Nothing to see here just an empty packet of Rawlplugs

[okeydokey]

Packet just found under a floorboard my father used them and I remember "drilling" holes for him with the rawlplug plugging chisel - hit and turn - to eventually make a hole, electric drills were too expensive at the time.

 

[Argus]

1960s? '70s?

One of the first tools I bought with my apprentice's wages, almost 60 years ago, was a No: 8 size rawl-drill.

I still have it and it is sometimes used to break pieces of hard aggregate in concrete that sometimes impedes a hammer-drill.
The drill comes to a halt...... the rawl-drill goes in, smash-bang-wallop until the piece of pebble shatters and then back to the drill.

 

[Geoff_S]

I've just Googled Rawl Drill. Am I seeing this right and it was just hammered into the wall?

 

[Argus]

I've just Googled Rawl Drill. Am I seeing this right and it was just hammered into the wall?

Yep!

Tapped, more accurately. Regular taps and a partial rotation at the same time. It became a rhythmic progression as the hole descended.

The drill had a tapered point with flutes up the sides to clear debris and dust. It's diameter matched the size of the pug to be used.

Electric drills, were very big, heavy and expensive and power was not always available on sites.

 

[GLS]

These were the more sophisticated type of Rawl hammer drill, (picture from internet). They also made very good 'machine guns' when playing with your mates. Several times I had to hand it back to Dad when I had borrowed it from his tool bag, no wonder I often lost the war!

 

[angus5041]

I've just Googled Rawl Drill. Am I seeing this right and it was just hammered into the wall?

yeah i remember as an apprentice up a ladder banging away to put conduit down a wall was bout 30ft up trying not to drop the hammer on the guy footing the ladder or i would have got slapped .. It was 1970 15yr olds got slapped then ,, ouch

 

[pe2dave]

Bought 1971, the 'bits' became fast in the octagonal holder far too easily!
I guess that was to allow different sized bits?

 

[okeydokey]

As I recall there was a hole in the "bit holder" and you put a screwdriver in to knock the bit out easy
Someone must be able to find one in an old toolbox - I have but where is the box - and post a photo so the youngsters can see what it was.
I doubt there is a Youtube

 

[pe2dave]

As I recall there was a hole in the "bit holder" and you put a screwdriver in to knock the bit out easy
Someone must be able to find one in an old toolbox -

I'll have a look.... when it gets warmer!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Star drills. Great fun when you're thirteen and asked to knock several holes into a granite lintel. I lie.

 

[brocher]

I used these when I was in my teens! Back in the 60s, as dad was always keen that I learn to use my hands - him being an engineer by trade. He was never very good at woodworking, but precocious was his forte. I learnt al lot from him and also going to the works he was a foreman at. Being the foreman's son allowed me some favours!! The rail drill was hard work but it didn't half strengthen your arms.

 

[Scruples]

I've just Googled Rawl Drill. Am I seeing this right and it was just hammered into the wall?

With very few power tools in the 60s, a rawl drill (or star drill, as we used to know it) was the only option . Even when power drills arrived, the star drill was still useful for getting the drill bit passed any flint/hard bits in a stone wall. A few taps and the power drill finished the hole. You could get different sized bits too.

 

[Cozzer]

Can't remember the brand as I write, but as recent as two years ago I found a metal tin containing asbestos fibres which, when wetted, could be made into wallplugs.
"Rawlplugs", maybe?

 

[Yojevol]

Can't remember the brand as I write, but as recent as two years ago I found a metal tin containing asbestos fibres which, when wetted, could be made into wallplugs.
"Rawlplugs", maybe?

I've still got a tin. Inherited from my father. I call it my snuff box.
Brian

 

[Keith Cocker]

I used to pretend the fibre rawl plugs were cigars and ended by chewing them.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

Can't remember the brand as I write, but as recent as two years ago I found a metal tin containing asbestos fibres which, when wetted, could be made into wallplugs.
"Rawlplugs", maybe?

Yeap. Still have a tin of it! Philiplug. Blue with white lettering. I'll take a photo of it later. Mix it with a little water and stuff it in the hole. We were tough in those days - didn't worry about asbestos or any of that cr ap.
Martin

 

[Limey Lurker]

Can't remember the brand as I write, but as recent as two years ago I found a metal tin containing asbestos fibres which, when wetted, could be made into wallplugs.
"Rawlplugs", maybe?

I'm pretty sure they were(or It) was called 'Philiplugs); my Dad gave me a box when SWMBO and I moved into our first house.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

Philiplug Screwfix to be exact. Screwfix? Where have I heard that name before?
I must have bought this in about 1972 at Dixon Scott in Sudbury, Suffolk when I live near there.
Have fun
Martin

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

And a couple of photos of the Rawlplug drill.

 

[niall Y]

It's amazing what one does find under the floorboards of old houses. In my previous property I found all sorts of junk but the most poignant was a few saved pages from an Indian newspaper listing the dead from one of the battles of the First world war.