Review on TRUPER BC 12M Professional Bit Brace by Andy Hearshman

[If you plan to use this shackle for smaller diameter and length chisels, this shackle will most likely suit you and you can ignore this review. Overall it looks good and should handle light to moderate loads well.] I was very happy to get these braces as I had previously used an antique braces where I accidentally bent some of the jaws when attempting a disastrous one It's probably time to get one with modern technology anyway. I use braces for practical and personal reasons: I'm a bit of a romantic who wants to do my best to go electricity free for DIY and crafts BUT manual is also better when using bigger drills as cheap drills are not known for their torque and I don't want to spend money on power gear when I have all the power I need in my hands. I purchased this strut specifically to drive a 1.25" drill through American Sycamore with a shank converter (pictured) and it initially went very well, within a minute or two and I was starting to get my hopes up . Then I tried to drill a little deeper (because I wanted the 2 holes on each side to go all the way so I could stand the log on its legs from the outside) and then I heard a loud CLACK. I examined the jaws and one of the two jaws was split into 3 pieces. The division of the fragments in half has a gray grainy texture (pictured). I'm not a metallurgist, but it seems to me that this indicates that some kind of composite or alloy was used and not the good old ferrous metals (iron/steel). To be honest I'm young in my 20's and if this were my first braces I could score very well for exaggerating the bit size but with my vintage braces the flexing (on the jaws and only in extremes cases) the worst I've had cases) and nicks or chips (on bit stems) which tells me they could have done better. I understand that harder metals are more difficult to form and may be totally incapable of some of the simpler casting or forming processes that mass-market manufacturers lure, but I would be willing to pay extra for that reliability, even if they were "separately". would be sold". "Add-on (common with Amazon listings like 'product + accessory set') for standard jaws, as the jaw clips should be a snap to pop out and replace. My initial outburst of anger quickly turned into almost something akin to pity. This whole Braces have an overall quality feel and I LOVE the woodwork that keeps the visible plastic from ruining my romance. If it had high performance jaws or a jaw model or a high performance attachment I could easily give this one 5 stars. From the looks of it I will however now looking for the best third party jaws to match the quality of the rest of these braces which I don't have to do and hence my rating.