A Black & Decker space age drill

Years ago I bought a corded drill, manufactured by Black and Decker in Brockville, Canada. It is the ubiquitous Black & Decker U-3, ¼” utility drill, an atomic-era electric drill which appeared in the mid 1950s. It sported some innovations for the home user –  a three-pronged plug with an “industrial-type” ground wire, and a geared chuck, which although was being used in industry hadn’t yet been widely adopted on residential power tools.

Ads describing the powerful U-3 drill!

These 1950s era tools were often constructed of aluminum. This could have been in part because of the ease in casting it into various shapes, and its extensive use during WW2. The increasing use of plastics in the late 1950s would eventually see the number of aluminum components diminish. The 1950s was an excess of aluminum, as it found its way into every aspect of people lives – toys, cookware, cameras, tools, flashlights, etc. Why did aluminum reign? Tools made of aluminum have a gleaming, almost delicate beauty. Aluminum is also strong, and highly resistant to corrosion.

It was one of those drills that could power a multitude of different add-ons, from a jigsaw, to an orbital sander or paint mixer. These tools were extremely common up until the 1980s, made especially for the home handyman who didn’t need separate tools. The early tools were likely quite well built, but by the 1970s the mix-and-match add-on tools being manufactured had become cheap (we had a set at home). The drills had gone from being constructed of metal to mostly plastic.

Some of the available attachments.

The beauty of this drill is one thing, the ergonomics are a completely different story. As you can see in the photograph below, the handle is quite short which means it is challenging to grip. It was advertised as having a “slim, trim handle”, which I think was more marketing spin than anything else. More short and stubby! The other downside to the all-metal construction is that it is heavy.

Too hard too handle?

The Sargent No.3426 transitional bench plane

A while back I bought a very unique transitional bench plane, a Sargent No.3426. This 26″ long jointer plane is a V.B.M., or “VERY BEST MADE” marked plane. This was a marketing slogan used by Sargent on bench planes between the years 1908 to 1918, so it is really quite easy to date the plane. There were 16 forms of transitional planes built between 1891 and 1941. The Sargent transitional planes had a cast iron top casting, and a body, handle and knob made of beech. The castings were Japanned, and the wooden parts shellacked. The lever caps on this plane have a very distinctive arrow feather pattern.

Now this plane is unique because it has three wooden inserts on the sole: an ebony insert in from of the mouth of the plane, and a what seems like a rosewood insert at the toe and heel of the plane – all areas that would typically suffer from wear. So either it came from the factory this way, as a sort of  one-off, or somewhere someone customized it for some reason. The problem is that the plane looks like it has never been used… there are no signs of wear on the sole of the plane. The plane doesn’t even have the traditional “dirty” look one would expect after 100 years… almost like it came out of the box sometime recently.

Various views of the hardwood inserts on the sole of the plane.

These planes are very aesthetically pleasing, mainly because the lever caps have a very distinctive arrow feather pattern cast into them. The other thing about this plane is that the blade has been replaced with a Samurai brand laminated steel blade (which is slightly narrower than it should be). Someone has also shaped the handle to make it somewhat more ergonomic.

The ebony? throat piece insert.

What I’ll do with the plane? Just replace the blade with a Veritas reproduction to add some extra oomph to the place and then use it for those long jointing activities.