My small but growing DBE wrench collection

[BlueBomber]

Edit: this thread started out as a simple posting of my double box end wrench collection, but has taken off due to postings by other fans of these round-tipped beauties. So, feel free to browse and review the DBE pictures and info in this thread, but all are also welcome to post pictures of their own collections, no matter how big or small, to brag or to share info. Thanks for your interest!


ORIGINAL POST #1:
I can't tell you why I'm partial to double box end wrenches. I think it's because my Dad had a set of Craftsman wrenches that were a favorite when I was growing up. Maybe it's because the DBE grips the nut at all six points vice the two flats of an open end wrench. Maybe another reason is that you get two sizes on one wrench, so you need to tote fewer from the tool box.

Regardless, I grab all I can find at sales and over the last year, I've accumulated 21 different manufacturers in a wide array of sizes. Some are deep offset, and others shallow.

I decided to pull them all out today for a portrait on my work bench and to see how much space I would need to display them. Here's the picture:






Here's my list:
Armstrong Armaloy
Barcalo-Buffalo raised panel
Barcalo-Buffalo flat side
Billings Life-time deep offset
Billings Vitalloy deep offset
Chrome X Quality flat panel
Chrome X Quality raised panel
Chrome X Quality flat panel deep offset
Companion shorty deep offset
Cornwell-F
Craftsman Long-C shorty
Craftsman raised panel
Crescent
Dunlap
Eclipse pebble finish (one of my favorites)
Fairmont
Giller deep offset
Indestro deep offset
Indestro shorties
No name Indestro style shorty deep offset
No name Indestro style deep offset
No name Made in India deep offset
S-K Tools
Snap-on shorty
Vlchek shorty smooth panel
Vlchek smooth panel
Vlchek depressed panel deep offset
No name Vlchek style deep offset
Westcraft shorty
Westcraft
Western Auto Stores
Williams Superrench
Wright

I'm thinking I could display the collection with pegboard (I bought a huge pile of pegboard hangers a month ago). I just need to find the wall space at eye-level. That, or add another roller tool chest somewhere in the garage....

 

[mitusa]

I hear you....I like the box-end wrenches. I have several; my favorites are the craftsman short box-ends.

I also have a powr-kraft 100 short box-end that I would really like to have the complete set. Mine is the 7/16-3/8 wrench. I don't hold out much hope....this is the only one I've ever seen.

Keep on keeping on!

 

[BlueBomber]

I couldn't leave the wrenches on the work bench and it'd be a shame to jam them all back into the drawer again, so I knocked together a pegboard rack behind the lathe.



It's not as pretty as it could be, but it's good enough for now.

 

[nine4gmc]

Awesome!

 

[bonneyman]

I have an affinity for DBE's, too.

I tend toward the shorty, deep offset variety. But almost any DBE is fair game.

 

[McFarmer]

A short 1/2 x9/16 was always in my overalls pocket during the winter to take the top off waterers.

Dropped it down the hole one time, miss that wrench.

 

[McFarmer]

You want these ? I'll send them for the postage, maybe they aren't worth it, up to you.

Top is a plumb USA #1185. The bottom is a VLCHEK WBH 4048.

Both are 1 and 1/4 by 1 and 5/16.

They have been on the wall for over 50 years, at one time I imagine my grandad had a machine he needed them for, but that's long gone now.

Send me a pm.

 

[Gear Wolf]

No way! A Plomb and Vlcheck DBE? Neat-o!

Blue Bomber if you don't want them I'll take them if it is okay!

 

[Gear Wolf]

I couldn't leave the wrenches on the work bench and it'd be a shame to jam them all back into the drawer again, so I knocked together a pegboard rack behind the lathe.



It's not as pretty as it could be, but it's good enough for now.

I'm digging what I'm seeing!

 

[BlueBomber]

Thanks, McFarmer - PM sent!

 

[Gogo300]

A store near me has 7pc Easco nos dbe fraction sets for $19 and Thorsen USA nos fraction sets for $35 and sears/craftsman has Chinese 12 pc metric and fraction on sale for $59.99 each normal sale price $69.99

I bought the Easco over the summer. Also sk 12pc set from grainger when it was on sale for $100. And the craftsman set a few weeks ago when it was on sale for $54.99.

 

[SweetD]

I'm surprised you don't have any Easco, especially since they were made locally to you...

Great collection!

 

[woody 73]

Blue bomber could you take another picture of the Cornwell f DBE only this time in a horizontal picture frame, funny I have not seen f before until today Thanks Woody.

 

[BlueBomber]

Blue bomber could you take another picture of the Cornwell f DBE only this time in a horizontal picture frame, funny I have not seen f before until today Thanks Woody.

Woody: here you go!





What can you tell me about it? It seems very much older than most of the wrenches.

 

[BlueBomber]

I'm surprised you don't have any Easco, especially since they were made locally to you...

Great collection!

Thanks. I've picked up every one of these at sales locally. I grew up in a Craftsman household, so I am amazed at the variety in just a few dozen estates around here. I haven't come across Easco yet, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.

 

[sha]

That Cornwell F is probably early-mid 30's and those Chrome X Quality are of course later in the decade...LOVE those

 

[woody 73]

Yes 1930's but the code, the code...Darn you cornwell how in the heck can I find that secret date code for the year it was made?????

Thanks BlueBomber for sharing that F wrench it was killing me as I am sure other letters must exist...

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=277119

 

[BlueBomber]

I added three more to the collection this afternoon, all out of a tub full of greasy old tools at a yard sale in Lowell, Mass.

P&C DBE, 1-1/16" x 1-1/8", with the famous P&C conical box end profile





Another Barcalo-Buffalo, this one appearing to be spray bombed red, 5/8" x 9/16"



What's left of an Eclipse DBE. I threw it in my pile thinking it might be an SBE, but once I got it home I realized someone had cut down a double. Here's it is next to a non-mutilated version. Oh well, still an interesting tool for the regular box.

 

[Jim C.]

Nice looking eclectic collection of DBE wrenches! I like it. With all the USA manufacturers that produced DBE wrench sets over the past century, you literally could be collecting them for the rest of your life and never get them all.....So are you going after just SAE sizes or metric too?

Jim C.

 

[DuroChrome]

Cool collection! I have a few DBE wrenches too. Love the old P&C!

I am trying to start a collection of older VLCHEK raised panel wrenches. I only have 2, but I use them and it is a great thing to look for at garage sales, pawn shops, rummage sales, etc.

 

[BlueBomber]

Nice looking eclectic collection of DBE wrenches! I like it. With all the USA manufacturers that produced DBE wrench sets over the past century, you literally could be collecting them for the rest of your life and never get them all.....So are you going after just SAE sizes or metric too?

Jim C.

I guess I'm going after anything that turns up. Amazingly enough, after a year of picking, I have have hardly turned up ANY duplicates. That just shows how much variety there is out there!

Thanks!

 

[Jim C.]

I guess I'm going after anything that turns up. Amazingly enough, after a year of picking, I have have hardly turned up ANY duplicates. That just shows how much variety there is out there!

Thanks!

That's kinda what I was getting at. If you stick with it, you'll collect for the rest of your life and probably never come close to having them all......have fun!

 

[bonneyman]

Cool collection! I have a few DBE wrenches too. Love the old P&C!

I am trying to start a collection of older VLCHEK raised panel wrenches. I only have 2, but I use them and it is a great thing to look for at garage sales, pawn shops, rummage sales, etc.

I look for the * and grab them whenever I can.

 

[sonvolt]

Nice collection I like my DBE as well

 

[woody 73]

Ricky Joe could you post up all the different letter Cornwell's in your collection for me to get a look at.

 

[DuroChrome]

I look for the * and grab them whenever I can.

Wow! Cool set! I bought a set of VLCHEK combo wrenches (from 7/16" - 1 1/8") and that got me hooked!

I like those P&Cs too!

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

Another DBE fan here, got my first one earlier this year in a lot on eBay been picking them up at yards sales and flea markets ever since. I need to take a group picture

 

[gol4]

I favor the DBE as well. My 2 favorite sets are my short Plomb and my set of Hinsdales.

Both are round handles like the Vlcheks above. I have an old round dbe craftsman that I got from my dad. Turned out they were made by Hinsdale so I got a set of them.

I use the Plomb 8161 more than any other SAE in my tool box.

 

[BlueBomber]

Another DBE fan here, got my first one earlier this year in a lot on eBay been picking them up at yards sales and flea markets ever since. I need to take a group picture

I favor the DBE as well. My 2 favorite sets are my short Plomb and my set of Hinsdales.

Both are round handles like the Vlcheks above. I have an old round dbe craftsman that I got from my dad. Turned out they were made by Hinsdale so I got a set of them.

I use the Plomb 8161 more than any other SAE in my tool box.

I could probably come close to finishing several of those sets for you. Cornwell "f"s are not that rare; I have several. There are other letters also.

Feel free to post pics, Sam, Gol4 and Ricky! I'd be happy for this to become a "Show us your DBEs!" thread.

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

No group picture yet, but I wanted to share my favorite it's a New Britain that lives with my work tools

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

Group picture: the big Lectrolite I got today
Blue point
SK tools
2 Lectrolite
Vlcheck
Barcalo
2 Craftsman one long C
2 westline

 

[sha]

Hope I'm not throwing this off topic...

Does anyone know what sizes the short older Craftsmans came in? (example: underline C, V code SAE) I can only find 3 and they were hard to find.

 

[BlueBomber]

Group picture: the big Lectrolite I got today
Blue point
SK tools
2 Lectrolite
Vlcheck
Barcalo
2 Craftsman one long C
2 westline

Pretty cool! There are several brands I don't have yet, much less have as complete sets.

 

[DuroChrome]

I scored this little guy yesterday! Some heat damage where somebody modified it, but for $1 who can complain?

 

[BlueBomber]

Hope I'm not throwing this off topic...

Does anyone know what sizes the short older Craftsmans came in? (example: underline C, V code SAE) I can only find 3 and they were hard to find.

Sha,

I was reading through the Alloy Artifacts website on early Craftsman tools and came across this entry:

Short Angled Box Wrenches

Craftsman box wrenches with short straight shanks and angled heads were first offered in the 1934 catalog, with three models available in sizes 3/8x7/16, 1/2x9/16, and 5/8x11/16.

Hope this helps!

 

[BlueBomber]

McFarmer made a generous contribution to the BlueBomber Working Museum of DBEs. He sent me a few wrenches from the family farm that are pretty cool.




The two big fellas are a pair of 1-1/4" x 1-5/16" beauties, one a smooth-shanked Vlchek and the other a Plomb. Based on research on Alloy Artifacts, both are from the early 1940s. McFarmer says they hung on the wall in his granddad's shop for years.




The two Craftsman specimens were fished out of McFarmer's combine tool box. The long-C is a 25/32" x 3/4" offset with the remains of a chrome finish. These cues place it near 1940-1942. The =v= wrench is a favorite size, 1/2" x 9/16". This one is unique in that some of the markings on the back side appear to be double stamped. It is also likely a sixty year old wrench.

I love knowing the back story behind these guys , and I will add them to my working display rack with pride. Thanks, McFarmer!

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

Very nice[emoji106]

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

Picked these up today, it was a good day DBE wrenches! 2 tru-fit, craftsman, thorsen, baraclo,, SK Wayne, and 2 that I have not had a chance to ID.

 

[BlueBomber]

Very cool, Sam!

I added a Mac shorty yesterday from an antique store near Cape Cod. I got it for 75 cents.

 

[Bobcat753]

I still have a large Ampco beryllium copper DBE that your collection is missing, next time your in my neck of the woods stop by so it can join the pegboard!