Clawson Hand drill find.

[Dave Lehnert]

Never know what you will find at a thrift store for $1.

A clawson Hand drill. Looking on the internet I see them for sale for $75. On one hand tool message board said they seen them go for as high as $185 at auction.
Anyone know for sure what the value is. Any othe info you may have on this drill.
Also looks like my drill has been striped of the paint. Guess no harm in repainting?

[Jim Koepke]

Nice find. You may want to hold off on the painting. My philosophy on this is that you can always paint tomorrow, but it is difficult to undo the painting.

The angling on this does make it a unique tool.

Do some research on what the collectors prefer if you plan to sell.

If you plan to keep it, then it doesn't really matter what the collectors think.

Thrift shops are always a great place to find things. The assortment changes all the time. So, you have to drop in all the time to find the deals. There are likely others doing the same thing. First to find is the first to win.

My pocket would have likely been torn by my reaching for a dollar.

jim

[Bill Houghton]

Are those "buy it now" prices or actual open-bid results? If the former, probably over-priced.

I've got one, in not as good shape. Kind of a novelty tool, but clever.

[David Keller NC]

Never know what you will find at a thrift store for $1.

A clawson Hand drill. Looking on the internet I see them for sale for $75. On one hand tool message board said they seen them go for as high as $185 at auction.
Anyone know for sure what the value is. Any othe info you may have on this drill.
Also looks like my drill has been striped of the paint. Guess no harm in repainting?

These are not common. However, there aren't very many hand drill collectors, so the market is shallow.

In general, the market for hand tools as collector's items totally collapsed late last year with the economic meltdown, but it's definitely coming back (the market, not the economy! ). I've seen them go for about $200 at big auctions, but that was about 2 years ago when the collector's market reached its peak.

My guess is that if you wish to re-sell it to get as much for it as possible, you will need to hang on to it for another year or so. Unfortunately I don't have much other information, so I can't tell you if the surface is original or not. However, the guy I can point to as having more knowledge about hand drills than any other is Wiktor Kuc. He re-furbishes the more common Miller's Falls and other brands and re-sells them at http://www.wkfinetools.com/. If you sent him an e-mail, he may be able to tell you more about it.

[Dave Lehnert]

After 5 years, thought I would bump this back to the top and see if anyone has additional info they can share.
I never did repaint it. Did find out they were also made for the military.

[Bill Houghton]

A quick search on deBay shows them going for about $10. You could make a 900 percent profit, but you'd only be $9 richer.

[Dave Lehnert]

A quick search on deBay shows them going for about $10. You could make a 900 percent profit, but you'd only be $9 richer.

LOL!!! I have been searching for more info tonight and looks like the bottom has dropped out of the Clawson hand drill market.