Yankee tool

Last year I had two Yankee tools and since I was a custodian / handy man I used them a lot. what I liked was I had the Philips and the screw driver bits for them. I use to enjoy showing the co workers that they where fast and easy to use. No Drill, no electric cords and no finding an open electric socket to plug. Some other guys had the battery power stuff but like always the battery started to die. When I retired last June one co worker asked for one of my Yankees I gave it to him. I know that they are old fashion and most of you out here do not use them but when you find yourself in a jam. Have to get the work done like putting 30 tables together you often need this tool. You might want to say it is less stuff to fight on the furniture you are putting together. I know most people do not know what a Yankee tool is only if you grew up around a person who was in to construction work on homes. My Uncle would use his all the time.
 
I've used them sometimes and I've got a few from auctions. They're handy sometimes for sure. A fellow I knew told me that there were protests in some unions when they came out because people said they were taking the bread from the working man's mouth because they were so much faster than a regular screwdriver, but I don't know if that's true.
Zach
 

I own a tool that will put a screw in just by pushing down on the handle. Is that a Yankee tool? I bought it several years ago at an auction because I thought it was just plain cool. I've never used it.
 
Dad and I built a few boats back in the 50s and I still have one we used then. Also had a few drill bits for it. The deep maroon handle and the chrome looked good back then and still does.
 
I have my dad's old one, the handle was split and he had it taped with duct tape,I turned a new handle for it. I haven't used it very often since I have a Stanley of my own. Paul
 
The Garrett Wade company sells a new, well-made version of the type made by Stanley and replacement bits for that particular kind of chuck.
 
Back in the late 70 I bought one of the maroon handle Stanley's (I think it is a Stanley). It was the second model down from top of the line. The top of the line model had a wood handle and the handle was shorter and the metal shank longer. I used the $hit out of it and it still works. The texture in the plastic handle is getting smooth in places. A few years ago I bought another "new in the box" at a swap meet. Guy had two, should have bought both. I love the fact there is no battery, no cord, and you have a feel for the screw as it tightens. I have bought a couple of others over the years but they had no return spring and are not as handy to use. I always thought if my original wore out and I couldn't get another or fix it maybe I could find a spring and put it in the other ones. I have always called it a "Yankee Screwdriver".
 
What use to be fun is you walk in to the room and you look at these young guys. They got there drill, cords and walking around a class room looking for that place to plug in. As there doing that I already have three desk put together. I look at them and say I am the old guy. I am the person who is to be slow what happen I got three done and all of you are on your first one. Then I just laugh.
 
Yes when I was an electrical apprentice in the IBEW local 3 NYC we were not allowed to use them. Too fast, I couldn't believe it at the time, but they wouldn't let me use it. I have a few of them, but rarely use them nowadays.
 
I used a Yankee drill for telephone installation work for many years and still had one when I retired. We had a few small drill bits but no screwdriver bits. I still have my grand daddy's also. Tommy
 
I have an old one but do not use it although I do like my hand drill. When I was doing my apprenticeship in a sheetmetal shop the company owner's dad was one of the foreman > one day he told me that I should buy me a "little egg beater". I never bought the hand drill at that tine but when the company went broke the old man came to work for me, I bought the Stanley hand drill I still have. Those were the days before cordless drills.
 
Yup, I have a maroon handle Yankee that I inherited from dad. Have to admit that it doesn't get used much.
 
Guess I'm just a kid, 68 in a couple weeks, don't know what your talking about, thought I had all the fast tools.
 
I have two, one is a Dunlap drill driver with a chuck kinda like a Dremel, the other is Yankee With the maroon handle. I do use them. Jim
 
I have one I bought in the 50's. Clear, hollow handle with an orange cap. Storage for 6 bits in the handle.
My dad was using it trying to put screws into my broken baseball bat. The drill hopped on him and weny right through his left index finger.He never said a word just pulled the drill out of his hand and told me "fix it yourself" But his eyes were sure full of tears.
 
I have several Stanleys that were my Fathers and one that was my Grandfathers that is about 18' long. I also have a drill that works on the same principle, it has a plastic handle that holds a number of bits. On a different note but still stanley I have my Grandfathers molding plane I think it is a Stanley # 25 if I recall, it is in a wooden box with a slide off top and has a wooden box of molding plane irons. On the under side of the cover is a paper with the $6.00 price and a satisfied customers tale of how the tool paid for itself on his first job.
 
I went back and googled Stanley molding planes and It is a #45 not 25 it shows several pictures of it.
 
It is one of those things that comes from your dad. My dads was plastic handled Staley with a screw off cap that held bits inside. Still got it plus two wood handles from garage sales.
 
Here ya go. My dad wore his out. You need to lube these a little and DON'T Loose them out in a field till haying season when you find it again. I didn't know they came in several sizes.
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I was introduced to the Yankee back in 1965 in my first job installing store counters. The old guy I worked with said it was his most important tool for fast installation.
 
My dad was a carpenter and his Yankee was always with him. That was back when a carpenter actually built the cabinets and door jambs and hung the doors. His Stanley block plane was always in the apron, too.
 
Dad had a couple just like that. Don't know it they are still around the farm; can't remember seeing them after Dad passed away. Maybe our neighborhood tool thief walked off with them?.
 

I still have one Millers Falls model. Got it at a flea market. Came with one broken screw driver bit, so I made an adapter to use the common 1/4" insert bits. I see commercial adapters made now.

I sue mine quite often in sheet rock, hinges, places or times a cordless isn't available or is too bulky. Like a handsaw, it takes a little time to learn to use, but they still work as good as ever.
 
Really? I've been in the Carpenter's Union for over 50 years and that was one of the first tools I was told to buy. Even used my Stanley block plane to shave a flat spot on the wood handle so it wouldn't roll off whatever I was working on. Sliding patio doors at the time. I still have it, along with another one I got at an auction for $5 dollars.
 
I have several with a different type of screwdriver bit in each one. That way I do not have to change bits. I also have some with different wood drill bits in them.
They are now becoming collector items now like the wood planes.
 
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I remember seeing drivers like that before there were screwdriver bits for them. They had straight flutes for wood cutting bits.

Dusty
 

I looked in a drawer and found my push screwdrivers; None is a Yankee!
First is a Millers Falls #51A. Extended, it is 17 inches long, not counting the screwdriver bit. Retracted, it is 11-1/4 inches long. Bit shank is .280 inch. It has settings to select clockwise or counter clock to either tighten or loosen when you push. Shaft is not spring loaded, and shaft does not turn when you are pulling handle up.
Second has no name or any markings at all. Looks brand new, including the bit. Extended, 17- 1/2 inches, retracted 12 inches. Bit shank is .275 inch. Shaft is spring loaded to extend when you stop pushing down.
Third unit is smaller, almost missed it in the drawer. It says Dunlap (I know, an old Sears brand!) and also says made in Germany. It is small, 8-3/4 inches extended without bit. The top of handle unscrews, handle contains two flat screw driver bits and two drill bits. These have D-shaped butt end shanks, similar to Yankee products.
(Actually, I do have some Yankee push drills, but that is another topic, maybe later today or tomorrow!)

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
 

I now have my Genuine Yankee push drills in front of me.

The oldest one is marked "Yankee No. 41, North Bros. Mfg, Co."

The newer one is made nearly identically, and is marked "Stanley Yankee, No. 41Y".

They each have eight drill points or bits, from 1/16 in. to 11/64 in. The points store inside the handle in both units.

The points have straight flutes for wood, not metal.

When the handle is pushed, the shaft turns clockwise, when handle is allowed to spring back, the shaft turns counter clockwise. Made for drilling, not turning screws.

The shank end of the points have a D shape, and also a notch where a ball in the chuck clicks into.

I have two OTHER brand push drills that work similarly to the Yankees, and the points also store in the handles. They are a Millers Falls No. 100 and Millers falls No. 188A. The shank end of the points for these have a sort of spline or "fluted" look. The shank and matching chuck have the shape of a plus sign. Not interchangeable with Yankee points!!

Dennis M. in West Tenn.
 
Since we're still talking about the Yankee Push Drills, I decided to take a picture of mine and post it.

I assume DMartin's looks like this....however this is a Model 44.
I have another one of these plus two different sized Yankee red-handled push screwdrivers.
I never use the screwdrivers but this little gem resides in the kitchen "tool drawer" and is used quite often.
Takes up hardly any room.
I use it mostly for drilling holes in sheet rock walls for picture hanging.
Great little tool...the drill bits do store in the handle and the knurled knob on the handle end is for adjusting the spring tension.
I have picked these up at garage sales over the years for practically nothing. I think I've had this particular one for 30 odd years.
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