You had a mighty cord, with a kink in it from where you spent a summer in the attic, crushed by a bare low profile rim. Countless scuffs on your body, scars from when you oversaw the construction of two decks, innumerable home renovations, and car repairs. Blops of pink and blue paint testified to your participation in the creation of two toddler beds. For a quarter century you were always there for me, making holes, stirring paint and wall texture, driving screws into hundreds of feet of fencing, stripping paint, caked lawn, and road grime. Even as your soul escaped in the form af an acrid blue cloud, I gave thanks to your plastic body, which protected me from certain electrocution. You will be difficult to replace.
My old man’s drill had a stainless steel body, and there was no guard on his circular saw. I remember helping him remove the deadman switch from a new lawn mower because I was too short to hold it while pushing the monster
With as much dignity as he could muster, Inigo gathered up the sad remains of his Black and Decker drill. Later that night, alone in the backyard, he buried it next to the garage. Now I could never be sure, but I thought that I heard the sound of “Taps” being played, gently.
Thanks, Jean Shepherd.
Black and Decker is some mighty fine tools. I have a B&D shovel with a thick spongy rubber covering encasing the entire handle. I intend to be buried with it.
Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! “Magic smoke” was a phrase used by many old-timers I worked with, including my good friend and mentor Al. Al had a deep, sonerous voice; he was a fan of and compared to Albus Dumbledore (the real one, not the fake they substituted later :D). Anyway, he’d say “oh, it’s gone; the magic smoke came out” totally deadpan with this mock-serious/concerned look to try and let people know he knew it was a silly joke. It never failed to crack me up, partly because it never occurred to me to say, ever (and still doesn’t) but it stops me dead in my tracks now every time someone uses it; makes me audibly chuckle too. RIP Al.
I feel your pain. I had a Black & Decker Professional* drill, nicknamed Puncher for the speed with which he went through everything, that I bought in 1983(?) and used daily for work for about four years. Puncher continued to be my favorite drill even in his semi-retirement for another twenty-five years or so, even though near the end I was mostly using a new battery powered drill for convenience. I’d only occasionally pull out ol’ Puncher because he could do more “serious” drilling than the weakling upstart battery drill. Around 2008 I had to drill multiple holes in some 1/8" steel, and that proved to be one job too many. He died in harness - on the last hole.
*Black & Decker Professional was re-branded as DeWalt in the '90s.
a fair question. Nope. Last electric motor I worked on was a mini slot car maybe 40 years ago. Nowadays I dont have the time to play with it. Buried next to the garage I’m afraid.
Well…as long as we’re sharing old tools.
At the place where I work, which has been owned by my family for 40 years, there’s a detached garage that we’ve always used for storage and maintenance. It’s filled with tools nearly as old as myself. But, tucked way up in one of the eves is a very large, two handled drill. My dad always said 'your grandfather took that thing apart (which I’m guessing just means took the handles off) and snuck it home from the war. I’m nearly 40 and don’t ever remember that drill not being up there.
Finally a year or two ago I climbed up and grabbed it.
It’s huge, it’s really heavy and I’m not sure what the random homeowner would need with a drill that big unless they were building something out of telephone poles.
Anyway, here it is and here’s the label.
I send a picture of it to Skilsaw and they sent me a picture back of it’s listing in a catalog.
They’ve dated it at 1949, which would put its production just prior to the Korean War, which I think is the war he was in.
I did plug it in and it does spin up (and felt very torquey), but you can tell all the lubrication is dried up.
I’m kinda split between taking it apart and seeing if I can refurb it and sending it to AVE to let him drool over it. Shipping would be close to a hundred dollars I think.
