  We present the technique and results of a survey of stars within 8 pc of the
Sun with declinations $\bf\delta > -35\arcdeg$ (J2000.00). The survey, designed
to find without color bias faint companions, consists of optical coronagraphic
images of the 1\arcmin field of view centered on each star and infrared direct
images with a 32\asc field of view. The images were obtained through the
optical Gunn $r$ and $z$ filters and the infrared J and K filters. The survey
achieves sensitivities up to four absolute magnitudes fainter than the
prototype brown dwarf, Gliese 229B. However, this sensitivity varies with the
seeing conditions, the intrinsic brightness of the star observed and the
angular distance from the star. As a result we tabulate sensitivity limits for
each star in the survey. We used the criterion of common proper motion to
distinguish companions and to determine their luminosities. In addition to the
brown dwarf Gliese 229B, we have identified 6 new stellar companions of the
sample stars. Since the survey began, accurate trigonometric parallax
measurements for most of the stars have become available. As a result some of
the stars we originally included should no longer be included in the 8 pc
sample. In addition, the 8 pc sample is incomplete at the faint end of the main
sequence complicating our calculation of the binary fraction of brown dwarfs.
We assess the sensitivity of the survey to stellar companions and to brown
dwarf companions of various masses and ages.
