Some Vintage Pipe Wrenches, anyone collect them?

[Old tool guy]

Yes, or the home brew version. Wire brush/wheel just won't make it.

Actually the nylon brush (not wire) is doing a very good job, problem is it won’t get into the hidden spaces. I’m using nylon because i want to damage the steel as little as possible.
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[RTM]

I have this Walworth Stillson wrench that i want to clean up. I would like to remove the bracket that holds the moveable jar so i can get to all of the concealed surfaces, problem is the bracket is secured with a peened fastener. I could easily grind off one end, but i don’t know what to put back, and indon’t really want to do that. Suggesstions? Would evaporust be the right process? The area that has been cleaned was done with a nylon wheel on a grinder.
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Evaporust may work if you can get circulation of fluid in the gaps, which may not work on the rivet end. In theory, removing the rivet and peening a new one should be easy, but my attempts in the past have looked like hell. (Theme here on rivers, more practice needed). I have a few jars of misc rivets, always grab them at GS and ES.

 

[Outlawmws]

Actually the nylon brush (not wire) is doing a very good job, problem is it won’t get into the hidden spaces. I’m using nylon because i want to damage the steel as little as possible.
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That's what I meant, its not gong to work in the hard to access places.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I've recently reworked half a dozen Stillson-type pipe wrenches.
This 10-inch model from Spain was rusted solid when I got it.
This Walworth Stillson turned out fabulously.
This 10-inch Baker looked fairly presentable with just a going-over with a brass brush and WD-40.
Unfortunately, that's not pretty enough to SELL, so it got the wire wheel.
Same with this "Western Auto" model - it got the brass brush and WD-40 the first go-round.
I got tired of looking it at it. It got the wire wheel as well.
Same with this Walworth Stillson. Same with this Greenfield model.

You can get them fairly well cleaned up with just a brass brush and WD-40, but if there's rust under that cage, the only way you're getting it out is in the Evaporust bath.

YMMV

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a small Walworth Stillson I found yesterday at an estate sale. It just has a few rusty spots to remove. It seems to have a 1947 date code. It certainly hasn’t seen much use
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

A slight size difference in the vintage Trimo found today at a Berkeley sale. Here is a 24 “ wrench patented in 1918



I spent some time this afternoon cleaning it up a little.


-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I finished the cleanup and wiped it down with fluid film. I found the patent by searching the date.

 

[3baygarage]

Here is an oldie I hope you guys enjoy. I thought it was really neat looking so I bought it a while back.

DP Foster 10” Grip Wrench or “Unyielding Grip Wrench” as Datamp calls it.

Patent February 15, 1859

Has a 10 stamped on the jaw face, but comes in somewhere over 9 when closed. Likely replacement hardware at end of handle too.

DP FOSTER PATD FEB.15,1859


From Datamp:


And from that 1870 JJ Walworth catalog mentioned above at Datamp, courtesy of Harvard library, via Hathitrust.org:


Listed on page 59 for $1.75 :


From Datamp, patent reissue 1874:

 

[Old tool guy]

Has a 10 stamped on the jaw face, but comes in somewhere over 9 when closed.

So even 100 yrs ago people were saying “you call that 10”? Hahahaha”

 

[Outlawmws]

Has a 10 stamped on the jaw face, but comes in somewhere over 9 when closed.

So even 100 yrs ago people were saying “you call that 10”? Hahahaha”

Proof positive people were smaller back then.

 

[MisterEd]

So even 100 yrs ago people were saying “you call that 10”?

Maybe onset "Tool-Flation?? Or another kind of Wrench Adjustment?

 

[3baygarage]

Here’s a 7” Como Wrench Co..

It’s chrome plated, which is odd. It was part of a RR museum display in IA, according to the seller.

Can see the faint COMO WRENCH

Screenshot from Datsmp:


From Google Books, Automobile Trade Journal, Volume 21 (1916) shows Como wrenches were mfd. by Mechanical Specialties Co.:

And another Books excerpt, from The Automobile Trade Directory, Volume 15, Issue 3 (1917). Como is found under pipe wrenches, and listed under Mechanical Specialties Co. at the bottom.

 

[chief770]

Here’s a 7” Como Wrench Co..

It’s chrome plated, which is odd. It was part of a RR museum display in IA, according to the seller.

Love it in chrome.

 

[d42jeep]

I finished the cleanup and wiped it down with fluid film. I found the patent by searching the date.

After finding the 24” Trimo above, I decided to unite all of my Trimo pipe wrenches for a photo op. I posted these on the Trimont thread.
Into the pipe wrench drawer.
Here are several wood handled pipe wrenches of various brands.
All of the pipe wrenches are now in their drawer.
-Don

 

[Old tool guy]

After finding the 24” Trimo above, I decided to unite all of my Trimo pipe wrenches for a photo op. I posted these on the Trimont thread.
Into the pipe wrench drawer.
Here are several wood handled pipe wrenches of various brands.
All of the pipe wrenches are now in their drawer.
-Don

Looks like it’s time to stop buying pipe wrenches. Or buy another tool chest.

 

[Outlawmws]

A week and a half back - added another Heller Bros Masterench 14" pipe, and a Trimo 6" pipe w/ 1889, 90, 97 Pat. dates:

 

[d42jeep]

Looks like it’s time to stop buying pipe wrenches.

That doesn’t sound very fun. I have the more user friendly Ridgid aluminum pipe wrenches in another drawer.
-Don

 

[Old tool guy]

That doesn’t sound very fun. I have the more user friendly Ridgid aluminum pipe wrenches in another drawer.
-Don

Twinsies!

 

[59Sled]

PEXTO



Unbranded 4108

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Unbranded 4108

The "MFD." is a Proto, Penens or Fleet tell.

 

[d42jeep]

As is the date code. Made in the old Danielson factory after the sale to the Plombpire. Look at the resemblance to these earlier Plomb branded wrenches.
-Don

 

[Steven 33]

Bonney and worth and a ps&w plus another I can't see a marking yet and an adjustable that I also don't know but it keeps popping up when I look up this other weird wrench. Supposedly artillery fuse wrench

 

[3baygarage]

The screw wrench on the right is a “Girder” design.

 

[twagler]

I picked up a large vintage pipe wrench at an auction yesterday, so figured that I finally have a collection of vintage pipe wrenches worth showing off. From top to bottom:

1. 48" A.B. Jardine & Co Limited, Hespeler Ont (Canada)
2. 18" Ridgid
3. 10" A.B. Jardine & Co Limited
4. 10" Super Ego (Spain)
5. 8" Trimo

I'm not really a collector but work with pipe and fittings often enough that having an array of pipe wrenches on hand is a necessity. Since I live in Canada, I'm partial to picking up made-in-Canada tools like the A.B Jardine branded ones. They were in business from about 1870 to the early 1960s and specialized in blacksmithing equipment & tools as well as pipe tools. They apparently made a Canadian manufacturing rights licensing agreements with Ridgid starting in about 1927 for pipe wrenches and also with Toledo for pipe threading equipment.

Just curious if any of the Ridgid Tools experts here can identify any characteristics of my 48" Jardine that would match up to the Ridgid branded version? Some additional detailed pictures attached below. I must say though, I think in this size that aluminum pipe wrenches make more sense - at 26 lbs, the Jardine 48" isn't exactly user friendly!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Just curious if any of the Ridgid Tools experts here can identify any characteristics of my 48" Jardine that would match up to the Ridgid branded version?

With the caveats that I don't know anything about Jardine pipe wrenches or the manufacturing relationship with Ridge (contract production, licensing the dies, etc), the all-knurled adjusting knob and the squared-off end of the dynamic jaw would indicate production prior to 1948. But it has to be pointed out that the swash plate doesn't look like a Ridge swash plate. If Ridge made it for Jardine they didn't re-use their typical dies, and if Jardine made it, it wasn't with typical Ridge dies. There's a possibility Ridge and/or Jardine deliberately changed the look for trademark purposes. Believe it or not, Ridge actually trademarked the shape of the swash plate.

You didn't ask about the 10" Jardine, which was unmistakably made by Ridge sometime between 1928 and 1937. The 18" Ridgid just above it was made in 1928 or 1929 and no later than 9/9/1929. After that, the PAT. PEND'G marking was replaced with the patent number. The only thing preventing me from being more exact with the 10" Jardine is the lack of either marking.

You can explore those and other nuances here...

Vintage RIDGID Pipe Wrenches

READ ME! THE THREAD IS WIDE OPEN AND WE ARE ALWAYS INTERESTED IN SEEING EXAMPLES - BUT THE ORIGINAL RESEARCH SURVEY HAS BEEN SOLVED! With 50+ examples, we have positively determined that the Letter-Number-Number (L-N-N) codes on dynamic jaws, which sometimes appear in LN-N or even LNN format...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[Private Lugnutz]

This is what I am referring to with respect to the 48-incher....

 

[rust in the eye]

Not a collector here but here are the old ones among my plumbing tools that may be of interest.
The 24" at top in first photo is an unbranded Stillson style, rather crudely done if the rivet is any indication. Curious to know it's maker.
A Penens/Fleet #4114 between it and the aluminum Schick.
A no name 8" West Germany Stillson with a blank raised panel on the reverse, then another 8", a Penens, #4108
On the bottom an 8" NYE D8 that has been put to the test

 

[Etchase]

A wood handle Pexto model 8.

 

[AntiqueBen]

I found this 14" Isaiah Cressy pipe wrench today (pics below). To be honest, I didn't realize these even existed. This was made by I. Cressy in 1876 shortly after the 1869 Stillson patent. It's cool how the entire lower jaw housing slides up & down the bar with a threaded nut to tighten everything up. It also has a spring under the lower jaw. When I first saw this wrench from a distance, I thought it was the early Bemis & Call with the "bird bill" jaw shape. I was surprised to see Cressy. It cleaned up great & operates smoothly. The handle just soaked in the BLO. Anyone know anything about Cressy pipe wrenches? They seem kind of scarce. I couldn't find any online.

 

[Old tool guy]

Looks like it could be awkward to get the pipe into the jaw opening because of the amount of hook to the fixed jaw. Or are you supposed to ooen the jaw, insert the pipe, and screw the jaw tighter?

 

[four.cycle]

Taiwan 14-inch pipe wrench 05/12/26

Ridgid 18 in pipe wrench (patent 1727623)(code A6-2)

 

[AntiqueBen]

Looks like it could be awkward to get the pipe into the jaw opening because of the amount of hook to the fixed jaw. Or are you supposed to ooen the jaw, insert the pipe, and screw the jaw tighter?

Yes. With the bottom jaw all the way down, it has a 3" opening. Just open it all the way, insert pipe, then slide bottom jaw to pipe, then tighten the nut. Actually works pretty good. I was a little shocked to see some of the information I found online about this wrench. It says there are only 5-15 examples known to exist (pic below)? Anyone know anything about the rarity of Cressy pipe wrenches?