Peck Stowe and Wilcox

[Private Lugnutz]

Some of you may recall that @Steven33 posted some radio set pieces upthread back in November (post #216, this page). I helped him out with some info and links and he replied...

...if you are interested in the radio set stuff I'd be happy to work something out if you want to message me.

I was his huckleberry. And after a few failed attempts when I happened to have a reason to be near his neck o' the woods, he ended up in mine a couple months ago, and we were finally able to culminate a trade.

He got my Milwaukee Tool and Forge mechanics' chest, and, as reported earlier, the highlights of what I got included a few Keen Kutter tappet wrenches, linked here, some Snappy 9/32 pieces I needed to complete a set, linked here, a CIN'TI TOOL CO. wrench, linked here, and a rather unique wartime Bonney "RAYTHEON" wrench, linked here.

But I have been saving the best for last with those orphaned Pexto Radio Set pieces.

With some help from @four.cycle and @Oldtuleguy , who sent me copious photos of their No. 1 and No. 2 sets, respectively, and after some repro handiwork from me, they now reside in a convincingly authentic (if I do say so myself...) cardboard home.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I decided on making it a No. 2 set, because it included the extra "connector" piece, in addition to the three (3) 6-point sockets and the knurled nut socket. (I just need to make an extension from some hex key stock.) The block of wood with holes (3/8" dia.) drilled in it was easy.

 

[Outlawmws]

Cool set Lugz!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here are some in-process BEFORE shots with the donor box, which was perfect in every way, including the grunginess. I just measured the dimensions, pasted the original images of the top and side label into the gridlines in Powerpoint, printed on thicker stock paper, snipped them out, glued them on, then roughed them up a little. The original boxes did not have metallic corner supports (this is an improved kit! HAHA) and only had the label on one end, but I had to cover up the donor branding. Even rubbed some socket imprints on the label inside the lid as if it had been heavily used.

 

[four.cycle]

aha! THAT's what the photos were for!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Looks good!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks! I knew I would need this old coping saw blades box one day. I just didn't know for what!

 

[Steven 33]

Here are some in-process BEFORE shots with the donor box, which was perfect in every way, including the grunginess. I just measured the dimensions, pasted the original images of the top and side label into the gridlines in Powerpoint, printed on thicker stock paper, snipped them out, glued them on, then roughed them up a little. The original boxes did not have metallic corner supports (this is an improved kit! HAHA) and only had the label on one end, but I had to cover up the donor branding. Even rubbed some socket imprints on the label inside the lid as if it had been heavily used.

That is amazing! I gave been on the lookout for an original box for you for those actually ha but I'd say you can't ask for a better representation. Very cool

 

[WisJim]

Looking through the boxes of tools etc that I got this week, I found a 6 1/2" PS&W "Stronghold" wrench.

 

[Outlawmws]

That looks to be in great shape Jim!

 

[onetonbb74]

My only PS&W wrench...

 

[Outlawmws]

Wow, someone got serious about those initials! I wonder if it was a Co. or an individual?

 

[onetonbb74]

Yeah, not sure if it was before or after Victor...

 

[Pexto]

Alright, here's something I've been meaning to post for a while.

My username is just an accident - when I signed up I was trying to think of a clever username, and this hatchet was sitting right next to me. I've had this hatchet for decades; can't even remember how I came by it. I remember I re-handled it. It's a hewing hatchet, so I don't really use it all that much compared to the Bluegrass hatchet next to it that sees regular use.

You know all those rusty old tools you have where you wonder who made it, and you're trying to find a stamp, looking at faint traces through a magnifying glass? Yeah, this hatchet isn't like that.

I'd be grateful for any leads on when this hatchet was made. I'm certainly no Pexto expert but I've never seen another one like it.

 

[Outlawmws]

Oh. My. God.

Never seen one but I want one... I do collect Pexto; and Hewing hatchets like that.

I'll try checking my reprint catalog in the next day or so.

 

[four.cycle]

1920 Peck Stow & Wilcox catalog Broad Hatchet pp 45

only image I have of that type at the moment.

 

[Mintgrun]

Scrap bin rescue snips. The handles had more brown paint on them when I found them, but it was hiding underneath some black paint and I put them in the electrolysis bucket to fizz off the rust. Blowing them dry knocked most of the paint off, but at least it made the brand name stand out more and the brand was what made me decide to bring them home. I'm a sucker for WORTH* tools.

Hey gang, while trawling Archive.org, I found this ad, claims it a 1935. The only thing with that name in the International Tool Catalog Library.

https://archive.org/details/worth-brand-tools

I just noticed that the ad you shared was from hardware stores in Poulsbo and Silverdale, Wa. I drove through Poulsbo on my way to the snip-store today. Maybe they were originally purchased at Reliable Hardware.

 

[Outlawmws]

Nice find!

 

[d42jeep]

I spotted this square at today’s estate sale expecting it to be a Stanley and I was surprised to see the Pexto logo. I decided not to dip the rusty blade in evaporust in order not to lose the original dark finish.
-Don
As found. C
Cleaned up.

 

[B Halverson]

"When I was a kid", as the story usually starts, we had full-tilt metal-shops in our public schools from 6th through 12th grade, and they were full of just about every PEXTO tool there was for working on sheet metal and other things. I heard that the public schools had taken all of the wood and metal shops out now, too bad.

 

[B Halverson]

Here is an old looking clamp ;

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here is an old looking clamp ;

With its anvil - an added bonus! Most of mine are missing that piece.

A few of us are working on collections. I am bringing up the rear with four (4), my last addition being a No. 6, acquired in a trade with another GJer, oddly without any of the classic Pexto Steel Screw branding or proprietary markings, prompting an update posted in the Lugzsonian thread linked here.

@leg17 and @LesserSon have amazing complete or near-complete collections of the entire range. See post #68 on page 2 and post #213 on page 6. Those posts and ensuing discussions or searching the thread on "Steel Screw" will reveal more info on history, age, etc, with catalog cuts. And if you're feeling academic, they did helpfully, popularly mark them with patents.

 

[B Halverson]

With its anvil - an added bonus! Most of mine are missing that piece.

A few of us are working on collections. I am bringing up the rear with four (4), my last addition being a No. 6, acquired in a trade with another GJer, oddly without any of the classic Pexto Steel Screw branding or proprietary markings, prompting an update posted in the Lugzsonian thread linked here.

@leg17 and @LesserSon have amazing complete or near-complete collections of the entire range. See post #68 on page 2 and post #213 on page 6. Those posts and ensuing discussions or searching the thread on "Steel Screw" will reveal more info on history, age, etc, with catalog cuts. And if you're feeling academic, they did helpfully, popularly mark them with patents.

Thanks for the links and info and your trouble. Good luck with your search to complete your collections. I this one clamped on the 2x4 stud of the garage wall, and may have used it last to compress the pistons in a disc-brake caliper on a Toyota when replacing pads, what I use "c" clamps for as much as anything.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Trouble? No trouble at all. 10% of this hobby is "show", 90% is "and tell" (i.e., collaboration, research, discussion, etc), and since most of us have seen most tools posted before, it's the continuity of discussions about those by topic and subtopic etc that gives GJ its character. Posts like that are routine.

"C" clamps are indispensable. Probably Top 3 most widely used tools, universally, with a plethora of purposes, prompting numerous aphorisms, including the "you can never have too many of them!" cliche.

I have dozens of users, which I hang, unclamped, by size, on a rack in the garage. Some of them are vintage that I inherited from my old man or I've just had them long enough for them to be approaching 50 years old, but they're common. Most are modern. I hang my collectibles, unclamped, by brand, by size, on a rack in the basement.

 

[Provincial]

As has been pointed out before, often, the C-clamps with "thumbscrews" instead of cross-bars were often sold for clamping material to quilting frames. These were generally light-duty clamps, and often can be identified by their light structure.

 

[RTM]

As has been pointed out before, often, the C-clamps with "thumbscrews" instead of cross-bars were often sold for clamping material to quilting frames. These were generally light-duty clamps, and often can be identified by their light structure.

in the PS&W or Stearns catalog, they are usually "open " thumbscrews, no webbing, to make them even lighter looking

 

[Mintgrun]

I didn't notice the Worth branding on this brace until I got it home and cleaned off a little bit of rust. I saw the * on the flipside first.


It was in a scrap metal bin and I bought it thinking I might split the wood handle to use as a replacement for this old Billmont speeder.



I'd been thinking of making a replacement, but reusing an old one would look more natural. The handle length is good and I could bore out the middle to fit the speeder, but the shape is different enough that I'm not going to follow through with that plan. The chuck's quite gummed up with sawdust, but otherwise, it seems to work as it should. It seems like it might be a good job for my little ultrasonic cleaner, after a blowing it out with compressed air.

 

[d42jeep]

I found this Pexto claw hammer at today’s estate sale. The head was slightly loose but tightened up when I tapped the wedges in a little further.
-Don
As found
Cleaned up

 

[Outlawmws]

Cool find Don! I've never seen a Pexto Claw hammer.

 

[four.cycle]

I've never seen one of these:

patent D165255 Nov 20 1951 Charles L. Wheeler of Salt Lake City, UT for "Display Stand" - assignee: Peck, Stow & Wilcox, Southington, CT - manufactured BY (?)

Note the * logo on the display unit - on the top, and below on the hand saw. That's PSW's trademarked trademark formerly known as "Giant Asterisk"

also formerly known as the "Worth Tool Bar"

 

[d42jeep]

Scrap bin rescue snips. The handles had more brown paint on them when I found them, but it was hiding underneath some black paint and I put them in the electrolysis bucket to fizz off the rust. Blowing them dry knocked most of the paint off, but at least it made the brand name stand out more and the brand was what made me decide to bring them home. I'm a sucker for WORTH* tools.





I just noticed that the ad you shared was from hardware stores in Poulsbo and Silverdale, Wa. I drove through Poulsbo on my way to the snip-store today. Maybe they were originally purchased at Reliable Hardware.

Here are two tools shown in the above ad that I found at yesterday’s Walnut Creek estate sale.
Cleaned them up a little.
The Stillson wrench.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Found these Pexto pliers yesterday. They look to be Nickel plated.
-Don

 

[MisterEd]

Some Saw . . . I mean Rivet Sets we found.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is an old brace picked up off of the free table last Sunday. WisJim IDed it as as Pexto by the shape of the jaw. The patent date indicates that he was correct.

https://www.georgesbasement.com/braces02/PextoAltwein321/PextoNo1201AltweinPatent.htm

It had some tape on the handle that I managed to remove.
Unfortunately, once the tape was removed the handle was broken in half.
i cleaned up the surfaces of the broken handle and glued it back together.
Here it is after the glue dried.
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

Well done Don!

 

[AreBeeBee]

Don, that's a great revival job on that PSW brace. The chuck is their Samson model which was the first (I believe) that could lock up drill bits with circular and hex shanks, in addition to the standard tapered 4-sided ones. Other makers copied the design with minor mods. It also accepts round-shank bits as large as 1/2" (mine only makes it to 31/64").

If the chuck action sounds gritty, the ball bearings are likely worn. Mine certainly did, and so I ordered from Amazon 100 hardened steel ball bearings 3/32" in diameter, and put all new in the chuck. If the ball race is worn, try 1/8" diameter ones.

I urge anyone attempting this fixit to work with the chuck inside an empty dishpan or some other containment vessel for reasons you can guess.

Remove the chuck from the brace frame by unscrewing it completely. You open the chuck's shell by undoing the little screw (#8-32) on the fat part of the chuck. Be careful as its threaded length is quite short. Hold the chuck vertical with the jaw end down and carefully unscrew back shell from the fat part to expose the bearings in the race. As the race holding them is shallow, this is the point where the ball bearings often go their merry way, hence the containment vessel.

Collect the old bearings and replace with new. Oil and reassemble.

I despaired of getting the ball race filled fully because my fingers are thick and all my tweezers turned out to be magnetized — and the @#$#%! bearings would not stay in place. Then I thought for a moment about how it must have been done at the factory. PSW could not have assembly workers loading the race with tweezers or anything like that. What they did — I'm guessing but it makes sense — is to oil or grease the ball race and dip it into a container loaded with the right-size bearings. Bring it out, clean away excess bearings, then continue the chuck assembly.

I didn't have a full container of 3/32" bearings, but I did drizzle them into the race by hand — and ta-DAH. It was done. In addition to Don's link above, there's a cutaway of the chuck from the patent diagram (scroll down to Group VI):

https://www.georgesbasement.com/braces/PEXTObracesII/PEXTObraces.htm

Don, I apologize if this covers well-known ground for you. But I guessed there might be some out there in GJ-land who have never tackled one of these. It's a terrific brace, and I routinely use mine on projects and its ability to use all non-tapering drill shanks is wonderful.

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks for the great information. I was so busy gluing up the handle that I didn’t get into taking apart the chuck. I will follow your instructions when I get around to taking it apart.
-Don

 

[humber2]

I didn’t find any crescent style wrenches here until last weekend I found this example.

 

[AreBeeBee]

Thanks for the great information. I was so busy gluing up the handle that I didn’t get into taking apart the chuck. I will follow your instructions when I get around to taking it apart.
-Don

Don, last weekend at a local ReStore I found another PSW brace with a Samson chuck, but it looked larger somehow. Checking with a rule showed it's a 14" sweep brace. (My first one was a standard size 10-inch.) Some previous owner had lost? removed?? all the ball bearings and loaded the space with grease. I cleaned that gunk out and reloaded the chuck with 1/8" ball bearings as the race was worn enough to hold them comfortably. I first tried the 3/32" ones but they were too small, leaving too much play in the chuck.

The ReStore marked it at $2.

 

[colmal]

Just started looking into P, S & W, don't see another Vice in this thread, could be elsewhere, so as a rough guide Being a P, S & W , I'm assuming it predates the Pexto, Had a look at the 1910 catalogue -the vice doesn't have Cast Markings- anyone have an idea on era with this one ?

1 1/2" jaws