What's new
What's new

buffalo forge 611 post drill dimension and original colours?

desbromilow

Plastic
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
Location
Australia
G'Day,

Just rescued a Buffalo Forge 611 post drill and will commence restoration over Christmas. It was found laying in a "native garden" in SW Western Australia.

Dimensions sought:
1) - the easy one - the type of pipe used for the shaft supporting the table - spec and length (if it had a standard length) - it seems to be a "too loose" fit on 1" water pipe, so I'm thinking it's got to be something else.
2) - the more demanding one - the ratchet pawl has been broken at some stage in its life, and the bob-weight has been replaced with some artful wire and a hex nut. Has anyone got the dimensions of the pawl? or prepared to measure theirs? - of interest would be the diameter of the ball, the length and thickness of the connecting shaft to the ball, the offset distance from the connecting shaft to the surface of the pawl where it sits on it's shaft, and the distance from the centre of the ball to the centre of the pivot shaft.

The entire unit is covered in rust, and I have yet to see any original paint on it. What was the original colour paint for the unit? Was the raised lettering painted in a contrasting colour? if so, what?
Was any parts of the unit NOT painted? (I suspect the handle bar, gear teeth, and pipe shaft)


The intent is to do a full restoration of it, then mount it on a post attached to a nib wall in the shed. It will be used on and off, particularly for larger diameter drills.

many many thanks in advance,
Des
 
I figured the one in the basement is like yours. The O.D. of the pipe is 1.25" X 14 1/2". The round table is 6". It has knob and pawl feed, 13" flywheel. It is a No. O 807 and no identity other than that. It isn't the same machine as yours and rather crude but maybe some dimensions are helpful.
 
Chances are the finish was either "Japanned Black" or a thin coat of a light gray enamel. Buffalo Forge was not noted for putting a high-gloss enamelled finish on their blacksmith shop equipment. I would lay about 99% odds that the lettering on the castings was never highlighted with contrasting paint.

These drills were intended to be used in blacksmith shops, wheelwright shops, or on farms. They were expected to get dirty, covered with a film of oil and soot from forge fires. A fancy paint job was not something commonly found on blacksmith shop equipment, even when new.

None of the gears, shafts, post, nor the table were painted, nor were the pawl feed parts and the crank (bent from bar stock, wood handle). I've had a few of these post drills along the way, all of which were built by Buffalo's competitor, Champion Blower & Forge. By the time any of them reached me, whatever paint might have once been on them was long gone. I did once get a smaller Buffalo forge, new in its crate, in a warehouse sale. Not sure of the year it was built (since sold to another smith), but it was painted a light gray on all parts (hearth pan, blower, legs, etc). I've got a big Buffalo hand blower on the shelf, and that is so old that it also has no traces of the original paint. My working forge is a Champion 30" x 40" sheet metal hearth with their "Whirwind" firepot and hand blower. That forge has traces of the original black paint on some parts of it. Nothing fancy, just a thin coat of a dull black paint. I also got two of the curved spoke flywheels for post drills, new-old-stock, at an auction. Not sure whose post drill they were for, but these also are "Japanned Black".

I suspect Buffalo probably did much the same since their drills were destined to work in Blacksmith shops, barns, or wheel wright shops with airborn dust, coal soot, and oil migrating from the shafts and gearing onto the other parts of the drill. No sense painting them too nicely, and no sense painting them any color but black since they would, in service, wind up even blacker. I'd get a can of flat black paint and have at it. It comes down to whether you want a display piece looking better than when it left the works, or do you want a working tool.
 
Thanks for the info on the colours. What you say makes perfect sense, but I may deviate a little in execution.
Where I live there is a potential for rusting, so I might do a little better in painting for protection, and use grease film or some other coating to aid the non-painted areas.

This will be a tool which is used, but since my shed is more machine tools, and less of a smithy, I expect that dust will be a bigger issue than soot. I will bring it up to original colours (or close to), but may then embellish a little, since good tools can still look good as well. - I'll see how it looks in plain black before anything changes.

Thanks,
Des



Chances are the finish was either "Japanned Black" or a thin coat of a light gray enamel. Buffalo Forge was not noted for putting a high-gloss enamelled finish on their blacksmith shop equipment. I would lay about 99% odds that the lettering on the castings was never highlighted with contrasting paint.

These drills were intended to be used in blacksmith shops, wheelwright shops, or on farms. They were expected to get dirty, covered with a film of oil and soot from forge fires. A fancy paint job was not something commonly found on blacksmith shop equipment, even when new.

None of the gears, shafts, post, nor the table were painted, nor were the pawl feed parts and the crank (bent from bar stock, wood handle). I've had a few of these post drills along the way, all of which were built by Buffalo's competitor, Champion Blower & Forge. By the time any of them reached me, whatever paint might have once been on them was long gone. I did once get a smaller Buffalo forge, new in its crate, in a warehouse sale. Not sure of the year it was built (since sold to another smith), but it was painted a light gray on all parts (hearth pan, blower, legs, etc). I've got a big Buffalo hand blower on the shelf, and that is so old that it also has no traces of the original paint. My working forge is a Champion 30" x 40" sheet metal hearth with their "Whirwind" firepot and hand blower. That forge has traces of the original black paint on some parts of it. Nothing fancy, just a thin coat of a dull black paint. I also got two of the curved spoke flywheels for post drills, new-old-stock, at an auction. Not sure whose post drill they were for, but these also are "Japanned Black".

I suspect Buffalo probably did much the same since their drills were destined to work in Blacksmith shops, barns, or wheel wright shops with airborn dust, coal soot, and oil migrating from the shafts and gearing onto the other parts of the drill. No sense painting them too nicely, and no sense painting them any color but black since they would, in service, wind up even blacker. I'd get a can of flat black paint and have at it. It comes down to whether you want a display piece looking better than when it left the works, or do you want a working tool.
 
Alum100k,

can I trouble you for a couple of photos of the pawl, maybe including a size reference in the photo (coin, or ruler, etc) so I can try and get the missing dimensions for the bob weight and its offset?

thanks,
Des



I figured the one in the basement is like yours. The O.D. of the pipe is 1.25" X 14 1/2". The round table is 6". It has knob and pawl feed, 13" flywheel. It is a No. O 807 and no identity other than that. It isn't the same machine as yours and rather crude but maybe some dimensions are helpful.
 
Well it's now completed.

I stripped it down and painted it basic matt black enamel. It did look a bit drab, so I did some highlighting and hand done striping.
The machine is now running, with all exposed metal surfaces coated in 9:1 BLO/Beeswax.

The pipe was a hydraulic pipe which was so close, that a little bit of thinning to match the pipe sockets was all that was rquired.

video of it running at: YouTube

ratchet_LR.jpgFV_2_LR.jpghandle_side1LR.jpgFly_side1LR.jpghandle_table_LR.jpg









Thanks for the info on the colours. What you say makes perfect sense, but I may deviate a little in execution.
Where I live there is a potential for rusting, so I might do a little better in painting for protection, and use grease film or some other coating to aid the non-painted areas.

This will be a tool which is used, but since my shed is more machine tools, and less of a smithy, I expect that dust will be a bigger issue than soot. I will bring it up to original colours (or close to), but may then embellish a little, since good tools can still look good as well. - I'll see how it looks in plain black before anything changes.

Thanks,
Des
 
Beautiful work!
I'm a little surprised, though by discussion of a "pipe" for the column that connects the head and table. All the similar drills I have seen (I have two set up and working and parts of others) use a solid bar.

Lower end of column is supposed to be secured in a flanged socket which is bolted lower down on the same post the head is secured to, so that the drilling thrust does not have to be resisted as a moment on the lower socket in the head.

They are very handy, especially if using an electric drill requires starting a generator. Most of the toil of using a hand-drill is developing sufficient thrust, which the feed on a post-drill takes care of.
 
The original unit came with a short length (12-14") of pipe, so I assumed it was supposed to use pipe - you know what they say about assume.
The bottom flanged socket came with it, and is in use again... just with a length of pipe around 30+" long so I have more versatility.
The feed was interesting to play with - with the ratchet travel screw backed out, I found the feed advanced 2 teeth every turn, wind the screw up and it only advances 1 tooth - effectively a dual speed feedrate.

Des


Beautiful work!
I'm a little surprised, though by discussion of a "pipe" for the column that connects the head and table. All the similar drills I have seen (I have two set up and working and parts of others) use a solid bar.

Lower end of column is supposed to be secured in a flanged socket which is bolted lower down on the same post the head is secured to, so that the drilling thrust does not have to be resisted as a moment on the lower socket in the head.

They are very handy, especially if using an electric drill requires starting a generator. Most of the toil of using a hand-drill is developing sufficient thrust, which the feed on a post-drill takes care of.
 








 
Back
Top