Vintage Black and Decker drills

[alan]

Having seen that Geoff had posted about his recent purchase of a Vigzol oil cabinet I wondered how many tools we have in the garage or workshop that are of some vintage age that we still use today? And still better than their modern equivalents!

This also came about because I found a Black & Decker hedge trimmer attachment in the shed the other day, and a couple of old B&D drills, too.

How many of us still have old B&D drills? Or indeed any other vintage powered tools we use to repair or restore our vintage garden machines?

I’ll add some photos.

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[andyfrost]

Slightly off topic , but I still use my fathers old soldering iron , I would guess it’s around 70yrs old and still works fine. I recall as a child him using it with the old 5amp rounpin plug , in later years it was changed to the 13amp squarepin.

Andy.

[trac-grip-1954]

I have five of the orange black & decker drills, picked some up at boot sales for a few pounds, i still use them on light jobs.

[expeatfarmer]

I have a black and Decker two speed drill that my brother gave us as a wedding present 49 years ago, I also have an older single speed that was my father’s complete with drill stand and various attachments. Both are in perfect working order despite having oversize chucks fitted and having been used with large diameter masonry drills.I have an ancient soldering iron too but it is so big it blows the trips in my workshop!!

[alan]

It’s good to know that people are still using their trusty B&D drills and other stuff too.

I’ve scanned in the Black & Decker brochure (8 pages) and attached it to this thread. It’s pre-decimal, but I also see that when the first Argos catalogue was out in 1973 they were selling B&D stuff. The basic drill was a 3/8 chuck single-speed with a recommended price of £9.84 but Argos would sell it for £6.55 – an absolute bargain!

The B&D brochure also states on the back page that it has ‘After-sales-service second to none!’. They do ‘service while you wait’ at a service station of which there were several around the country. A full check over and lubricating service for only 12s 6d – presumably for the drill and not the owner.

Here’s the brochure which can be downloaded and saved:

https://vhgmc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/vintage-black-decker-drills.pdf

[wristpin]

I too bought a B&D drill from Argos, a bit later 2-speed hammer which is still in use with a Shapercraft flexible drive mainly used for rust and paint removal. Way before B&D became known for their DIY drills etc they manufactured and supplied professional garage maintenance equipment such as the valve refacing machines that were to be found in every village garage – and my workshop today.
The Shapercraft router cutters etc were sold by EP Barrus from their original north London, Brunel Road premises before their move to Bicester. What’s less well known is that they used to import and distribute US made garage equipment, crank grinders, boring bars and valve refacing equipment, from their premises on the Gosvenor Embankment in central London.
My other vintage drill is a Wolf Safetymaster which, I believe was the first Double Insulated DIY drill sold in the UK. I traded in a Wolf Cub drill in the early 50s to buy the Safetymaster complete with stand, reduction gearbox and vice. It still gets occasional use.

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[Author]

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