Post Drill Wrench

[Tom H]

Does anyone know if post drills were supplied originally with a wrench to change out the drill bits?

Usually 3/8" square.

If so, what do they look like?

 

[Frosty]

I'd be surprised if you bought a new post drill and wrenches weren't included. They'd probably be open ended, perhaps with multiple sizes. I have one that has different sizes on each end AND a couple box wrenches punched in the flat body. I don't know if these came with the post drill I was given by a friend but he included a number. The drill was on his Father's shop wall on the farm and when his Father passed away Gary took it for me. I'd met his Father a couple years earlier when he was up visiting and he told me about the drill and some other tools in the blacksmith side of the farm shop when we got to talking. Nice old guy, we had good talks.

I'd rather have the coffee can of drill bits for it than a box of old timey wrenches but I'd be a . . . (personality type I won't mention on a family site) if I griped.

That's all I know about the things. I'd just hang an open end wrench that fit on a string from the table just like any chuck key.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Kozzy]

I've recently been doing some research on wrenches for the museum and Frosty is likely correct---Wrenches were almost always included with tools and machines in the by-gone era.  Quite often they were considered marketing tools and got quite fancy but more commonly they so cheap to include (since as a maker you were casting and forging other junk anyway) that wrenches were tossed around like candy.  If you ever see pierced logo wrenches---where the company name lettering is pierced through the handle (positive or negative), buy it if it's cheap:  Those are the wrenches that the collectors covet most.

In any case, my bet would be a double ended "S" open end wrench with a single ended coming in second.

Here's an example of a pierced.  I can't find a specific post drill wrench on a quick search but they might have been poorly marked.

Oh...quick adder to the above:  Pre-1929 when hardware was internationally standardized, wrenches were commonly marked not with the nut size but with the bolt size.  Your wrench would be marked "7/16" when the actual flats were to fit 5/8".  Those can be interesting to add to your beer-bet bag of tricks.

[FlyingXS]

These are what I have for my postdrills

[swedefiddle]

Make a Handle Shape you like, Punch a square hole the correct size. Made to fit!!

Neil

[Tom H]

8 hours ago, FlyingXS said:

These are what I have for my postdrills

Thanks.

I have a couple of similar wrenches and assumed that was their original purpose but just wondering if anyone knew for certain.

[ThomasPowers]

Hard to tell as there were thousands of different tools that used sq headed bolts and so had wrenches like that for adjustment.

[FlyingXS]

I can see why early bolts had Sq. heads any idea why they are still used in certain applications like lathe tool posts?

I guess the heads are smaller so they can be closer together