Nostalgia Old School B&D Drill

[AdrianUK]

Rummaging through one of my fathers tool chests, pulled this B&D drill out.
Needed a dust off, the chuck needed freeing up,

a visual check of the cord and connections, all appear ok, however I’ll get a friend to properly check it over.
Not a user compared to to my modern cordless drills, but I’m loath to throw it out.
Pretty sure it’s British made, wr all B&D had a manufacturing place in Middlesex ? 1960s ish ?
Anyway, maybe it’ll stir some memories for some.

 

[Cabinetman]

I’m glad to hear that you know about checking the Earth connection, I remember well the safety advert on television where a guy had just pushed the bare wires into the socket and held them in with matches, sounds ridiculous but it was more common than you might think in those days when we were changing over from round sockets to square.
Obviously the wires came loose and he got electrocuted quite a graphic advert.
As you say not a patch on modern drills and noisy as ****. Ian

 

[clogs]

do u remember the light socket adaptors....so u could use a bulb and an appliance.....
seem to remember me mum used her elec iron in the spare light socket........
the good ol days....

 

[JobandKnock]

Until B&D moved manufacturing to Spennymoor in Co.Durham (1980s?) almost all of the drills sold in the UK were made at Harmondsworth from about 1932 onwards, although B& D actually set up a sales office in the UK in 1925. Harmondsworth, along with the plant at Maidenhead closed in 1984. Spennymoor in turn lost many of its' jobs to a new plant in Usti, Czech Republic in the period 2002 to 2005 with most of the plant having closed by 2015

 

[Inspector]

I have the Black and Decker circular saw (US made) my father bought when I was still crawling and learning to walk, so that makes it at least 65/66 years old. I use it occasionally and it works every time. Except for the wife's Stihl string trimmer there are no battery tools here. I have no problem plugging in to work o stuff. If in the trade I could see having battery tools but not for me. Nice old drill.

Pete

 

[Jacob]

Yours has a collar - to fit a drill stand I guess.
I remember it well. 1966 or thereabouts. They were heavily promoted with 4 sizes, 420, 520, 620 and 720 in "Exchange & Mart" my favourite bed time reading
I had the 720 with attachments: jig saw, sander, circular saw, drill stand. For the money they weren't bad at all and I earned a living with them making toys, along with sewing machine and some other bits n bobs. Later models were orange but same numbers I think.

 

[Spectric]

I remember well the safety advert on television where a guy had just pushed the bare wires into the socket and held them in with matches

You don't need the matches if the socket has the protective shutters, they will hold them in. I was using this approach when I was just a kid getting involved with electronics, who was worried about a bit of mains voltage when we had some very high voltages being supplied to the anodes of our valves.

Yes will always remember Black and wrecker, really the only drills around until Wolf turned up.

 

[TRITON]

do u remember the light socket adaptors....so u could use a bulb and an appliance.....
seem to remember me mum used her elec iron in the spare light socket........
the good ol days....

I have one of those handy little adaptors. 2 pin and yet to find a use, but thought id keep it about given its handy nature.

 

[AdrianUK]

Often hear it being said no good looking backwards to the past…but if it evokes pleasant memories such as these, I say it’s a good thing
I vaguely remember using this as a teenager, or at least one similar, I think you’ll be right Ian, it’ll be noisy and maybe a little sparky near the bushes, didn’t they also smell a bit in use?
I was wondering about the copper collar, useful, thanks Jacob.

 

[okeydokey]

Yes my father had one and I must have inherited it but it's got lost somewhere along the line. Only had a 5/16th chuck from memory

 

[Orraloon]

A B&D drill was my first power tool back in 75. I forked out the extra and got the one that took the attachments. Later as budget allowed I got the saw and sander attachments for it. It did well for over 10 years but finally the poor old thing let out the blue smoke. I guess running those attachments just overworked it. Likely still be going if it was just used as a drill. I did look around for another but by then B&D quality had gone down hill a bit.
Regards
John

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Rummaging through one of my fathers tool chests, pulled this B&D drill out.

Not a user compared to to my modern cordless drills, but I’m loath to throw it out.
Pretty sure it’s British made,

Anyway, maybe it’ll stir some memories for some.

FWIW it isn’t British made it’s English made as you can see on the name plate

I have and still use it’s bigger younger cousin the H720 H along with some of the accessories. For some jobs it’s as good or better then the more modern drills I have.

 

[JimB]

do u remember the light socket adaptors....so u could use a bulb and an appliance.....
seem to remember me mum used her elec iron in the spare light socket........
the good ol days....

I can still smell the village barber who used an upstairs room in his house. Clippers were connected via a light socket adaptor and he smoked nonstop. Together with the smell of brilliantine etc plus burned hair he singed out of ears and nose, the smell didn't seem to leave you for weeks.
I often wonder if the barber in Last of the Summer Wine was based on him.

 

[Garden Shed Projects]

Check this out. Came across it when I bought one on eBay recently, paid £5 for it. Useful old drill.
I can’t see your drill but look at pages 56-59 and the amount of accessories available.

https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no04-1975-76-autumnwinter/57

 

[robgul]

Check this out. Came across it when I bought one on eBay recently, paid £5 for it. Useful old drill.
I can’t see your drill but look at pages 56-59 and the amount of accessories available.

https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no04-1975-76-autumnwinter/57

In moments of weakness I probably bought all of the accessories over time - my original B&D drill (1967) was an all-metal case model - none of the "modern" plastic stuff.

Since then I think I've had 2 more DIY B&Ds, a "Pofessional B&D" (bought refurbed when they had a shop in Bristol) - they're all gone although one of the later DIYs is still in service with my son-in-law - current quota is a JCB (Chinese made), a Bosch, Bauker SDS - all corded - and in battery Einhell combo, Ferrex and an Erbauer. I do seem to be over-drilled . . . better not mention the 6 routers and 4 circular saws

 

[loftyhermes]

I bought this drill with stand, also a circular saw and box jointing attachments in the 70's, found this in the shed a while ago and it still works.

 

[Oraclebhoy]

Here’s my trust old girl. Got her free from freecycle.
Used all the time when I need repeatable drilling or using larger bits than my cheap 12v drill can handle.
Best B&D drill I have owned.

 

[Phil Russell]

I still use one of those on a horizontal stand fitted with a rigid flat disc sander attachment. I also have a box full of the circular saw attachment, jigsaw, orbital sander and disc sander, plus the vertical drill press. Not sure what to do with them ... are they saleable / collectable?
Cheers, Phil

 

[stuart little]

Check this out. Came across it when I bought one on eBay recently, paid £5 for it. Useful old drill.
I can’t see your drill but look at pages 56-59 and the amount of accessories available.

https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no04-1975-76-autumnwinter/57

I had the Wolf 'pistol grip' drill (on next page), I salvaged it when it packed up while working in a local garage, I sent it to Wolf asking if it was repairable, they answered with an offer of a new one at 1/2 price! I naturally jumped at it. In 1969 I bought a Wolf 1/2 inch drill which lasted into the early 21st C. , it expires when a 'borrower' overloaded it. No Wolf then to try again!!

 

[JobandKnock]

Not sure what to do with them ... are they saleable / collectable?

if they are in very good condition they are collectable, to an extent.

I think the drill press is still a useful bit of kit (especially as a dedicated kitchen hinge borer), but TBH most of the late 1950s onwards B&D DIY models are a bit flimsy and prone to movement - Wolf and Stanley-Bridges drill presses are far sturdier whilst Bosch and Wolfcraft drill stands, which started appearing here in the 1970s have the big advantage of taking drills with the 43mm diameter Euro collarsfound on most modern corded drills.

I could see the disc sander being handy on smaller stuff if you don't have a static disc sander, too. The only other attachment which might be of use is the orbital sandde, partly because in form and function one of those with a drill installed is pretty close to a vasic one piece orbital sander.

But the rest of the attachments are probably not of much interest. Have you tried sawing with the rip saw attachment? The lack of power is a real disadvantage, to say the least, whilst the jigsaw attachment is a big awkward 2-handed thing.