Mephisto Tools

[Private Lugnutz]

Found this minty 1942 catalog recently.

Sweet! Please consider what @Leviton suggested. You retain the value of the hard copy manual itself as a collectible without hoarding (or worse, attempting to monetize) the information value to other collectors.

Welcome to GJ, by the way! You will find a bunch of likeminded folks here. Glad you found the Mephisto thread on your own. The A-Z Index of Threads in the Sticky at the top of this forum is the quickest and easiest way to find other brands and tools by type that you may also have an interest in.

 

[nz44tool]

Finally found my first Mephisto piece!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Finally found my first Mephisto piece!

Congrats! One bonus is that it has the early extremely ornate logo. Another bonus is that it's so unusual. I have never seen one before. Pretty sure none on the thread. I have to wonder if the "BX" is a reference to the cable. See my pliers in post #6. Instead of clipping them, you saw them. Perhaps. Or I'll feel like an idiot in a few minutes.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nope. My intuition did not let me down.

 

[nz44tool]

Nope. My intuition did not let me down.

Thanks for doing this research, and so quickly!
Do you have a guess on when this is from?
I know that BX cable has been around since the very early 20th century (around the time Mephisto was started, I think), and many devices have been invented to wrastle with it.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks for doing this research, and so quickly!

Going to Google Books, typing in "BX Saw", and Print-Screening the first good entry gives me too much credit for "research."

If I have said it once, I've said it 100 times - Google Books should be everyone's first stop.

Do you have a guess on when this is from?

Carnac the Magnificent, the ad, (and the patent date on the tool!) says, "1925!"

 

[nz44tool]

Going to Google Books, typing in "BX Saw", and Print-Screening the first good entry gives me too much credit for "research."

If I have said it once, I've said it 100 times - Google Books should be everyone's first stop.

Carnac the Magnificent, the ad, (and the patent date on the tool!) says, "1925!"

I apologize for taking advantage of your prodigious research skills! I've acquired a large haul (200+) of old tools recently, and every waking moment is spent getting them into my database.
But I got very excited to find the Mephisto piece, and just had to take a rest from data-entry to get it onto GJ. Research was to come later...
(I might mention that a vanishing number of people (including me) have ever heard of Carnac the Magnificent.)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Just teasing you. Besides, 'Let Lugz do it!' is a pretty good silent strategy. I only chase down the ones of interest, though.

No, seriously, I recognize that not everyone likes to know everything about the tool they're posting before they post it. For some the instinct is post and figure it out later regardless of markings (logos, patent dates, etc). I'm the exact opposite. The only time I post something I don't know what it is first is a true whatzit.

I am surmising that BX Saw contracted Mephisto to make it, because they owned the patent.

 

[RTM]

(I might mention that a vanishing number of people (including me) have ever heard of Carnac the Magnificent.)

So sad, great jokes lost on the young. I never watched him live, but have seen clips of this so often, I just hold paper to my head when someone asks a stupid question, and say 'Carnac?'

 

[Eric Brown]

So sad, great jokes lost on the young. I never watched him live, but have seen clips of this so often, I just hold paper to my head when someone asks a stupid question, and say 'Carnac?'

I remember him. It was funny.

 

[Mjp1003]

Sweet! Please consider what @Leviton suggested. You retain the value of the hard copy manual itself as a collectible without hoarding (or worse, attempting to monetize) the information value to other collectors.

Welcome to GJ, by the way! You will find a bunch of likeminded folks here. Glad you found the Mephisto thread on your own. The A-Z Index of Threads in the Sticky at the top of this forum is the quickest and easiest way to find other brands and tools by type that you may also have an interest in.

Thanks! I will look into getting the catalog online. I’m about collecting and sharing info not making the big bucks

 

[Mjp1003]

Picked up a nice Mephisto screwdriver today. Looks to be about 13.5 inches long and in nice shape.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked up a nice Mephisto screwdriver today.

Nice find! Green with envy. I keep hoping to run into one in the wild but no dice so far. First time I saw one was an American Pickers episode several years ago, and then @gordyzx9r showed up with one a couple years ago.

 

[Mjp1003]

Nice find! Green with envy. I keep hoping to run into one in the wild but no dice so far. First time I saw one was an American Pickers episode several years ago, and then @gordyzx9r showed up with one a couple years ago.

Apparently this one was available at auction a few years ago. Shorter version and in nice condition.

 

[Mjp1003]

Found this awhile back and forgot I had it. I’ll frame it and incorporate it somehow into my mini Mephisto collection.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Apparently this one was available at auction a few years ago. Shorter version and in nice condition.

Yeah, that's a goodie. I don't shop online, though. No offense to guys who run automated searches or scroll through ads etc. I prefer the wild. I love to collect, I'm blessed to live in an old, industrial, high density state with excellent flea markets, and I have a large collection, but I get more of my kicks from the finding than the having.

 

[Mjp1003]

I wish I was in the same boat. It’s the exact opposite where I’m at…if it weren’t for online auctions or a few friends hooking me up, I don’t think I’d have any tools at all lol. It’s shocking since I’m only 12 miles away from where the New Britain factory was. There just doesn’t seem to be anything around but junk.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That is shocking. There are a few regglers here in Connecticut who seem to do pretty well in the wild. Mix of fleas and estate sales, as I recall. I wouldn't reveal the locations of their "fishing holes" even if I knew them, but they might not mind sharing. @elidas is a veteran - hasn't been around too much lately, and @nz44tool is a relative newcomer. I've never ventured as far as the Elephant's Trunk (in New Millford), but I hear it's as big as Columbus down here. And I know there's one in Wallingford because I sometimes buy some things down here on commission for a guy who regularly sells them there.

 

[nz44tool]

That is shocking. There are a few regglers here in Connecticut who seem to do pretty well in the wild. Mix of fleas and estate sales, as I recall. I wouldn't reveal the locations of their "fishing holes" even if I knew them, but they might not mind sharing. @elidas is a veteran - hasn't been around too much lately, and @nz44tool is a relative newcomer. I've never ventured as far as the Elephant's Trunk (in New Millford), but I hear it's as big as Columbus down here. And I know there's one in Wallingford because I sometimes buy some things down here on commission for a guy who regularly sells them there.

I live less than a mile from the New Britain factory, and I've found literally hundreds of interesting tools within a 25-mile radius of my house over the last 3 years or so. I visit 6 or 7 pawn shops, a clean-out service's junk store, 4 or 5 flea markets, the occasional estate sales, tag sales, and some others.
The flea market in Wallingford (actual name is the Redwood Flea Market) has been a great source, though not every weekend there is productive.

 

[Mjp1003]

I’ve hit the Elephants Trunk a few times and found a few items. I mustn’t be going to the right places. There’s several antique shops around me. I’m in the Canton area…but I never seem to find anything really good. I had a couple of good hits on marketplace, but that’s it. Maybe I’m too picky. Lol

 

[gordyzx9r]

Found this awhile back and forgot I had it. I’ll frame it and incorporate it somehow into my mini Mephisto collection.

That's awesome! Really nice find.
I just found another one of the black handle Mephisto with a shorter blade...it should be here in a day or two, but from the pics it was in rough shape.
But I have managed to grow my existing collection of Mephisto tools. Here are the screwdrivers I've managed to scrounge up.
What I've been really struggling to find is a Mephisto hat...ever since I saw one pop up on eBay I've hounding one.

 

[gordyzx9r]

I wish I was in the same boat. It’s the exact opposite where I’m at…if it weren’t for online auctions or a few friends hooking me up, I don’t think I’d have any tools at all lol. It’s shocking since I’m only 12 miles away from where the New Britain factory was. There just doesn’t seem to be anything around but junk.

I'm on the Gulf Coast...and it's about impossible to find vintage tools of any kind here that aren't rusted through.
I use FB MP, CL (you can still find stuff there), eBay, Poshmark (you'd be surprised what people's wives sell, lol), Etsy (I have found a lot of vintage tools on Etsy), Online Auctions and Estate Sales (HiBid, Kraft, Auction Ninja, etc.). About the only time I find nice, survivor vintage tools here are at estate sales where people moved here from the midwest and northeast.
I'm setting up a FP Group for Mephisto tools since it seems to be lacking a group there...

 

[Mjp1003]

I think I know the screwdriver you are talking about. Ebay for around 50ish? If so I saw it, but it was above my skills to repair. Good idea for a FB group. I'll join for sure! I also do the online auction route and have picked up some good stuff. I'm lazy and don't want to drive around to tag sales.

 

[gordyzx9r]

I think I know the screwdriver you are talking about. Ebay for around 50ish? If so I saw it, but it was above my skills to repair. Good idea for a FB group. I'll join for sure! I also do the online auction route and have picked up some good stuff. I'm lazy and don't want to drive around to tag sales.

Yeah, that's the one...if the handle is as chewed up as it looks on the one side then I'm probably gonna try to repurpose the handle itself into something else.

 

[gordyzx9r]

A Mephisto Phillips screwdriver.

Mephisto Tools Hudson NY
Shank reads SUPER MADE IN USA NO. 1

Very nice. All I have been able to find are Mephisto flat tips...if you ever want to part with it, please PM me.