Nothing lasts forever

To paraphrase a common saying about royalty – My favorite drill is dead. Long live my favorite drill.

You’re probably familiar with the classic Makita 6095D, the drill/driver that came with the 9.6-volt “stick” battery. Mine is the 6093D, a precursor to the 6095. The date in the user manual is 1986, and my father-in-law gave it to me new, so I’ve used this drill for two and half decades. It was the first drill I’d ever seen with a keyless chuck.

Even though it’s always been my favorite of the (at least) seven or eight I own, I haven’t really used it a lot in the last few years. Since my drilling and driving tasks typically aren’t heavy-duty, I use a small lithium-ion cordless that’s far lighter. For those times when I need some real power, I jump up to one of my 18-volt drills or a corded. And for anything requiring vertical holes I bypass handheld drills and head straight to the drill press.

So that Makita has languished a bit in recent years, but I still grab it from time to time. I still love the way it feels in my hand and, don’t laugh, I love the way it sounds. And there’s more than a little nostalgia about it: I have older hand tools, but it’s the oldest power tool I own.

Well, it’s dead Jim. I went to use it the other day and nothing happened. Charging the battery didn’t help. Of course, it could still be the battery (the latest in a long line of replacements, but still old), so I’m holding out hope. They’re pricey, but you can still find new batteries online.

I’ve got this sinking feeling, though, that it’s not the battery, as I seem to recall it was fine the last time I picked it up. But if I get a new battery and it turns out it’s the drill that’s dead, that strikes me as something I’d just rather not know. Part of me wants to put it back in its familiar spot just the way it is, skip buying a new battery, and just consider it resting.

It’s certainly earned the right.

A.J.