Rawlplugs of Yesteryear

[wobs]

Before the advent of Rawlplugs in the 1960s, what would people use? Would it have been jute fibres soaked in blood and glue?

This question may or may not be related to the new album by Half Man Half Biscuit.

Edit: Also but unrelated, is there a limit to how many Rawlplugs you can have in a wall? I sometimes wonder looking at what previous owners have done to parts of our house.

 

[stuart45]

The answer to the first question is they used wooden plugs either driven into the wall, or left in the joints by the bricklayers. The original Rawl plugs were started in the early 1900's.
Second question I have not got a clue, you need a bored SE to work it out.

 

[Stevers]

Between the wooden plugs and plastic plugs there was a fibrous sort of putty that you could ram into a suitable hole. Some of that was in my Dad's kit, but for me plastic Rawlplugs or Plasplugs were already a thing. Of course where there's already a wood plug sized hole, then it's easier to put one of those back.

Something thankfully consigned to history is the Rawlplug punch that you were supposed to be able to make some sort of a hole in masonry with. In my early days I used one as pathfinder to my Dad's hand me down non-hammer electric drill.

 

[paulc]

Between the wooden plugs and plastic plugs there was a fibrous sort of putty that you could ram into a suitable hole.

Rawlplastic was popular for a time and was apparently available as late as the 1960s. Nasty stuff as it contained copious quantities of white asbestos.

 

[Flyfisher]

Yes, I remember my father using that stuff. As I recall, it came in a metal tube and was a sort of 'fibrous flour' that was mixed with water and the resulting past pressed into the hole. I also remember my father bypassing the water bit in favour of saliva! I also recall reading that the stuff was full of asbestos (the fibrous component I guess).

Fortunately, the now familar plastic plugs had been invented by the time I began DIYing in earnest, though my father remains fit and healthy and recently managed a Park Run on his 90th birthday, so it can't have done him too much harm

 

[a twig]

I found some “interesting” brown fibrous plugs in the walls here when stripping plaster - they were disposed off with extreme prejudice