A few years ago while watching television I saw an infomercial for a gimmick cordless drill. The head was enormous and had two chucks. The chucks rotated on a movable collar that had two positions, one for the active chuck the other was for idle. The idea was that  keeping a different bit (screwdriver and drill) in each chuck and rotating as needed was quicker than changing out bits. A ridiculous concept and a few months later when I noticed an acquaintance had been suckered into buying one I thought less of him.

Anyway, a particularly frustrating moment in the commercial involved the salesman holding up an old style hand operated drill

, turning the handle rapidly while smiling and belittling the idea of using it.  In doing so he mocked the multitudes of craftsman who built our latest attempt at civilization and concepts I hold dear like craftsmanship, quality, innovation, durability and function.

To add insult to injury the drill was probably the smallest available specimen and it was in poor condition.

The drill below was from Stanley Tools ‘Defiance ‘ line. It was their economy line but back in the day all that meant was not quite as good as heavy duty.

Manufacturers would design tools to last so that people would buy other tools from them.

You can see plenty of rust. Where the handle meets the body there was so much rust the drill would not move at all. Notice too that most of the paint on the main gear teeth is intact. This tool probably saw very little use.

All the bits originally included where still present. Even the tissue paper wadding packed in the end cap survived.

The original box is in poor shape but the label is still salvageable.

This package of bits isnt original to the drill but they are from the same time period and perhaps were purchased together.

I used a wire wheel to clean the rust off, then a little bit of oil and its ready for work.