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Thread: Yankee driver..

  1. #1
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    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
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    Yankee driver..

    Rust Hunt this morning..
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    Little drills: Morse USA 1/8" and an ETNA 5/32"
    Yankee No. 35....has 6 patent dates, Walnut handle
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    Might need a little clean up.....has no spring ...
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    and the ends of the drills..
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    Spent a dollar a piece....not too bad a day?

  2. #2
    Cool. I saw a couple of those little drills this morning, but I have a brace and a hand drill (egg beater?), and didn't see that I would have any use for those. The brace and the hand drill will cover pretty much anything I need to do.
    Nice finds, though.
    I can't seem to stay away from the flea markets and antiques places. I have several tools I need to actually refurbish and set up, but I can't stop buying them. Since I'm just starting, I grab pretty much anything i think I might need, if I have the cash.

  3. #3
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    Some of the Yankee style came without springs I think, and some people took them out on the ones that have them. I have a Stanley and a Millers Falls. One with a spring, one without. I prefer the one without.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nicholas Lawrence View Post
    Some of the Yankee style came without springs...
    Yep. Some carpenters preferred the springs, some didn't; so North Bros. and later Stanley (after buying North Bros.) offered them both ways. See here for some information: http://www.oldtoolsnstuff.com/yankeescrewdriverpage.htm

  5. #5
    Cool link.

  6. #6
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    Interesting steven, I bought one of those today myself for $3.50. Mine is a Wards Master Quality (very hard to read) with a Yankee #2 Phillips bit. Pretty clean and functional to boot.
    PushDrillDriver.jpg
    Last edited by Pat Barry; 05-20-2017 at 9:00 PM.

  7. #7
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    I learmed about the spring business early on in my adventure, also about holding the bit end of the driver. With a spring if it slips off of the screw you will get a chisel cut in your finished work and a good a$$ chewing from the master. Maybe even worse then the one you got for cutting a 3" piece from a 10ft walnut board. DAMHIK this.
    Jim

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Houghton View Post
    Yep. Some carpenters preferred the springs, some didn't; so North Bros. and later Stanley (after buying North Bros.) offered them both ways. See here for some information: http://www.oldtoolsnstuff.com/yankeescrewdriverpage.htm
    Thanks for posting that link. Mine with the spring is a Millers Falls (No. 620A). Interesting they have not run across one with a spring return.

    ETA: I see old tool heaven has a lot of information on them. I go there all the time for Millers Falls stuff, I have never noticed the section on screw driver's before. I was wondering if somebody modified mine to add the spring perhaps, but I see that is the original design.
    Last edited by Nicholas Lawrence; 05-20-2017 at 8:51 PM.

  9. #9
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    Here's my contribution

    IMG_2445[1].jpg
    "Yankee'' North Bros No 30A Pat Dec. 11 23. No spring but the body is either copper or brass.

  10. #10
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    Or possibly copper plating on steel, preparatory to chrome plating.

  11. #11
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    and the ends of the drills..
    I am actually starting to accumulate quite a set of those brace enabled twist drills. Most recently picked up a 5/8" bit that is about 2 feet long.

    They can be handy at times. Especially in the larger sizes. Anything that is bigger than 1/4" can be a bit of work in an eggbeater.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  12. #12
    A Yankee screwdriver was my first cordless power tool. One of the fellows I worked for called it a "project destroyer".

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Jenness View Post
    A Yankee screwdriver was my first cordless power tool. One of the fellows I worked for called it a "project destroyer".
    Old Swedish guy I worked with called them screw undrivers and to him hammers were screw drivers!
    Last edited by Rick Malakoff; 05-21-2017 at 9:17 AM. Reason: missing word

  14. #14
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    Happen to have a few other Yankee drivers...
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    Just these were from the red painted handle times.....have to be careful when you release the 135......BIG spring inside it, almost as long as a walking stick.....
    I'll have to dig out the shorter one.....to see which number it is..middle two are 130s.
    You can make your own bits for these...
    made bits.jpg
    These used to be for my corded drivers. Regrind the hex ends to match the Yankee style ends.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rick Malakoff View Post
    Old Swedish guy I worked called them screw undrivers and to him hammers were screw drivers!
    I remember when I was a kid my dad was working with a man who put screws in with a hammer. Dad asked him about the slots for the screwdriver, and was told "those are for taking them out."

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