Pending gloat

[john brenton]

Not sure how much of a gloat it will be as all I've seen are pictures, but the tools look like they were well taken care of. I'll be going over to pick them up tomorrow, but wanted a little advice first.

The guy has about 4 Yankee push drills (actually not sure if they are drills or drivers.) I'm a little confused because on one hand I hear people say "Oh I wish I could get one", but on the other hand eby is swimming with them for less than $10 a piece. Do people just not know where to look, or is there a particularly desirable yankee push drill?

I'm not sure what he wants for them, but do they have the potential to be valuable (apart from usefulness)? I'm wondering if I should just buy all four if they are reasonable and then see if they are worth anything. Any thoughts?

[George Sanders]

I would buy them all, if the price is reasonable. Then I would pick out the best one to keep for personal use and sell the rest. The end result should be a good user for free and a small profit to boot.

[Jonathan McCullough]

There are the push drills and then the push screwdrivers. I don't know what I would have done with out my grandpa's push drill when putting in new storm windows. I was hanging halfway out the second-floor windows, holding the unattached storm windows in with one hand. An electric drill or an eggbeater would have been impossible or unwieldy. A couple of zips from the Yankee 41 to drill a pilot hole, put in the screw, a couple of zips with a Yankee 33 (?) with a philips head bit, and it took care of the problem. I wouldn't pay a lot for them though--they are all around at garage sales and flea markets.

[Marv Werner]

John,

I see them on eBay all the time. A new looking one might sell for as much as $40. Beaters might not even get a bid. Then I see sellers auctioning just the bits and getting huge prices, often times more than a good drill will sell for.

I can't remember ever being without one. Ya just push on it and it seems to just shove a hole into anything non-metal.

Miller's Falls made a good one too.

Marv

[george wilson]

I'm bidding on an old electric hat stretcher on Ebay. No gloat:)

My hats keep shrinking whenever they get left in a hot car. It's the kind of wool felt they are made of. I had bought a fur felt hat at a high price,but when it got oily,the cleaners we sent it to didn't do much of a job getting it clean. And,the cleaning cost as much as a cheaper wool felt hat. So,I'll just stretch them back myself. Used to go to the Williamsburg costume shop and use theirs,but I don't get down there much anymore.

The trouble is,those hat stretchers don't drill holes worth a darn.:)

[Steve Branam]

I'll second George's recommendation. They're great. They really do work. I have both push drills and push drivers.

The push drills are great for quick small holes, they can be less awkward than an eggbeater. Need to drill a few dozen holes? No sweat, just make sure the bits are sharp at the tip (they're easy to sharpen).

Once you have proper pilot holes (a Yankee driver countersink bit is worth looking for), the push drivers are then great for quickly driving the screws. Drag the threads over a wax block, then zip-zip-zip. You can also set them that extra little bit with a power driver bit in a brace, just be careful not to overdo it, because that gives you a lot of torque.

Then you might spend $5 each for Yankee driver bits, including flat (I recently got a flat one with a spring-loaded sleeve for keeping it in place in the screw slot), philips, and countersink, and there are replacement Yankee drill bit sets available.

[Dan Andrews]

I recommend the Yankee #41 simply because the bits are more commonly available than are bits for other brands and sizes. Both North Bros. Yankees I have has a metal bit holder in the handle, and the Stanley Yankee has a plastic bit holder. Otherwise I don't see any difference.

I have gotten one good deal on a lot of about 10 bits on ebay. I have also purchased the whole drill with bits for less money than the bits typically sell for alone.

I have one North Bros. user and one each North Bros. and Stanley in my drill collection. I didn't pay much for any of them (under $10. each with some bits in each). All work perfectly.

Practice your sharpening on the larger bits. They are more common than the smallest size bits, for obvious reasons. 1/16" is hard to find with much length left except in NOS packages for big $$.