The Stanley 41Y push drill
In my never ending quest for the perfect egg beater drill bit, a fairly common suggestion was the double fluted bits commonly used in push drills. These are fairly rare in my part of the world, or at least I hardly ever see them pop up. A few weeks after my last run at trying a few different bits, Tom Dickey sent me a little surprise package.
Inside was a Stanley 41Y push drill, and a little tube of new old stock bits for it. The bits are completely unused, still wrapped in VCI paper on the inside. My jaw hit the floor when I opened the package up! Thank you Tom!
I had also been playing with the drill for a little bit before I realised if you loosen the collar just above the handle, the bottom of the handle pops out revealing storage for the bits! You can keep a full set of bits ready to go in the handle of the tool!
The bits themselves have a notch in the shaft. You push up the collar at the end of the drill to open the chuck, drop the bit in, rotate the bit until you feel whatever grabs the notch click into place and then release. The drill grabs the bit by the notch, ensuring it will not come out. Once I actually used the drill I realised this is a necessity. Its quite hard to withdraw the bit once you have drilled through. If it was not held in this solidly, I imagine you would be leaving it behind in the stock more often than not.
The 41Y is a one handed spiral/Archimedean style drill. You simply put the tip of the bit where you want a hole, and push down. The bit will spin and drill. It also drills as you release and allow the handle to return, which is why the drill bits are double fluted, it cuts in both directions.
Its drills surprisingly quickly, but unfortunately, the bit is not a match for the Star M 601. Its better than the Fisch and generic brad points I used in the past. As it initially enters the wood, it seems to lift and tear a little at the sides.
A little while after the first test I wondered if maybe the drill and not the bits where the problem. I don’t have to apply as much pressure when using a egg beater, and the bits get to spin faster. So I broke out the egg beater and tried again… Better results, but still not beating the Star M. I checked in cherry, walnut, hard maple. Same every time, its holes are a little more ragged. Not terrible, but not a winner.
In the process of reading up on the 41Y I read a really good point when it comes to using very small drill bits. When cranking an egg beater, you wobble the drill a bit from side to side as you spin the handle. Not a problem for normal size drill bits. For really fine bits, that side to side motion can easily snap them. As the action of an archimedian drill is straight up and down, you stand a much better chance of drilling and keeping your bit intact.
As it happens, I have a little job to do which requires just that, very fine holes, in very thin stock. I’m very happy with the current layout of the tills in my small dutch tool chest, so its time to nail them together. Right now its just a pressure fit, and they slide out of place every so often. The till walls are less than 1/8th thick, so I want to drill pilot holes before using brads to nail them together. That will reduce the chance of the stock splitting. It also reduces the chance of the nail wandering off course and busting out the sides. As the headless brads I’ll be using are very thin, I need an even thinner drill bit for the pilot.
The 41Y will not hold a bit that fine. I ordered a no-name cheap Archimedian drill to try out. The cheap little drill I bought off amazon is serviceable, but not of fantastic quality. Its a two handed tool. Hold the end of the drill, and then pump the ring on the spiral shaft to have it rotate and drill. The chuck is very crude, and its quite a chore to insert a drill bit, tighten the chuck and still have the bit aligned. But once its in and straight, it stays that way.
The first pilot I drilled with it was too small. I moved to one of the larger bits in the set (a little over 1mm). Turns out the collets that came with the drill will not hold it… damn. Back to the egg beater and being insanely careful. I have a pack 10 of 0.5mm drill bits with only 1 bit left. Its very easy to snap them this size.
I’ll be on the lookout for a better quality archimedian capable of handling very small bits. I’m also arranging to try out the other style of Fisch brad point, and the Lee Valley brad points. When I’m done with those, I’ll consider my quest for the best egg beater drill bit complete.
If you find yourself interested in one of these, or maybe some replacement bits, it may be good to know that Garret Wade still make a modern version and replacement bits.
The Stanley 41Y, a sleek shiny little beauty
Twist the knurled ring just below the handle, and out springs its nifty bit storage compartment.
A tube of new old stock bits.
The bits themselves. Perfectly symetrical in geometry. They remind me of shell bits for braces. This set was sold for Stanley push screwdrivers (a similar but different tool). The thick piece in the top right is an adapter to let these bits be used in the screwdrivers, it has no use in the 41Y itself.
A close up of the bit. The sides resemble a shell bit.
The tip sort of looks like a brad with shallow geometry.
But not a match for the Star M 601. Centre holes, the Star-M. Left holes, the double fluted bits in the 41Y. Right, the same bits in an egg beater. They are no match for the nightmare pine.
A bit more respectable in cherry. From left to right. Star M, 41Y, double fluted bit in eggbeater. These are pretty acceptable holes, particularly in the egg beater, but not as clean as the Star-M
Walnut, similar results. 41Y, StarM, eggbeater
Finally, Hard maple. 41y, eggbeater, Star M
The cheapo archimedian drill
It did a pretty decent job in walnut. Never felt like the bit was about to snap, and cut pretty quickly.
The set of 20 bits that come with it. The box looks clever, but in practice, its hard to get the bits out, and the smaller ones can manage to hop from their place and jam it. I often just end up forcing the lid off to get the bit I want.