Post up your vintage Champion deArment/Channellock tools

[Outlawmws]

Mystery number.

Date code? Quarter/year?

 

[jeffmoss26]

Here are some formerly rusty Channellock dykes I found at yesterday’s estate sale.
As found.
After de-rusting.
Mystery number.
-Don

Wow! Those cleaned up great. What did you use?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Mystery number.

Date code? Quarter/year?

Maybe. If we're speculating... Since the "43" is also the first two numbers of the model number ("436"), perhaps a die designator for dykes. They only made a 436 (6" OAL) and a 437 (7" OAL). The lap joint dykes were 44X and had completely different handles. That could also just be a coincidence.

Whatever it is, it wasn't a common practice.

 

[d42jeep]

Wow! Those cleaned up great. What did you use?

Evaporust and my 3M 220 and 400 rotary discs.
Lugz, I’ve seen those codes on a few Channellock tools, always on the inside of the handles.
Outlaw, could be.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Lugz, I’ve seen those codes on a few Channellock tools, always on the inside of the handles.

Okay. Good to know. I don't recall seeing them before on mine or others. Do you have a list of them by type/model number? And define "few". How many? Enough to be considered a standard practice? Have you looked for a pattern?

EDIT: I just searched the thread on "code" and I see that you have mentioned them once before, in regard to a pair of waterpumps with the wartime markings. Also a "43" with an illegible prefix. Linked here. Lending credence to date code.

I still think it falls into the non-standard practice category. Meaning, it's not a well-known common thing like Snap-on or even JPD. In fact, for now, until we find another one, maybe they ONLY did it 1943? Which would be interesting.

 

[Outlawmws]

A quick scan though mine immediately found a set of 443's with "C44" then nothing on the rest of the plane steel handle CL's (maybe a dozen that were handy).


Were the 443's used in GMTK tools sets? Maybe a wartime thing?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I'm starting to be pretty dang sure it's a date code.

I just went through all of my Champion DeArment tools and found two (2) examples:
- No. 420 waterpump pliers with a "C42"
- No. 410 heavy-duty waterpump pliers with a "B39"

Both of these codes are consistent as date codes with the patent markings, which we wartime GMTK collectors generally look for as the closest we can reasonably come to "wartime", in the sense of the production window being between 1934 (1,950,362) and 1952 (2,592,927).

 

[Private Lugnutz]

To be perfectly frank, between Don calling it a "mystery code" to me apparently having paid them no attention before now, this is more than just a little mind-blowing to be discovering this so late in the game. Granted, the GMTK had qty 110+ tools and each one exacted an enormous amount of scrutiny and research. But still. It's bizarre!

And I just double-checked all my GMTK references, notes, guide material, and G503.com discussions to make sure it wasn't just my failing memory. It's not. Maybe we got too "easy" and automatic with the patent markings. Maybe we got sloppy. Or maybe they just don't show up that often. It clearly was not stamped on every example.

I've had at least a half-dozen 420's in the past that went into GMTK's I assembled and sold. I have six 420's right now in the GMTK catch-all bin. All with the "wartime" patent markings. But only one (1) of them with a date code.

It's obviously on other tools, too. To wit, Outlaw's No. 443 and Don's No. 436. I'm just saying something like this would've most likely popped up as a thing with the 420 because of the GMTK angle.

 

[d42jeep]

I saw these rusty pliers as a challenge when I saw them at a yard sale.
I used the wire wheel to knock off most of the rust before an overnight in the evaporust.
They had quite a bit of pitting but I added a spring that was missing and they are once again functional if not too attractive.
Here is Channellock’s description of the use of the pliers in the earliest catalog I could find showing the 350s.
-Don

 

[misterbill]

I saw these rusty pliers as a challenge when I saw them at a yard sale.
I used the wire wheel to knock off most of the rust before an overnight in the evaporust.
They had quite a bit of pitting but I added a spring that was missing and they are once again functional if not too attractive.
Here is Channellock’s description of the use of the pliers in the earliest catalog I could find showing the 350s.
-Don

They cleaned up pretty nicely. Ever use bluing to help preserve them and hide the pitting?

 

[d42jeep]

I bought a bluing kit once but never had much luck with it. These just got a coating of fluid film and are heading for the Channellock box.
-Don

 

[Eric Brown]

I bought a bluing kit once but never had much luck with it. These just got a coating of fluid film and are heading for the Channellock box.
-Don

I talked with a expert at Brownell's about bluing unknown metals. They said they just try different products until one works. Not all metal is gun metal apparently.

 

[d42jeep]

I'm starting to be pretty dang sure it's a date code.

I just went through all of my Champion DeArment tools and found two (2) examples:
- No. 420 waterpump pliers with a "C42"
- No. 410 heavy-duty waterpump pliers with a "B39"

Both of these codes are consistent as date codes with the patent markings, which we wartime GMTK collectors generally look for as the closest we can reasonably come to "wartime", in the sense of the production window being between 1934 (1,950,362) and 1952 (2,592,927).

To be perfectly frank, between Don calling it a "mystery code" to me apparently having paid them no attention before now, this is more than just a little mind-blowing to be discovering this so late in the game. Granted, the GMTK had qty 110+ tools and each one exacted an enormous amount of scrutiny and research. But still. It's bizarre!

And I just double-checked all my GMTK references, notes, guide material, and G503.com discussions to make sure it wasn't just my failing memory. It's not. Maybe we got too "easy" and automatic with the patent markings. Maybe we got sloppy. Or maybe they just don't show up that often. It clearly was not stamped on every example.

I've had at least a half-dozen 420's in the past that went into GMTK's I assembled and sold. I have six 420's right now in the GMTK catch-all bin. All with the "wartime" patent markings. But only one (1) of them with a date code.

It's obviously on other tools, too. To wit, Outlaw's No. 443 and Don's No. 436. I'm just saying something like this would've most likely popped up as a thing with the 420 because of the GMTK angle.

It is a little more obvious now that I should have paid more attention to what I referred to as mystery codes. The weather finally permitted me to pull out the Channellock collection and check the handles on the early patent Channellocks. Probably half of the 1933 patent 420s had the codes. I don’t see that they could be anything but wartime date codes.
I found the code on another pair of dykes as well and added it to the group.
Here are the pliers with date codes. All had handle patterns for what that is worth. None of the plain handle early 420s had the codes so possibly prewar.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It is a little more obvious now that I should have paid more attention to what I referred to as mystery codes.

It's not just you, Don. That's the whole point of why this is so mind-blowing to me. After all these years. It's NOT in my notes and it's NOT on my GTMK Whiz! I can find NO discussion of them on the G. The only criteria we ever used AS A COMMUNITY was looking for the 1934 patent and avoiding the 1950 patent.

Speaking of which - I just posted over there. You should pile on with your examples and these observations:

Probably half of the 1933 patent 420s had the codes.

This helps with scope, i.e., a sense of proportionally how many do and don't have them.

All had handle patterns for what that is worth.

It will be interesting to see if this holds true as more examples are shown. I don't know if we can go so far as to say this eliminates pliers with no codes and bald handles, but it certainly makes the pliers with them more attractive for collectors.

 

[d42jeep]

After going through the Champion deArment/Channellock collection doing the research project, I added all of the tools gathered in recent months at various sales. It became obvious during the process that I needed to add another Craftsman Crown storage box.
Early products with ’33/‘34 patent numbers or handle patterns or both.
Champion deArment marked hammers.
Channellock marked hammers.
Tools with blue handles.
More to follow.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Strippers and snap ring pliers.
Miscellaneous tools.
Back in the storage box. Adjustable wrenches. Items added to the new storage box.
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

That's a lot of CL Don! I thought my CL count was high at 91 for pliers (only 5 hammers and 1 adjustable...)

 

[jeffmoss26]

Only one adjustable? Say it isn’t so!

 

[Outlawmws]

Only one adjustable? Say it isn’t so!

In Channellock? sorry in other brands,

 

[d42jeep]

Here is one I forgot to add to the backward N DOE wrenches in the Channellock box.
I’m not sure why the N isn’t backwards on the one above.



-Don

 

[LNKMK8]

I believe these are farrier's pliers? I couldn't find them in the catalogs I looked at.

 

[four.cycle]

^ "Carpenters Nippers"

I'm not finding them in any of the material I have, or in any of the catalogs I just downloaded from ITCL. Go figure.

 

[Fred Knox]

Champion DeArment (Meadville, PA) battery terminal No. 407 pliers with arrow grid gripping pattern. Inside handle has an “8” stamp (date code?).

 

[four.cycle]

^ love the groovy "deco" handle pattern there, Fred.

 

[genog]

I went through my pliers drawer(s) and found this pair of 426's with a Canadian patent year of 1953....


My meager contribution to this thread