Budget hand to drill auger conversion.

[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