Vintage S-K Tools

[RavenHawk]

Dumb question...did SK ever intentionally chrome plate any of their older deep impact sockets?



Thanks!

 

[3baygarage]

Dumb question...did SK ever intentionally chrome plate any of their older deep impact sockets?



Thanks!

The impact sockets were black as far as I know.

 

[ALLFAST]

Thanks. I’ll give it a try.
-Don

Nice work Don. Go to Brownells Shooting supply website and get a large ( not the smaller version) wooden handled “carding” wire brush for about $12 shipped. Use that to gently bring them back to life after boiling ….Brushes are butter soft and very durable !

 

[ALLFAST]

Hi Don,

I recently used two large brushes ( ganged up in my hand) to do a test spot on the support column of my recently acquired ,Wartime, Canady Otto Royal 16 DP; used some Gibbs/WD40 and went to town for about 5 minutes or so.

The satin finish is very nice, so I’ve taken to using these carding brushes on vintage machined surfaces as well

 

[genog]

Found this little set today

Missing about a third of the stuff
But......for the price.....
What the heck!

 

[genog]

....Go to Brownells Shooting supply website and get a large (not the smaller version) wooden handled “carding” wire brush for about $12 shipped....

They're out of stock Shawn!

 

[ALLFAST]

They're out of stock Shawn!

Best to get on an email restock notification. They are extremely effective.

 

[d42jeep]

Found this little set today

Missing about a third of the stuff
But......for the price.....
What the heck!

Let me know which sockets you need. I have some spares. I found this 1/4” drive 8mm at a sale this morning.
-Don

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

They're out of stock Shawn!

My mom said she got rid of that video.

 

[genog]

Let me know which sockets you need. I have some spares......

Thanks
I'll be in contact

 

[Patrick Eubanks]

Here’s an old SK set in a cardboard/wood box I recently acquired. I thought I would share. Pretty cool

 

[Outlawmws]

Very cool! box made in the day of "quality" cardboard boxes.

 

[Fred Knox]

It took awhile, but finally put together the 1/2”-drive set No. 4116.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Sweet you even got the pin handle!

 

[Beerhippie]

Sweet you even got the pin handle!

Did the Tommy Bar become a pin handle or am I confusing the two?

 

[d42jeep]

Plomb refers to them as Pin Handles. In fact, PH is included in the part number on the tool.
-Don

 

[Beerhippie]

Plomb refers to them as Pin Handles. In fact, PH is included in the part number on the tool.
-Don

I'm confused....

 

[d42jeep]

Manufacturers had various names for them. I usually call them crossbars.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I found this empty box on eBay. It’s been used pretty hard and came dirty and greasy. The exterior paint leaves a lot to be desired but I don’t have a paint match for the color.
I cleaned up the interior and added 6 point sockets as shown in the 1958 catalog. I still need a narrow groove 7/16” socket. The set is #4408.
It doesn’t look too bad in the back ot the display.
-Don

 

[Old Radar]

Manufacturers had various names for them. I usually call them crossbars.
-Don

Crossbar is the most descriptively accurate.
Tommy bar and Pin Handle tie for "Hand you a what?"

 

[d42jeep]

While we are on the subject of crossbars, this unmarked S-K 1/4” drive cad plated crossbar arrived from eBay seller and former GJ contributor Roy Olsen. I will happily add it to an almost complete wartime S-K set.
-Don

 

[Catfishdan]

I picked up this unmarked sk set of 1/4” sockets today. No brand, no “chrome alloy”, nothing. Just the sizes.

 

[d42jeep]

Those are very likely Carb O Mang and came in a set like this one formerly owned by BK now residing in AZ. I’ve seen several of those that were cracked
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ exactly. and OTG still needs one or two for that set.

 

[d42jeep]

Some eBay purchases arrived in the mail today. This partial early postwar set included the crossbar making it easy to complete.
Added the missing pieces.
A GMTK correct 18” cad plated unmarked flex handle.
A wartime cad plated 3/8” drive 12 point 3/4” socket.
Some postwar 3/8” drive sockets to fill/upgrade sets.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here’s an old SK set in a cardboard/wood box I recently acquired. I thought I would share. Pretty cool

Understatement! That is freakin' awesome, especially with the wood blocked corners. I love the red ink stamp from the retailer. Does that say "Krauss Stores" and "___Best Auto Accessories and Radio"?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Crossbar is the most descriptively accurate.
Tommy bar and Pin Handle tie for "Hand you a what?"

It depends on what kind of shop you're standing in!

This has come up periodically here and we touched on the terminology (and etymology) aspects in an older thread on hinge or flex-head handles that turned into a 'Crossbar' thread, linked here. "Crossbar" is demonstably the most common term in vintage automotive mechanics hand tools literature (catalogs, manuals, etc). Terms such as "tommy bar", "tommy-bar", "tommy wrench", "pin wrench", and "pin handle", all as old as the late 1800's, have leached into discussion here from the machinery world, for turning (or holding steady) all kinds of pieces drilled with holes known as tommy or pin holes, and can still be found in modern technical literature with respect to lathes, mills, etc, and even C-clamps.

In a broad (though I wouldn't claim exhaustive) search of all major hand tool mfgr's catalogs in the 1930's, I found that none were using "tommy bar", Plomb was the only one using "pin handle", and all the others were using crossbar. The Federal Standard Stock Catalog at that time (which has evolved into the NSN system) used cross bar, technically, "Bar, cross".

The biggest crisis is not their terminology, but their size. As everyone knows, they are almost always MIA, a good practice for all pickers is to never leave them any of them behind, but not all of them are interchangeable across mfgrs! Good summary here.

 

[d42jeep]

While we are on the subject of crossbars, this unmarked S-K 1/4” drive cad plated crossbar arrived from eBay seller and former GJ contributor Roy Olsen. I will happily add it to an almost complete wartime S-K set.
-Don

Here is the completed set with the crossbar added.
-Don

 

[Leon bee]

Pardon me, I'm new here. Where's the part the cross bar goes through? I've seen other photos without that.

 

[Outlawmws]

The handle hole in the breaker bar to make it a "Tee" wrench

 

[Leon bee]

Jeesus! Learn something every day I shoulda thought of!

 

[Leon bee]

So what do we call the little bar and it's adapter you can use instead of the breaker bar?

 

[3baygarage]

So what do we call the little bar and it's adapter you can use instead of the breaker bar?

You mean a sliding t handle or t bar?

 

[Kaervak]

Some recent acquisitions of center diamond logo SK ratchets. The two 3/8 ratchets are stamped differently too. I might put speedwheel kits in the 3/8 & 1/2 bodies, or just hang onto them as is.

 

[Shelbylex]

Nice, Kaervak!!! I hope one day I will find 3870 diamond logo one in the wild...

 

[d42jeep]

Some recent acquisitions of center diamond logo SK ratchets. The two 3/8 ratchets are stamped differently too. I might put speedwheel kits in the 3/8 & 1/2 bodies, or just hang onto them as is.

I believe that the top four ratchets pictured were made during the first two years of the S-K Wayne ownership of S-K. The tip-off is that the patent numbers are on the opposite side of the S-K diamond and part number markings. In the third year they began marking them S-K Wayne with the patent numbers on the opposite side as well. Prior to the ownership change all of the markings were on the same side.
-Don
edit..
Comparison with earlier ratchet.

 

[Shelbylex]

Random question: does anybody have 1939-1943 SK catalog? Please PM me if you do

 

[Kdaniel8601]

I replaced the ratchet on my SK-Lectrolite combination set with on of the newer ones of few months back for that reason. the advertisement I have dated it to 1962.

 

[d42jeep]

Random question: does anybody have 1939-1943 SK catalog? Please PM me if you do

I don’t know who has a paper copy but here is a link to the 1943 catalog on Internet Archive.

The Sherman-Klove Co. : War Issue : 1943 : Sherman-Klove Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

28 p., illus., 27.9 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

The closest IA has available to 1939 is this 1938 catalog. I can’t imagine that the 1939 would have been very different.

S-K Tools and Tackle Boxes : 1938 Catalogue : Sherman-Klove Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

28 p., illus., 27.9 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

-Don

 

[Shelbylex]

Thank you, Don! I looked through the site.
I will start keeping an eye for them - want to try getting one for collection