Old Crescent wrench info

[bareass172]

I recently came across this wrench and picked it up for $1. Even if it's unfixable the cool factor is neat on an old wrench like this. I'm wondering if anyone can give me any info about it as I can find many like it but nothing specific. I read over at Alloy Artifacts but didn't find anything specific there either. It has a big letter "D" stamped on both sides, not sure if that's any kind of identifier or not.

My bigger question is this - you can see the break in the slide portion. Obviously this thing was strained significantly, it's bent and broken. I don't know how these old tools are made to know if this is a cast piece or something that can be welded and fixed. I'd love to throw it in my press and straighten it back up, then throw a weld on it to get it back to working condition, but I won't do it if I'm going to ruin the tool. I'd rather keep it as is if I'll ruin it further.

Thanks for any insight anyone has.

 

[humber2]

I recently came across this wrench and picked it up for $1. Even if it's unfixable the cool factor is neat on an old wrench like this. I'm wondering if anyone can give me any info about it as I can find many like it but nothing specific. I read over at Alloy Artifacts but didn't find anything specific there either. It has a big letter "D" stamped on both sides, not sure if that's any kind of identifier or not.

Picture 1 tells it's made by Crescent, need the other side to verify if Crestolly steel or not.

D stands for Donald Duck

 

[bareass172]

Sorry, I forgot to include the info from the other side. I didn't take a picture because it just says "12 in", "Drop forged steel", and "Made in USA" - it's not a Crestaloy.

I don't follow what you mean about the letter "D" on it.

 

[sumner52000]

The jaw is replaceable. Hardware stores used to keep boxes of spare parts with the screws, springs, and jaws. I have a large assortment of parts but no 12" jaws. I have bought at least 3 lots of crescent wrench parts but the 12" jaws are always gone. I guess these were the most commonly abused size.

 

[Stuart in MN]

My guess is the D was stamped on there by the original owner to identify it, along with those notches.

 

[Beenman]

I recently came across this wrench and picked it up for $1. Even if it's unfixable the cool factor is neat on an old wrench like this. I'm wondering if anyone can give me any info about it as I can find many like it but nothing specific. I read over at Alloy Artifacts but didn't find anything specific there either. It has a big letter "D" stamped on both sides, not sure if that's any kind of identifier or not.

My bigger question is this - you can see the break in the slide portion. Obviously this thing was strained significantly, it's bent and broken. I don't know how these old tools are made to know if this is a cast piece or something that can be welded and fixed. I'd love to throw it in my press and straighten it back up, then throw a weld on it to get it back to working condition, but I won't do it if I'm going to ruin the tool. I'd rather keep it as is if I'll ruin it further.

Thanks for any insight anyone has.

What is the story with "crestalloy" on these wrenches?

Cool buy by the way. Just picked up a 6" USA made Crescent myself this past Saturday for $3, but cannot recall if it said "crestalloy" or not - will check tonight.

Thanks.

 

[PA Woody]

This site has a lot of info about vintage tools.
http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/index.html

 

[ganymede]

I would guess it's steel like the rest of the wrench. Maybe drop forged too.
I doubt it's cast.

 

[Beenman]

Sorry, I see its "crestoloy". Below a pic or two of the 6" I picked up.

View media item 41285
View media item 41284
Finding proper US made Crescent wrenches in SA is quite difficult. I narrowly missed a 15" one in very good nick on a local auction site recently. Went for something like $8.

 

[Beenman]

This site has a lot of info about vintage tools.
http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/index.html

Cool site - Thanks.

 

[PFSard]

Below is a production sequence board (internet pic, not mine) from Diamond Tool on the production steps for their adjustable wrenches.

Copilot >> Good stuff. Do you recall where you happened to find such a nice pic?

 

[2mJps]

It can be welded and be as good as new. I have a 18" that i found broken and weld. I also have a 18" diamond that has been welded.

 

[4xdog]

ISTR one of those Diamond Tool forging boards on the wall at the old Columbus Hardware in Ohio's capital city -- a few folks here may remember that store.

I was expecting an *old* Crescent wrench from the op's title. Must be my age catching up with me -- I have ones older than that in almost daily service!

 

[ken w.]

Does the jaw have any numbers on it. I have a Crescent Wrench parts assortment. Can you measure the jaw ?

 

[bareass172]

I was expecting an *old* Crescent wrench from the op's title. Must be my age catching up with me -- I have ones older than that in almost daily service!

I was asking because I don't know exactly how old it is, but also because I know as beefy as this thing is - it's nothing like the ones they make now!

Does the jaw have any numbers on it. I have a Crescent Wrench parts assortment. Can you measure the jaw ?

I attached a picture, hope it will suffice. It has a number, but (of course) the crack goes right through it. I believe it's "12310". The jaw is about 1" tall, measuring across the bottom where the teeth are is just under 2-1/4". I never even considered a replacement jaw.

Thanks for the feedback and the help!

 

[jeffmoss26]

There is a guy on here that might have parts - he helped me with a wrench a couple years ago.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?u=30853

 

[ken w.]

Unfortunately , all I have is up to 10" .

 

[2mJps]

Crescent must not have any kind of a warranty because i have seen alot of broke ones.

 

[ken w.]

I don't think most folks would know where to go to warranty a Crescent wrench and the others were too cheap to spend $ 2.00 to replace a broken jaw.

 

[bareass172]

There is a guy on here that might have parts - he helped me with a wrench a couple years ago.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/member.php?u=30853

Thanks, I'll contact him and see if he has anything to sell.

Unfortunately , all I have is up to 10" .

Thanks for looking!

Crescent must not have any kind of a warranty because i have seen alot of broke ones.

I believe that they are lifetime warrantied, but Crescent is a division of Apex so that may be much more trouble than it sounds... I have heard (but not confirmed) that Sears may do warranty exchanges on them.

I don't think most folks would know where to go to warranty a Crescent wrench and the others were too cheap to spend $ 2.00 to replace a broken jaw.

If you know where I can get this jaw for $2, please tell me. I'd love to drop $2 and get this old thing back up and running right. They don't make them like this anymore, lol...

 

[Westly]

Here's the rundown on Crescent wrenches.

http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/crescent-tool.html

I had one from the early 60s. Yours might be from before 1930 (since its sans Crestoloy).

 

[ken w.]

If you know where I can get this jaw for $2, please tell me. I'd love to drop $2 and get this old thing back up and running right. They don't make them like this anymore, lol... [/QUOTE]

That comment wasn't directed towards you. I was referring to older folks like my father and grand father who wouldn't pay to fix a tool.It would sit and rust first. But that's the way it was back then.

 

[ken w.]

Here is an assortment of Crescent parts on Ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Assorted-ad...58374370?pt=US_Hand_Tools&hash=item35d812c0e2

 

[bareass172]

Here's the rundown on Crescent wrenches.

http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/crescent-tool.html

I had one from the early 60s. Yours might be from before 1930 (since its sans Crestoloy).

I had read that but didn't put together that all post 1930 wrenches said Crestoloy. Do you know if that is factual? I can tell you that the head on mine is unusually wide (as mentioned in that link) so now it does leave me wondering... I was hoping the "D" stamped in it might be an indication about this.

That comment wasn't directed towards you. I was referring to older folks like my father and grand father who wouldn't pay to fix a tool.It would sit and rust first. But that's the way it was back then.

Ken - it sounds like your dad or grandfather may have been the kind of guy I got this from. It was at an estate sale mixed in with a bunch of other stuff I picked up. This was almost the only thing worth grabbing, and definitely (even broken) my favorite snag. I appreciate the link to Ebay, I didn't even think about that route and I'm on there each day. What I'm thinking, at this point, is to see if I can straighten and weld what I have so it stays original. Everything I've seen and been offered to fix it is not comparable.

Thanks for the info everyone, if anyone else knows more about it I'm all ears!

 

[WWIIjeep]

I had read that but didn't put together that all post 1930 wrenches said Crestoloy. Do you know if that is factual? I can tell you that the head on mine is unusually wide (as mentioned in that link) so now it does leave me wondering... I was hoping the "D" stamped in it might be an indication about this.

Not true about post-1930 Crescent wrenches.

Crescent offered two separate lines of adjustable wrenches.

Ones that were simply marked "Crescent" and ones that were marked "Crestoloy."

"Crestoloy" is a portmanteau of "Crescent" and "alloy." Crestoloy wrenches were introduced in 1930 and are made of heat-treated alloy steel.

"Crescent" wrenches are made of heat-treated carbon steel.

Both types were sold concurrently after 1930.

Early Crescent brand adjustable wrenches tended to be of heavier construction--wider and thicker--than more modern versions, both in the carbon steel Crescent line and the alloy steel Crestoloy line, and carbon steel Crescent wrenches tend to be a little heavier than alloy steel Crestoloy wrenches.

 

[Westly]

I had read that but didn't put together that all post 1930 wrenches said Crestoloy. Do you know if that is factual?

I said might.. WWIIjeep says the two were sold concurrently. I don't know why they would be, but hey. Maybe he can date your wrench to the right week

 

[7th Kahuna]

I said might.. I don't know why they would be, but hey.

$$$ vs $$, Alloys sold for a premium.

It was true for various tool lines, not just Crescent.

 

[Hpozzuoli]

Here is my 18" Crescent for reference

 

[Hpozzuoli]

And the back. The letters on the very bottom are JCA. No idea what they are for. They are factory markings. I bought this brand new a few years back.

 

[augustus]

Very cool graphic, copilot, thanks!

 

[nyrapscalion]

I'm thinking parts will be difficult to buy.
I would doubt apex would warranty much of anything as they are sending anything and everything to china. They're in the garbage business..
I salute you for wanting to fix a broken tool, as I do the same with ratchets and other 'worth saving' items.
The factory in Jamestown NY left and moved to North Carolina sometime in the mid 1980s.

 

[WWIIjeep]

I believe that they are lifetime warrantied, but Crescent is a division of Apex so that may be much more trouble than it sounds... I have heard (but not confirmed) that Sears may do warranty exchanges on them.

This may be hard for some of you younger guys to believe, but historically, there was no such thing as a lifetime warranty on most brands of tools.

At best, there were limited-duration warranties for manufacturing defects, not including wear and tear or abuse.

Except for relatively rare manufacturing defects, good tools were expected to last until they wore out, at which point they sometimes could be repaired with replacement parts (at the user's expense) or by replacement with a new tool (also at the user's expense).

In general, good tools didn't break in normal use, and many of them could take major amounts of abuse before breaking.

The difference between then and now, is that now many manufacturers have to offer prospective buyers some sort of incentive in the form of a so-called lifetime warranty, because tool failures in certain brands due to design or manufacturing defects are more common than they used to be.

It's probably also safe to say that for many cheap or mid-range brands, there is less consistency between batches or production runs than there are with higher-quality tools.

In any case, older Crescent wrenches like the OP's did not carry a lifetime warranty and even if it did, modern replacement parts won't interchange with older wrenches.

Furthermore, I don't think it's been said yet, but the jaw on that wrench probably broke because the user had it open at full extension and was pulling on it in the wrong direction (abuse); i.e., adjustable end wrenches like Crescent wrenches are intended to have force applied pulling toward the moveable jaw, not pushing away from the moveable jaw.

 

[bareass172]

I have no intention of trying to warranty this thing. I know there's no way in hell I'd get the right parts to rebuild it from Crescent, and I didn't buy it because I wanted a new wrench, I bought it because I want this one working. My current plan is to have a buddy of mine blast it to clear the rust out of the crack, then put it on my press to close up the crack and straighten the piece, then weld it up and hope for the best. I likely won't use it for anything too big (I have a couple of other big wrenches already) so it's more for cool factor than anything else. I can throw it in with my 1946 1/2" drive SO ratchet, use it once in awhile...

 

[2mJps]

I brought up the warranty becauce i haul scrap iron and find alot of them. WWIIJeep is right about what a warranty is. I dont plan on trying to get one warrantyed. I have repaired 4 so far. My brother gave me 2 18" ones that were missing there jaws and i found one that had its top jaw broken off so now i have another. They have the tapered handle that a pipe fits on so well.