Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
As I reported on the toolbox thread, I found a Hotchkiss M1909 Benet-Mercie machine gun ammo box the other day, filled with old tools. EDIT: See Thumbnails below for box photos.
I thought I would share the contents.
The only two items that are not the same vintage as the box (WWI to 1930’s) is the tri-fold 12” rule and the feeler gage. Those seem to have been put in the box in the 40’s. But everything else is primitive and in very well-preserved condition, as if they were sitting in the box - which is very well sealed - for a long, long time.
I'm not saying it's a particular tool-set. The variety defies that kind of definition. But they are an interesting mix. If tools could talk, I'd like to know what kind of work this old-timer was doing.
Engineers wrenches for machinery, special multi-wrenches for various size valves and plugs, and special pliers and needles for wire and upholstery/saddlery work. But there’s also a sharpening stone, two pyramid-tip soldering irons, a cleaver hook, nippers with special handle ends (pry, pestle), and a flat file with a homemade handle, which suggest some kind of fabrication (blacksmithing/welding). And I can’t figure out the measuring tool on the right between the modern feeler gage and the multi-wrenches. I thought it might be a primitive sliding inside caliper rule, that a machinist would use, but nothing slides. The set screw holds a square piece inside a slot. The rest of the piece is a 3-inch rule. Anybody know?
No idea what the parts are in the middle.
Makes --- The monkey wrench is a COES. The engineers’ wrenches are Vlchek (no name, just the {V} shield logo on the shank), Mossberg (M), and an unbranded wrench with a model or spec number “Q1191DB40” forged into the shank. The S-wrench is a Billings & Spencer marked “2025” with the /B\ logo on the shank and the first generation brand on the face of the larger jaw. None of the multi-wrenches are branded. Neither are the soldering irons, the hook, the hand auger, or the sharpening stone. The 10” flat file, smooth cut, is a J.B. SMITH. (Pretty sure they were bought, like nearly all the rest of the small regional file makers in the US, by Nicholson in the interwar years.) The spike has a name, “WARD,” on it. The pliers are marked “LODI” and “PAT. SEP. 25 1894 / RE. NOV.6.1900”. I know from owning other upholstery/leather working tools bearing that mark, including a rotating belt punch, that it is made by Wm. Schollhorn. The special 8-inch nippers were made in Germany by Herculanum.
Some close-ups:
I thought I would share the contents.
The only two items that are not the same vintage as the box (WWI to 1930’s) is the tri-fold 12” rule and the feeler gage. Those seem to have been put in the box in the 40’s. But everything else is primitive and in very well-preserved condition, as if they were sitting in the box - which is very well sealed - for a long, long time.
I'm not saying it's a particular tool-set. The variety defies that kind of definition. But they are an interesting mix. If tools could talk, I'd like to know what kind of work this old-timer was doing.
Engineers wrenches for machinery, special multi-wrenches for various size valves and plugs, and special pliers and needles for wire and upholstery/saddlery work. But there’s also a sharpening stone, two pyramid-tip soldering irons, a cleaver hook, nippers with special handle ends (pry, pestle), and a flat file with a homemade handle, which suggest some kind of fabrication (blacksmithing/welding). And I can’t figure out the measuring tool on the right between the modern feeler gage and the multi-wrenches. I thought it might be a primitive sliding inside caliper rule, that a machinist would use, but nothing slides. The set screw holds a square piece inside a slot. The rest of the piece is a 3-inch rule. Anybody know?
No idea what the parts are in the middle.
Makes --- The monkey wrench is a COES. The engineers’ wrenches are Vlchek (no name, just the {V} shield logo on the shank), Mossberg (M), and an unbranded wrench with a model or spec number “Q1191DB40” forged into the shank. The S-wrench is a Billings & Spencer marked “2025” with the /B\ logo on the shank and the first generation brand on the face of the larger jaw. None of the multi-wrenches are branded. Neither are the soldering irons, the hook, the hand auger, or the sharpening stone. The 10” flat file, smooth cut, is a J.B. SMITH. (Pretty sure they were bought, like nearly all the rest of the small regional file makers in the US, by Nicholson in the interwar years.) The spike has a name, “WARD,” on it. The pliers are marked “LODI” and “PAT. SEP. 25 1894 / RE. NOV.6.1900”. I know from owning other upholstery/leather working tools bearing that mark, including a rotating belt punch, that it is made by Wm. Schollhorn. The special 8-inch nippers were made in Germany by Herculanum.
Some close-ups:
Attachments
Last edited:
