Show your Indestro and Duro-Chrome tools

[Steven 33]

Most of these im familiar with, but there's a few that are a mystery to me, and i haven't been able to find anything on these chromium nickel sockets that i assume are duro because of the stars or each side of the size right? But the bog also has stars and i don't recall ever seeing them on bog before. Plus some duro chromium vanadium sockets i had around.. any one else seen a duro socket that's identical to the ones usually Is marked with the stars But also has chromium Nickel marking?

 

[four.cycle]

possibly Walden:

Chrome Alloy / stamped on sockets manufactured by S-K for the Brazil product line / http://alloy-artifacts.org/sherman-klove.html#brazil-also-sherman / see also: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/how-many-companies-did-sk-make-tools-for.433244/ /

Chrome Alloy Steel / stamped on wrench unknown maker /

Chrome Nickel / made by Duro/Indestro, Hinsdale, Walden Worcester, and (?) / see https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-walden-tools-here.392993/page-3#post-9382070 and following posts / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-duro-chrome-tools.94937/page-55#post-9472075 /

ChromeXQuality / Western Auto private label, manufactured by Duro Chrome, Indestro, Herbrand, Vlchek / http://alloy-artifacts.org/duro-indestro-p6.html /

Chrom-Van / see Elofort, Germany /

Chrom Vanadium / various manufacturers / see https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...n-chrom-vanadium-chrom-van-or-cro-van.506433/ /

Chromium Vanadium / manufactured by Duro Chrome, Indestro, Herbrand, BOG, and others) / http://alloy-artifacts.org/duro-indestro-p6.html / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/chromium-vanadium-who-made-it-10-21-21.488239/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...wrench-collection.304752/page-63#post-8347793 /

 

[Steven 33]

possibly Walden:

Chrome Alloy / stamped on sockets manufactured by S-K for the Brazil product line / http://alloy-artifacts.org/sherman-klove.html#brazil-also-sherman / see also: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/how-many-companies-did-sk-make-tools-for.433244/ /

Chrome Alloy Steel / stamped on wrench unknown maker /

Chrome Nickel / made by Duro/Indestro, Hinsdale, Walden Worcester, and (?) / see https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-walden-tools-here.392993/page-3#post-9382070 and following posts / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-duro-chrome-tools.94937/page-55#post-9472075 /

ChromeXQuality / Western Auto private label, manufactured by Duro Chrome, Indestro, Herbrand, Vlchek / http://alloy-artifacts.org/duro-indestro-p6.html /

Chrom-Van / see Elofort, Germany /

Chrom Vanadium / various manufacturers / see https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...n-chrom-vanadium-chrom-van-or-cro-van.506433/ /

Chromium Vanadium / manufactured by Duro Chrome, Indestro, Herbrand, BOG, and others) / http://alloy-artifacts.org/duro-indestro-p6.html / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/chromium-vanadium-who-made-it-10-21-21.488239/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...wrench-collection.304752/page-63#post-8347793 /

I have some Walden with interesting marks and duro sets marked chrome nickel as well at 2 different chromium vanadium styles. Im pretty sure i saw

I just found and posted a 5686 last week, Rags! I wish you hadn't been sleeping on the job, I would've traded some of those 41-W pieces you have for it! Instead, it's going to Tin Medic.

/// BACK ON THREAD SUBJECT ///

Here are a couple of Duro-Indestro "Ell" handles.

(Ignore the one in the middle, which is unmarked, and included just to illustrate an alternative construction for the smaller type, where they just pinched the ends of the round shank, like the bigger kind, instead of forging the ends with a collar, to stop the socket from traveling up the shank.)

The big example (10") is an early (1920's? no later than 1930's) Indestro Mfg Co Chromium-Nickel.

It has a weird second retention ball that Don and I have discussed before. Probably a stop of some sort so the socket doesn't carry up the shank.

The WWII-spec example is an unbranded Duro-Chrome. Unmistakable from the model number and the full spelling of "Chromium". No late than October 1942 and probably pre-war, but it's in my current GMTK build.

Hopefully this doesn't come out weird but it looks like mr. Lugnutz had a pretty solid link to them making Chromium nickel tools.
I have all the other different types you mentioned. I try to hold onto at least one version of each oddball

 

[Provincial]

I saw a "Dart" combination wrench today. It was 11/16, marked with a part number and "Made in USA" but no brand name. I could have been cadmium plated.

 

[d42jeep]

I believe that these are all likely Duro/Indestro. Bog sockets are generally marked with the Bog name. I can check my Walden when I return to the Bay Area in October.
-Don

 

[Steven 33]

They should be yea have you ever seen one like these though? They are the same style but both marked chromium nickel

 

[four.cycle]

^ those two (post 3526) look to both be Duro/Indestro. (notwithstanding not-quite matching knurling patterns, different markings)

 

[matthew]

Found this very clean Indestro #913 5/8”x11/16” DBE wrench. I thought I had a similar one of a different size. Apparently I don’t… so it is in my drawer of misfit wrenches for now.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a wartime Indestro 1/4” drive set in progress. It has D-I marked sockets.
-Don

 

[Cruzan80]

Do do you know when/how often Duro was using blue boxes? In my mind, historically Indestro was more blue (and red, and gold) whereas Duro was more green (and later red).

All of that is based off of my "gut instinct", not specific perusals of catalogs, so I could be radically off base.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Blue box: mid-to-late 1930s to very late 1940s (possibly into 1950-1951). Red boxes appear in Indestro catalog No. 20 (1952)

Only catalogs we have applicable here are:
1937 = illustrations are black and white
1948 = color illustrations show blue boxes
1952 = color illustrations show red boxes

part of the "tell" is the "Super Quality" moniker:

Indestro began using "Super Quality" as a brand in 1935 or earlier. Some examples are known on box wrenches without streamlined raised panels, confirming that the start date occurred before 1937.

I am going to guess that Don's blue-box "Super Quality" "D-I" set posted just above could very well be PRE-war - the timeline on the "D-I" stuff is somewhat nebulous.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Blue sets are cool

 

[Cruzan80]

Thanks, for some reason I thought Don said it was a Duro box with D-I sockets, not Indestro. Must have mis-read (hence my confusion on Duro using blue boxes...)

 

[Oldtuleguy]

D-I just stands for duro indestro. For some reason, possibly the war some were marked that way and could be in a duro or an indestro box

 

[Cruzan80]

Yes, I have some D-I stuff as well. Just a reading snafu on my part (maybe I was tired and read Don as Duro?... IDK).

 

[four.cycle]

^ pretty easy to distinguish Indestro from Duro Chrome: part numbers are different.

That 2850 flex handle (breaker) in Don't photo above is Indestro. Duro Chrome equivalent would be 4550. (exact same tool.)

Labels used during those years are different as well. Indestro played around with "Tools for Service" (like my avatar) and "Super Quality", while Duro Chrome went with "Tools of Progress" or "Doggone Good Tools".

While searching for these logos, I ran across another photo. We had this same discussion about box colors just over a year ago. (see below)

(The "Heat Treated Hardened" logo (green background) is the label inside the lid on an Indestro-manufactured Sears set.)

 

[four.cycle]

@d42jeep - while searching for those photo images just above, I stumbled across my "gold box" set:

I think that gold box you found might well be Indestro. The colors in these images are damn close to the actual tone (natural light, no flash.) although it appears somewhat different in the first image - the other photos have a bit of green tinge to them.

 

[Beerhippie]

Finally got the 1/4-5/16 to complete this short box set. It is just so impressive how well the early select steel wrenches clean and polish up. I think I am addicted to the early tools.

YOU RUINED THE PATINA!

 

[d42jeep]

They offered quite a variety of colors.
Refrigeration set with D-I sockets.
Indestro sets.



-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

I have yet to find a boxed set, but have gathered quite a few of their wrenches. I added this circle (DC) tappet to the assortment the other day. It's marked 4A.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is an Indestro Super marked pair of pliers.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I found these Select Steel combos on Friday at an Estate Sale. They came out of the evaporust yesterday.
I dipped the Indestro pliers as well.
BK, do you have any Indestro pliers?
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

I think someone was recently posting a no no-name pair of pliers with the same cross hatch pattern? Either GS or pliers thread, I can't recall which.

 

[d42jeep]

I kinda thought that they had a Diamond look but I’ll need to do a comparison later today.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

BK, do you have any Indestro pliers?

I do. Pretty much at least one example of most of the yellow-handled models you find in the 1972 catalog.
Not sure if I have a 2096A, but I probably do (perhaps in the living room in one of the big boxes.)
Pretty sure I have the low-end 3436 slip-joints.
My favorite pair, believe it or not, is a pair of Japanese made "X-pert" slip-joints Indestro was selling in the early 1970s.

I'm not convinced Indestro made their own pliers. I think they were outsourcing from Diamond and Klein. I'll go dig some out and take some photos after I put some pants on.

 

[d42jeep]

I would say that these were sourced from Diamond. Here is a handle comparison picture.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

Indestro pliers 08/18/25

Unfortunately, I don't have readily at hand: 2096A, 2097A, 2098A, 3435, 3436, or 3438 - Indestro's standard slip-joint pliers.
(Again, there may be some in the living room, but they're buried.)
The two pairs of slip-joints (center row, bottom) are "X-pert" 90901 and 90902 - made in Japan for Indestro. The smaller 90901 is my favorite pair of slip joints after a pair of Challenger 10-inchers I've owned forever.

I don't think Indesto made their own slip-joints.
I don't think they stamped out any of those others, either, for that matter. I think they were outsourcing almost all of their pliers, either from Diamond or Klein or.... ?

I could well be mistaken, but if I am, why do they all look like somebody else's product?


1972 Indestro catalog No. 55 pp 37

1972 Indestro catalog No. 55 pp 38

1972 Indestro catalog No. 55 pp 39

1972 Indestro catalog No. 55 pp 40

Now, there are exceptions here: I DO believe they were making their own brake pliers, tire weight pliers, and those crappy locking pliers (aka "vise grip" type), but the others.... ? Not so much.

==

After typing all that out, looking at the catalog images, and then remembering a couple I know are out in the living room: I think it's possible they made their own 3416 (battery pliers - POSSIBLY, but also possibly outsourced) ...

... and that 3403A "water pump pliers" (which evolved from the 3403 and the earlier 3400, both of which appear in the 1959 catalog but not the 1972 catalog) - could well have been made in house - they are quite distinctive in design.

 

[Provincial]

I bought my first set of combination wrenches from the local Home Town Hardware store (later True Value) and they were the Select Steel brand. I still have them, but I modified the open end of the 1/2 into a tappet wrench for my Model A Ford.

 

[d42jeep]

Two Indestro/D-I 1/4” drive sets in progress.
The flex handle on the upper set is probably a different vintage. That box arrived looking like this, containing a hex set.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ The 2850 went through three of four changes, if I am not mistaken.

 

[d42jeep]

This partial Duro-Chrome 1/4” drive set arrived today. The sockets are marked Duro-Chrome rather than
D-I. Does anyone recognize who made the spinner?
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

I thought "Oxwall" at first, but I don't think that's it.
I am completely at a loss on this one, Don.

That's a nice start to that Duro set there!

 

[Outlawmws]

I recall seeing a similar hinge head before, but not that grip.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

This one came in an rtec set

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Oxwall and a cornwell definately different

 

[four.cycle]

@Oldtuleguy - I thought you got my RTEC set! The RTEC set had the brown-handled spinner. I believe I had one that was sort of "reddish".
Did you get both of those?
I recall that one of them had a bad detent ball.

That one that Don just found is a puzzler.
After digging through both Oxwall and G.M. folders, I am wondering if perhaps it may be a Japan-made knock-off of the Oxwall?
(is that too far a stretch?)

 

[Oldtuleguy]

It's nicely made, even has a detent ball to hold the flex head position.

 

[d42jeep]

It’s rare that I see a potential early GMTK ignition wrench set with a decent roll so I bought this from an eBay seller. The set is complete despite the odd mix of wrench styles. It will end up with a matching set of wartime wrenches from my spares.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

Found this very clean Indestro #913 5/8”x11/16” DBE wrench. I thought I had a similar one of a different size. Apparently I don’t… so it is in my drawer of misfit wrenches for now.

I have some of the shorty 9XX series DBE's. Nice and compact, fit well in the hand.

 

[bonneyman]

This partial Duro-Chrome 1/4” drive set arrived today. The sockets are marked Duro-Chrome rather than
D-I. Does anyone recognize who made the spinner?
-Don

Don, for some reason that spinner gives me a Blackhawk vibe. The swivel, not the handle.