 1/8 inch.  You simply cannot apply enough pressure by hand to make a larger drill bit cut.  I would surmise that the old blacksmith shop did have a fixture for drilling using these larger bits.  Here are some photos of a large drill bits that would have been used id such a fixture.





Your bits (if indeed that is what they are) are nice examples of the tools used before the invention of twist drills.  Thanks for showing the photo of them.

jim

[shortbarrel]

Looks like they are pinches for putting the holes in horse shoes.

[JV Puleo]

Those are flat drills. They were what everyone used up until the invention of the twist drill — which wasn't until the late 19th century. In fact, the first Brown & Sharpe horizontal mill was designed to make twist drills for the Providence Tool Company during the Civil War.

Flat drills stayed in use well into the 30s - maybe later in rural areas. I know I have at least one marked "Brown & Sharpe" so they were selling them into the early 20th century. They can only be run at slow speeds in relatively soft materials (Iron, bronze etc). They make an excellent straight hole but do not expel the chips. Sharpened properly, they drill straighter than a twist drill. If you read the interview Ned Roberts did with Norman Brockway in the 30's (in "The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle"), Brockway describes how he drilled steel blanks to make his famous target rifles. Although he does not say so, he's working with a flat drill which will run a good deal straighter than a twist drill but has to be removed every half inch of so to clear the chips. I've experimented with them in my 19th century belt driven drill press and found they were perfectly useful. They are a lot easier to sharpen as well. Watch makers still use them for the extremely tiny holes they have to drill.

[jerrywh]

 I have seem a wooden horizontal drill press in operation that would drill a 1" hole in a 1/2" steel plate with a spade bit in less than 2 minutes.  Workmen of old were smarter than some of us might think. Those items are crude spade bits.

[Mark Elliott]

To add to what Jerry said; old hand cranked drill presses were quite substantial and were self feeding.   I imagine these could apply a good deal of pressure on a drill bit.