Unknown Hand Drill to Identify

[Rhyolith]

Can anyone identify this drill? I think it might be a Keen, but am not sure.

Unknown by Rhyolith, on Flickr

Unknown by Rhyolith, on Flickr

It has "D129" Stamped at the base of the handle.

 

[Racers]

Looks like a Stanley to me.

Pete

 

[Rhyolith]

I thought that I pulled it out of a bucket at the car boot, but on closer inspection it does not look like any stately I know (and they usually have "Stanley" caste in to some part of it).

Here is is next to a Stanley 803 (which seems to me to be the most similar Stanley Model to it).

Stanley No.803 and Mystery Drill by Rhyolith, on Flickr

 

[AndyT]

I think this is an illustration of the way that branding and manufacturing are two separate things.

I'd guess it was made some time between 1930 and 1970, probably in Sheffield, and quite likely by the same specialist contractors who made castings, parts and handles for the likes of Stanley, Marples, Record etc.
It's not branded as Stanley, but it could have had any other name on it, maybe on a paper label or a transfer. The name could have been any of the big wholesalers or retailers as an 'own brand'.

I don't have any direct evidence of this except that I know from old catalogues that own brand and unbranded tools have been around for a long time. Presumably the usp was that it was a shilling cheaper than the big name equivalent.

 

[bugbear]

I have checked a 1949 "Keen" catalogue, and neither the handwheel nor the model number match anything in there.

BugBear

 

[Rhyolith]

I think it might be a Metabo

https://flic.kr/p/E3M9As

 

[AndyT]

I think you are right. So ignore my earlier waffling, and pop over to Wolfgang Jordan's ever useful website to see if it's a model 131 - but there are several pages of very similar models to choose from.

- more at http://www.holzwerken.de/museum/hersteller/metabo.phtml

 

[Rhyolith]

It has "D129" Stamped into it, could that be the model number? It does not have a unscrewing bit storage handle though like the one there... frankly it does look more like the 131.

 

[AndyT]

Maybe it's later than that early catalogue and had lost its expensive handle in a bit of rationalisation and cost cutting.

 

[rxh]

Yes it is indeed a Metabo. I bought this one new more than 40 years ago and it has had a lot of use. it still turns smoothly. The knob spindle eventually became loose and worn at the connection to the crank so I made a new one. A good drill.

 

[Rhyolith]

Thanks rxh

Does yours have a number stamped into the handle like so?

D129 by Rhyolith, on Flickr

Its is a well made drill, aside from the chuck it is kinda like a slightly better version of a Stanley No.803. Lovely smooth gears!

 

[rxh]

It has the number 21540 stamped on the opposite side. I suppose it is a serial number.