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Oak floor joists at least 2" thick minimum,
Hand cranking the brace. The smaller the bit the easier it is to drill.

Considering the torment that alot of the K & T I've come across has been through with 30A fuses, insulation, 200 watt light bulbs, etc. I think it's held up quite well all in all... The last K&T I dealt with was a house built in 1898... Sans the lack of grounding, the system was in fairly decent shape... I'd never even thought about all the holes being hand drilled before, EESH! My hats off to those who walked in our steps before us.

I have actually bored a hole by hand with a brace and bit before on occasions. In tight spots where's there's a risk of damaging something else should the drill slip, it can be a way of keeping greater control and reducing that risk.

The last time I had to bore a hole with a brace'n'bit was back when I was a little ol' helper. We had to sink a wood pole in the middle of a lumber yard to raise a triplex that hung too low.

So, here I am on top of two stacks of rough-cut lumber, one on the other, then lifted to the max height of a large fork truck, and then I had to stand up a 28' wood ladder toi reach the top of the pole.

I used a length of NM as a makeshift harness so I could lean back and drill a 1/2" hole through the pole, maybe a foot thick at the top. That only took me about 20 minutes or so.

Then I inserted an eye-bolt, screwed a washer and nut on the back end, and use a come-along to pull the triplex up enough to attach it with the slip type of hanger, the kind with a steel wire loop.

Fun job!