Anyone know what this is?

[Illini Pete]

This was in a box of stuff that came with an old drill press I got from a friend whose father had passed and who had been a wood worker. The stuff included old auger-type wood bits, paddle bits, files and rasps, etc. I don't know if this item is used with the drill press or ? No instructions with the drill press.
Thanks!
Pete

 

[mv213]

I believe it’s a mortising attachment for a drill press. Here is just one example.

 

[RTM]

I’d agree on part of a mortising attachment

 

[Illini Pete]

Hey thanks guys! Makes perfect sense as I know the former owner was a wood worker. Not sure exactly what it does or how it works but a little research ought to answer that.

Thanks again! Pete

 

[RTM]

It uses a chisel drill combination to cut square or rectangular holes in wood, for example joining a table leg to a table apron.

this is the bit

Greenlee Tools for Mortising and Boring : Catalog No. 28 : Greenlee Brothers & Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

70 p., illus. 28.2 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

 

[dwasifar]

You mean it's not a cast-iron monocular with the lenses missing?

 

[mv213]

Hey thanks guys! Makes perfect sense as I know the former owner was a wood worker. Not sure exactly what it does or how it works but a little research ought to answer that.

Thanks again! Pete

If he had the rest of it, there should be a hollow square chisel with drill bit inside.