I have a quick question for all you knowledgeable galoots. I have an old
Worth (?) bit brace that I bought several months ago. It has a very loose
pad (not sure if I'm using the correct terminology. That's how I refer to
the top hand hold, so correct me if I'm wrong!) The only reason I bought it
is because it has a 14" sweep which is rare in these parts. Well, I finally
got around to trying to fix it yesterday, and I cannot get the wooden pad
off. I loosened the 3 screws and pulled, pried, folded, spindled and beat on
the darn thing to no avail. I don't want to damage the thing because it has
some nice rosewood on it, so I thought I'd ask everyone on the list how to
remove the thing. Are they usually reinforced with glue, or has the wood
shrunk with age and gripped the metal part more firmly than I'm thinking? Is
it necessary to remove the wood to repair a loose pad, or should I just try
to move the bearing cup tighter against the pad? Anyone who has attempted
this, I would be grateful to hear from. Thanks in advance!

Frank Jordan

"Talking to her is like backing up on a brace and bit. Either way you just
get bored."   --Foghorn Leghorn

Frank,

Try twisting the pad off the brace.  The wood is usually threaded
to fit on the hub that rotates on the end of the frame.  You can then
see what needs to be repaired to tighten the pad.  Sounds
like a good find.

Erik von Sneidern

>has the wood
>shrunk with age and gripped the metal part more firmly than I'm thinking?
Is
>it necessary to remove the wood to repair a loose pad, or should I just try
>to move the bearing cup tighter against the pad? Anyone who has attempted
>this, I would be grateful to hear from. Thanks in advance!
>
>
>Frank Jordan

FWIW,
On one old brace that was a junker, the pad came off by unscrewing it
from the brace.  The pad was attached to a short metal part that
swiveled
on the shaft of the brace.  On this one the thread was right-handed

Cheers,
Jack in Endwell, NY

Frank Jordan wrote:
>
> I have a quick question for all you knowledgeable galoots. I have an old
> Worth (?) bit brace that I bought several months ago. It has a very loose
> pad (not sure if I'm using the correct terminology. That's how I refer to
> the top hand hold, so correct me if I'm wrong!) The only reason I bought it
> is because it has a 14" sweep which is rare in these parts. Well, I finally
> got around to trying to fix it yesterday, and I cannot get the wooden pad
> off. I loosened the 3 screws and pulled, pried, folded, spindled and beat on
> the darn thing to no avail. I don't want to damage the thing because it has
> some nice rosewood on it, so I thought I'd ask everyone on the list how to
> remove the thing. Are they usually reinforced with glue, or has the wood
> shrunk with age and gripped the metal part more firmly than I'm thinking? Is
> it necessary to remove the wood to repair a loose pad, or should I just try
> to move the bearing cup tighter against the pad? Anyone who has attempted
> this, I would be grateful to hear from. Thanks in advance!
>
> Frank Jordan
>
>

Many thanks to all the galoots who responded. It's amazing how the obvious
things escape you sometimes. I tried twisting the pad off and
zippitydoodaoffitcame. I put an appropriate sized flat washer under the clip
that holds the whole mess to the shaft, and she's as good as new. It really
did need repaired too because if you held it a certain way, the ball
bearings would start to fall out! Amazingly they all came into my possession
intact.  Fortunately I had really only lightly tapped the pad using a pine
block to guard against the hammer blows, so no damage was done. As an aside
to all of this, does anybody know about this "Worth" brand of bit brace? It
appears to be a decent quality brace. Just a bit curious about the makers
ancestry. Once again, thanks to everyone who replied.

Frank

"Talking to her is like backing up on a brace and bit. Either way you just
get bored."   --Foghorn Leghorn