My Dad had one of these too. I asked him the same question when I was about 9. He told me to try it out on the sidewalk. Very little progress was made....

Like so many tools of the era, motorized tools made them pretty much obsolete. I have a Brace, hanging on the wall in my garage next to my timing light and dwell meter and oil can spout.

In 1982 or so, at my first house I was up in the attic and needed to drill a hole in the far part of the attic so I could have more than one telephone in the center of the house. I did not have a long enough extension cord to use my hand drill, so off into the corner I went with grandpa's old brace, and a wood bit. It worked great, the hole was drilled and I then had a phone in the bedroom and no longer had to run the center of the house to use the phone. What total decadence!

I still use my star drill for many things, most not what it was intended for. Usually for a pry bar. I am sure you could eventually bend it but it is made of a very stout steel alloy. Most recently the cane bolt on my yard fence no longer lined up with the pipe driven into the ground used to clock it in place. A little water in the dirt around the pipe and with the star drill inserted in the pipe I was able to shift it over enough.

My dad and I used one of those when I was a kid in the 70's. He'd grown up with them, and we had no money for a roto-hammer. FWIW he called them "star-drills"

When I was an installer for Ol' Ma Bell I used that to bring lines into basements.

Star drill.. I remember using one when I was a kids.. getting it started was tough.. but once you got the hole defined and got through the surface hardened concrete it just became bang turn bang turn.. and you could get along nicely.. I remember the hardest part was accuracy, drill the hole in its proper location.. that took some skill..

I also have some draw knives and spoke shaves..

SO thats what this is.
Parents selling their house next week and cleaning it out, this was in my Dads toolbox and now is in mine. Now I know what this is, thanks

Used one many times. Just takes a little patience. Or buy an impact drill. :)