Shared morning w/timeless tool yesterday. Romance story.

[Tallbald]

"Hello old friend. You're still looking powerful and good. Boy we had some great times, didn't we?" Don said under his breath to his buddy, as he lifted the Black and Decker 1179 corded drill off the shelf. "I've not asked for your help in years. But these 1/2 inch holes in thick sheet steel need your power just like back in the day". "What was it when I brought you home? Oh yeah. 1987... Mercy I was a proud homeowner that day..." he commented as he plugged in the compressor and blew accumulated dusts of time away from the motor's vents, where sparks would sometimes be visible and the smells of ozone emanated from brushes when under a heavy load.
Battery powered cordless drills supplanted some of the equipment in Don's shop. Convenience and light weight sang their siren's song to Don through the years, sort of becoming the old man's preferred tool for 98 percent of what the dedicated craftsman needed. He checked the keyed Jacob's chuck for function. "Let's do this Old Fella" he said out loud, as he inserted the 3/8 inch shank into the archaic, USA-made jaws, and plugged the grounded cord into a nearby receptacle. Mr Black and Mr Decker spooled up into life, as reliable as Don remembered. He grinned in remembrance and pride once again.

 

[RSIno1]

Whose old drill still has the ground lug on the plug? First thing I had to cut off for my old house.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

I have a 1950s 1/4" Thor that looks a lot like the one in the picture. And for those that don't remember the single speeds. 1/4" 1650 RPM, 3/8"1150 RPM, 1/2" 625 RPM If I remember correctly.

 

[Slyk Willy]

Mine is a metal cased Craftsman 2 speeds with a flip of the lever. lots of good work out-a that old buddy.

 

[eveled]

I’ve been reminiscing recently. With an old Makita angle grinder. I use it for cut off wheels only. I have others with grinding wheels and wire wheels. Some with cords some without. But this old Makita I bought when I first got into the trades around 1990. The thing has seen some serious use. I’ve been using it to resurect another old friend a 94 Dodge 2500 with a Cummins Turbo diesel. New cab mounts rockers fenders etc. Lots of use for a cutoff wheel.

I’ve owned them both more than half my life. Where does the time go?

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Still have my MANNING-BOWMAN Model 70578 3/8" 0-1000 RPM variable speed drill, and it still works just fine. And yes, the ground lug was removed almost immediately. Got it in, I believe, 1965. Weighs four pounds! :mrgreen:

 

[eveled]

Not having reverse must have been interesting on those old drills.

 

[john guedry]

Have a metal cased 1/2" Craftsman with a reverse.

 

[Mike J]

I still have a 3/8" Black & Decker from back in the early 90's. I remember quite well back when we used corded drills on the job. We would usually use Milwaukee drill motors though sometimes they would give us Black & Decker Industrial or Hilti. Gotta' watch it with a 1/2" drill motor. If the bit hangs up it is torquey enough to hurt you. My old Black & Decker is variable speed. The speed control is a little round you twist & it has reverse. I don't miss rolling out & rolling up a couple hundred feet of drop cords every day at work.

 

[blume357]

I use a 1/2 Milwaukee 8amp most days to sweep chimneys... but somewhere in my mess is a 3/4" Black and Decker (big hoss of a drill) that I used to rent from a place and then one day walked in and it was for sale there and I bought it just out of respect... did not even have a reverse on it.