Budget hand to drill auger conversion.

[filletedalive]

If you’re a hand auger ice fisher thinking about switching to a gas/electric/drill auger, this was my experience with the drill auger kit. 
I ordered a drill auger conversion bit off Amazon $30. This one came with a hole guard, the bit, a shaft bolt and an Allen wrench. 
I have a flat blade, 8” Eskimo hand auger that I have used for years now and a 20v Porter Cable drill. 
The conversion took minutes. Take the handle off of the auger and then slide the guard up into place on the bit. Then put the bit, with the guard, into the auger and secure the shaft bolt. Then you just need to secure your drill to the bit and it’s good to go. 

I carefully took  the blades off and carefully sharpened them by stone before I tried it out. 

Brought it to Bountiful Pond (with my budget float suit on. Which is an XL life jacket lol) and gave it a whirl. 

It cut like a hot knife through butter. 
2 seconds to open a perfect 8” hole, effortlessly, through 4” of ice. 
It honestly surprised me. 
I cut another 6 holes because it was fun and we ended up catching a few of the planters in the pond. 

I know that the freshly sharpened auger blades made this trial go as well as it could have. 
I would not risk an auger spinning on ice will dull blades. Those blades could bind and kick with severe consequences. 

Anyway, I thought $30 bucks for an auger conversion kit and half an old auger with extremely sharp blades was a pretty inexpensive way to get a hole drilled.

[DanzTuna]

Word of caution: I too bought a conversion bit to use with my Milwaukee Fuel Drill and 8" auger.  Used it several years and it worked beautifully until the auger dropped down the hole at Strawberry.  Those conversion bits rely on nothing but the gripping power of the drill's chuck to hold the weight of the auger when retrieving the auger from the hole.  In my case, the auger caught the edge of the ice and slipped out of the chuck and down the hole it went. I see a lot of guys drill a hole in a bucket lid, slide it over the auger's shaft and install the cross bolt that you use to attach the handle- just some extra security in case the bit slips out of the chuck. I've since bought the Clam geared attachment for my drill and really like it.  The system uses a cross bolt so no chance of losing the auger.

[fishnotphish]

The kit I bought came with a plate to solve that, also just $30 total.

Amazon: https://a.co/d/7LDvxqO

[SkunkedAgain]

I've nearly lost my auger several times, but have been lucky and caught it before it was off to the depths... I have a bucket lid on mine now, it's too red neck but has saved me a couple times... The kit sounds like a great option, I set mine up when there was about two sources of the adapters and one modified Frisbee that was just coming out and too expensive so I did it myself... I should update to a new kit, but I've found the 8" is going rough on my drill, so I'm using my 6" Nils a lot these days it was factory designed for an electric drill... I like the 8" holes better, but don't want to damage my drill and I don't seem to catch many fish that are too big to fit through the 6" hole... As the season goes on, I'll probably get the 8" out again, but for now the Nils is doing great... Later J

[filletedalive]

The kit I bought came with a plate to solve that, also just $30 total.

Amazon: https://a.co/d/7LDvxqO

This is the exact one I purchased for the Eskimo hand auger conversion.

[Perchawg]

I got a call from my son who was bummed his auger went down the hole. I showed up with a big magnet
and dropped it in the hole. 40' down and amazingly it found the auger, which went straight to the bottom, and slowly pulled it up.
The nut had come off the bolt, so now there is a locknut on it. Moral of the story.... check your nuts!

[kgut]

From those I have talked too, a normal hand auger would ruin your drill and that you needed to buy the pistol bit. Is this not true, and I only need to buy the adaptor kit? Thanks for helping a newbie when it comes to drills and ice augers

[filletedalive]

I’m no expert.
But the pistol bit is just Eskimos auger attachment for a drill. I think if your hand drill is an average one it won’t have any issues.
I used the drill auger again today and drilled 5 more fresh holes and again it blew me away how easily it cuts.
I have the drill setting on 1 for high torque and the clutch setting to drill. the drill doesn’t seem like it’s struggling at all through 4 inches. I will have to keep an eye on it through the season.

[EyLayo]

As best I can tell, my pistol bit uses the same blades as the Eskimo hand augers. The main advantage of the pistolbit is in weight saving. It is nice that the "conversion" is built in, but it's only slightly better than a quality adapter

[Springbuck1]

I think these are just so great an innovation, such an obvious and somewhat low-tech solution. But my 18V Ryobi is too good a drill to replace, and not quite good enough a drill to get me through a day of drilling holes with the 8" auger I have.

I keep getting temped to design a smaller auger that uses some form of standard utility knife blades. I can't stand how hard they gouge you for replacements.

[BearLakeFishGuy]

I converted my 30+ year old 8" blue Mora auger and use a drill (Flex brand from Lowes that has MORE torque than a Milwaukee Fuel) last year. It cuts incredibly well!  The biggest waste of money is buying special augers (kdrills, Strikemaster Lites, Nils, etc.).  Just use the old hand auger and get a drill with torque, so you can power through the thick ice.  The drill cost me about $200 but included a charger and one 5ah and one 2.5ah batteries.  I can (and do) us the drill the rest of the year on other projects.  Stop wasting money on auger bits (and $400 drills) thinking the old ones will not function with a power drill.....they do just fine!

[Bckfvr]

If you’re a hand auger ice fisher thinking about switching to a gas/electric/drill auger, this was my experience with the drill auger kit. 
I ordered a drill auger conversion bit off Amazon $30. This one came with a hole guard, the bit, a shaft bolt and an Allen wrench. 
I have a flat blade, 8” Eskimo hand auger that I have used for years now and a 20v Porter Cable drill. 
The conversion took minutes. Take the handle off of the auger and then slide the guard up into place on the bit. Then put the bit, with the guard, into the auger and secure the shaft bolt. Then you just need to secure your drill to the bit and it’s good to go. 

I carefully took  the blades off and carefully sharpened them by stone before I tried it out. 

Brought it to Bountiful Pond (with my budget float suit on. Which is an XL life jacket lol) and gave it a whirl. 

It cut like a hot knife through butter. 
2 seconds to open a perfect 8” hole, effortlessly, through 4” of ice. 
It honestly surprised me. 
I cut another 6 holes because it was fun and we ended up catching a few of the planters in the pond. 

I know that the freshly sharpened auger blades made this trial go as well as it could have. 
I would not risk an auger spinning on ice will dull blades. Those blades could bind and kick with severe consequences. 

Anyway, I thought $30 bucks for an auger conversion kit and half an old auger with extremely sharp blades was a pretty inexpensive way to get a hole drilled.

Like mentioned, my kit and many others come with a plate mounted at the top that is slightly bigger than the hole the auger drills to prevent it from going down the hole when/if it slips out of the drill chuck.  These kits work great, especially for the price but definately can turn a fun day into a really crappy day fairly quickly if this happens