Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Tool ID help needed

Found this in my Dad's tools, never saw it before, and have no idea what it does. There is not a mark or label anywhere on it that I can see, though the bits have sizes marked on them. There are eight bits stored in the handle that are accessed through that hole in the rotating collar. The knurled collar near the tip is spring-loaded and pulls down to remove or install the bits. The bits have two equally scalloped sides. The entire tool is also spring-loaded, the narrower part of the shaft compresses down into the base (turns clockwise pushing down, don't see any way to reverse it). I'm sure someone here knows exactly what this is.

It's a 'push drill' ....

It's a hand drill. It works like a Yankee screwdriver, turning the bit as you push down. The screwdrivers can be reversed so this is a simplified mechanism.

That seemed the most logical idea, but the bits don't really look like drill bits, though I haven't tried it yet.

Yes, a drill. My dad had one. Pretty cool, could be used on the farm in South Dakota where they didn't have electricity.

Now that I think about it, the long scalloped bits could make more sense considering how much slower this drill would be turning than a power drill.

They have a drill tip to do the cutting. What they lack is a twist to pull the shavings out of the hole. I used to have a Craftsman yankee type screwdriver. It came with some drill bits like this.

Thanks guys for the quick responses. The bits were really throwing me off. Now I need to go out and make a hole in something.

Yankee drill. I used one as an installer/repairman with the telephone company in the late 60’s. It is very handy and works great with small bits. Spare bits are stored in the handle.

Yup - Yankee drill, the OG cordless screwdriver.

Have two or three of them, but they don't get used very often any more.

yankee screwdriver. very handy in the days before battery tools.

up....Yankee drill.....I still use one.

Still use my grandfathers.

I've got one out in the shop that my grandfather left me ... which was fairly new when he bought it probably in the late 50s or early 60s. They really work. He used his to build birdhouses and jewelry boxes out in his shop which didn't have power run to it at the time. The man made a darn good cash retirement extra income back then making bird houses and jewelry boxes and the occasional tobacco stand and hope chest ... you gotta keep those things cleaned and lubed and be sure not to let the dust pile up on the shaft and get into the shaft gear. It's not like normal gears ... it's long and cylindrical and a beatch to take apart and clean.

And whatever you do never ever try to muscle it through something ... let the tool do the work. Sometimes you can find them on ebay. I bought a spare for used parts and a replacement spring.

There are smaller versions that used to be seen commonplace around jeweler's desks and spectacle makers' workshops.

As an aside when the grandson had too much extra energy I put a carbide bit in it and he use to go to town drilling on an old concrete walkway Ill tear out eventually.

You know what they say about old age and treachery

Neighbors tire........

Yankee drill. I’ve had one for decades. Interesting concept.

Pictures of the bits?

Largest one marked 11/64