CL Wrench Haul (Vintage) - Pic Heavy

[Quint]

So I had a moment at work to surf CL, and found an ad with some old wrenches.
Picture looked like this:

The quantity of wrenches sparked my interest, as well as the big one.
Met the guy and paid for them. Asking $30, but he voluntarily dropped it to $25.

Please look over them for me and let me know if anything unique stands out to you! Some of these brands are popular/familiar. Others are

Not really sure what these are...Can someone shed some light?

Some Great Neck ratcheting wrenches

Had a TON of these little wrenches. Not really sure what you would use these for either?! This lot is all Japanese.

And finally, the big guy

There they are! Not sure how these look just yet. If you need/want more info on any, please holler!

 

[woody 73]

Very nice haul I like that old Cornwell wrench (5/16), I am thinking it must be from the very late 1920's into the 1930's very nice find!

 

[JASTECH]

Nice find indeed, a couple names their I don't have in my haul. I was told by a member to soak in vinager then 4ott them. I still have another box of over 50 to look at. Let me know if you clean them up and what used please.

 

[Quint]

Something interesting on those red handle wrenches up top!!!
http://www.phonemerchants.com/hacocanwrhex.html

 

[Quint]

Nice find indeed, a couple names their I don't have in my haul. I was told by a member to soak in vinager then 4ott them. I still have another box of over 50 to look at. Let me know if you clean them up and what used please.

My plan was also white vinegar then WD40

I used Simple Green (with a shop rag) then WD 40 just to clean them up for the pics. Some of these will require some more elbow grease and chemical aids!

 

[RM209]

The red Harris tools are telcomm tools; they're used to open/secure pedestals and other devices that hold (multiple) posts for the connections to customers' telephone lines.

RM209

 

[Piney0]

Yea, That mystery tool is called a 'can wrench'. Used mainly by the phone company to work on the box on the side of houses. One side is 3/8'ths, can't remember what the other is.

 

[jdv]

Great looking stuff. I have a bunch of similar wrenches that I got in a lot early last year. The small Japanese wrenches reminds me of some of the tooling that came with older power tools. A few of those looks like one of the tool that came with my fathers old table saw.

 

[Even 11]

Nice score! The wright 22mm and the Cornwells are awesome!!

-Dane

 

[lowbucktruck]

Very nice score, Quint! Those Craftsmans are tappet wrenches.

 

[geologist]

That's a pretty nice haul. I would definitely consider electrolysis to clean them up. There are certainly some gems there.

 

[JASTECH]

That's a pretty nice haul. I would definitely consider electrolysis to clean them up. There are certainly some gems there.

What setup for electrolysis on the wrenches? After the soaking in white vineger and then whiped down could a brass wheel on grinder work good?

 

[jeffmoss26]

Quint, I will buy those 2 can wrenches if you want to sell them. I use them all the time doing telephone work.

 

[Quint]

Thanks for the kind words guys! I'm pretty excited about this mini-haul.

Hopefully the vinegar does the trick on some of the older wrenches. Most of them cleaned up pretty well with WD40, but others need something stronger. I've never tried electrolysis.....

What are Tappet wrenches used for?

 

[Packard V8]

What are Tappet wrenches used for?

Valve clearance adjustments on older solid lifter engines where space in and around the tappet or adjustment screw is tight. Some, especially flatheads, require one wrench to hold the tappet and another to turn the adjuster. Some OHV engines require a thin wrench to hold the lock nut while the adjuster is turned with a screwdriver. They're not strong enough for general bolt-and-nut use.

jack vines

 

[fordbroncodave]

i've got a **** load more wrenches to sell you. check out my classifieds to see them. looking to make a quick sale as i do not collect anything other then snap on

 

[Quint]

Valve clearance adjustments on older solid lifter engines where space in and around the tappet or adjustment screw is tight. Some, especially flatheads, require one wrench to hold the tappet and another to turn the adjuster. Some OHV engines require a thin wrench to hold the lock nut while the adjuster is turned with a screwdriver. They're not strong enough for general bolt-and-nut use.

jack vines

Pretty interesting! Thanks!

I don't think I'll be using these too often, as my OHC 4-Cyl motors might not need them!

Neat as heck though. Alloy Artifacts seems to date those back pretty far!

 

[Tim Cowan]

I'm a old phoneman and used the terminal wrench my whole carear, 32 years, and still use them at home. We called it a #216 as it was in the catalog, Bell System stuff.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Nice to see another phone guy!

 

[Kev442]

The New Britain is my fav of all pictured.
The "quality steel" jap wrenches were included with the cheap throw away $7.99 socket sets of the '70's and '80's.

 

[Rolling_Thunder]

Its been a while but I believe their 216
wrenchs used by the phone company to work in the NID's Network Interface Device on the outside of you

 

[jeffmoss26]

can wrench/216 tool. Love em!

 

[Quint]

Wrenches soaking in a bath of White (& some apple cider lol) vinegar.

I'll post results. Hopefully the Cornwell, C-man and Plomb wrenches clean up...those might be the coolest ones!