YANKEE RADIO TOOL KIT, #106

     Some time ago, I chanced on a nice Yankee No. 100 tool set.  Readers suggested I keep watch for a No. 106 boxed set of "radio tools," which, other than a soldering iron or copper, contains about everything you'd need to build a 1920s-type radio -- and is plenty useful on later equipment.

     I have seen a few come and go at princely prices, including a lovely store display version.  They are fine tools but not on my budget.  Or not until some months ago, when a slightly-grubby one showed up on a well-known auction site.  The serious collectors weren't after it but many of the tools were there; it was hard to figure out what was going on with the little drill, which appeared to have been taken apart.  The wooden case is the most difficult part to find -- the No. 105 kit offered all the tools except the drill, at half the price and in a cardboard box -- and the case was certainly there.

     It arrived in disappointingly worse shape than the original listing showed, due to a poor packing job.  Adjustments, as they say, were made.

     The mystery of the disassembled drill was simple enough: it was the wrong drill.  This proved no hardship; the little Yankee "Radio Drill," No. 1431, is commonly found and inexpensive.

     At present, I am repairing the case, starting with the badly cracked bit holder.  The two long screwdriver blades are missing, as is the uncommon Ratchet Tool Holder No. 230.  They may be a very long while in the finding.

     The incorrect drill is nevertheless a treat: a No. 1530 Ratchet Drill, which can be set to operate in five different modes: plain, left-handed ratchet, right handed ratchet, right-hand double, or locked.  The last is handy when tightening or loosening the chuck, the simple ratchet modes only respond to one direction of turning the crank -- but "double" turns the chuck clockwise no matter which way the crank is turned!