Vintage S-K Tools

[r_olson_06]

I picked up this stuff at a pawn shop yesterday. I felt a responsibility to rescue the old SK box. It's solid, but covered with surface rust.

I'll need to clean it up, repaint it and the fun will be......filling it

Nice that is the older 3/8 box. They are harder to find. Nice pick up.

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[Rileysan]

Continuing my barrage of posts today, I took a few photos of some of my S-K drive tools. The 3/8" drive tools are my most used. Many were purchased new back in the 90's.

There will be many more pix to come.

Brian

 

[Derek420]

I got a bunch of sk but my oldest are a set of the 1/2 bullet sockets.

 

[davethorik]

Here's a family shot of my SK drive tools. Thumbwheels in 1/4 and 3/8, SK Wayne 1/4, 1/4 converted to 3/8, Sherman Klove stamped steel hex drive, 2x 45170, Mac X3R 3/8, roto, Tuff1 bent flex 3/8, at bottom NOS 1/4 spinner and 3/8 breaker.

 

[d42jeep]

I picked up an old S-K toolbox at an antique store in Nevada last summer and I've been picking up some more here and there to go with the ones that I already had. I picked up a very nice complete Indy special set at a local garage sale yesterday.
-Don

 

[Rileysan]

Here are a few more pix from my larder ...
Some of the duplicate sockets are 6pt or S-K/Wayne

Brian

 

[Username already in use]

Rileysan and D42Jeep seem to have the market cornered here. Nice lot of tools you guys have.

Here's some old midget sockets marked only CHROME ALLOY. Obviously SK made. The 9/32 socket is only marked with the size.

 

[chopper1]

Rileysan and D42Jeep seem to have the market cornered here. Nice lot of tools you guys have.

Here's some old midget sockets marked only CHROME ALLOY. Obviously SK made. The 9/32 socket is only marked with the size.

I wouldn't say just them, see post #111 and r_olsen is no slouch either.

 

[d42jeep]

I don't really have that large of an S-K collection but the ratchets have always been my favorite.
-Don

 

[Username already in use]

I wouldn't say just them, see post #111 and r_olsen is no slouch either.

Oh yes. You're quite right. I didn't mean to leave anyone out.

 

[6PTsocket]

Just bought a NOS SK 1/2 drive metric impact set off eBay...not sure what counts as vintage but it was packed in the original box from SK and the sockets were wrapped in a newspaper from 1994. Set even came with a rayovac flashlight with the SK logo, free gift with purchase I guess. Crazy part was the flashlight had the original 20+ year old batteries in it, just glad they had not leaked so flashlight is in good working order. Sockets are of course fine and have been freed from the cellophane which held them for the last two decades!

I knw I am getting old when people use 1994 and vintage in the same sentence

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[jeeper46]

When I got out of college in '74 and got a job, I got a '65 Ford, and I had no tools to work on it. I went to K-Mart, and bought an S-K set almost identical to that "Indy Special" above, along with a small set of box-end wrenches. That little socket set has been with me ever since, and it's still the set I reach for when I'm working on my old cars and motorcycles. I have drawers full of other sockets and ratchet handles , but this set is still my favorite. The sockets are still tight, and the ratchet still works like new. The green metal case is scarred and worn, but still solid. This has to be the best tool purchase I ever made.

 

[Rileysan]

I dug out my sets, partial sets, and metal boxes yesterday. I don't think any of them are complete or 100% original but am not too concerned.

The wood handle spinner in the oldest 1/4" drive sk box is a Pexto hex drive and meteor sockets. I left it as I found it. Likwise, the nearly complete 1/4" drive set in the Challenger box is left as found.

Also took a family photo of all my 1/4" drive spinners together.

Brian

 

[four.cycle]

^ very cool.
a Pexto 1/4" hex drive spinner? interesting... I didn't know they made drive accessories.

 

[Rileysan]

^ very cool.
a Pexto 1/4" hex drive spinner? interesting... I didn't know they made drive accessories.

I has 3 Pexto hex drive sockets to boot!

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[four.cycle]

hmmmm now that I think about it, I should not be surprised. Pexto = "Peck, Stow, and Wilcox" - usually associated with Stillson-type wrenches and pliers, but I've got a 1924 ad here for Pexto braces, so I suppose they had the capacity to make most anything.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Well, this isn't a tool - or even a toolbox, but I think you SK guys may appreciate it. It’s a vintage SK box, in typical toolbox brown crinkle finish, for holding ---- wait for it ----

--- 8mm film reels!

Anybody ever see one before?

I plan to carefully remove the handwritten label on the lid, which is stuck on, and also scotch-taped over, and re-use this for notes and shop plans etc.

 

[chopper1]

A few years ago someone posted one of those film boxes. I don't know whether it was on GJ or GG.

 

[Toothaker]

Garage Journal, where have you been all my life?

So I was at a local used tool dealer, and he wanted to know if I was interested in an SK Wayne set...

The original owner of this set had bought it in 1967, and had used it for a short while. But sometime early on, he put a luggage-type padlock on it and put the set on a shelf.

 

[WagonHo!]

Handsome and solid from Jan 1968 even with the paint brush job.

 

[Rileysan]

Garage Journal, where have you been all my life?

So I was at a local used tool dealer, and he wanted to know if I was interested in an SK Wayne set...

The original owner of this set had bought it in 1967, and had used it for a short while. But sometime early on, he put a luggage-type padlock on it and put the set on a shelf.

I have never seen better! Beautiful set!!

Private Lugnutz - Great box, but damn you for opening my eyes to other things I need to watch for!

Brian

 

[raiderhillbilly]

Garage Journal, where have you been all my life?

So I was at a local used tool dealer, and he wanted to know if I was interested in an SK Wayne set...

The original owner of this set had bought it in 1967, and had used it for a short while. But sometime early on, he put a luggage-type padlock on it and put the set on a shelf.

That is the most awesome S-K Wayne set that i have ever seen!

 

[Toothaker]

That is the most awesome S-K Wayne set that i have ever seen!

I agree - I don't want to ever use any of the tools in it. Thanks for the compliments, but I didn't have much to do with obtaining them - they sort of fell into my lap. Now it's my job to take care of them.

I'm fortunate, I have quite a few well-used SK tools to work with. Here's a quick pic of my 1/2" drive sockets.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

Years ago I was at a Flea Market looking at tools and saw this SK Wayne set and bought it cheap. It's been sitting in my toolbox since then, rarely if at all used by me.

Cheers

Jim

 

[thesilverone]

nice!

 

[cowades206]

Since I had some spare time on a Sunday afternoon I gathered up the remaining tools from my dad's 4010R set. His set was purchased in 1956 when he started trade school; SK-Lectrolite years. The tool chest had drawer slides and round pull knobs like the later SK-Wayne vintage stuff. He traded it for a larger MBC box pretty quickly after he got out of school. Of the 88 or so original pieces about 20 are missing. Most of the missing items have been replaced by SK-Wayne, Proto, Craftsman and Snap-on, depending on the available source at the time.
I left the non- original stuff out of the picture.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Garage Journal, where have you been all my life?

So I was at a local used tool dealer, and he wanted to know if I was interested in an SK Wayne set...

The original owner of this set had bought it in 1967, and had used it for a short while. But sometime early on, he put a luggage-type padlock on it and put the set on a shelf.

Nice find...

 

[6PTsocket]

Can anyone tell me about what year these wrenches are from?

They look like mine. 60"s, 70's, maybe.

Here's an interesting little known factoid: SK tools made socket sets in the 30s (and 40s?) with the name Brazil on them The sockets are identical to "modern" SK sockets but say "chrome alloy" rather than "SK". I read that some of these same sets were left with no label on them so that local hardware stores could put their own label on. Excellent quality! Such sets with BRAZIL are EXTREMELY rare and if found in pieces people do not know what they are. Here is a really nice clean Brazil 1/4 drive socket set I found.

I have the same big box as posted. It is PERFECT on the inside, but was trashed on the outside. I have all the hardware spotless now. Since the inside is perfect I want the outside to match well. I am going to practice on scrap. I am going to lay down VHT wrinkle finish as a basecoat in black. Then I have some Shermin Williams enamel I am going to spray on top of the VHT. I took one of the drawers into Shermin Williams and they matched the green spot on. And I mean dead on match.

Tell us the Sherwin Willilams paint code you end up with on the match so we can duplicate without sorting it out ourselves. Should be 3 numbers for the red/yellow/blue portions. thx! - Paul

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[6PTsocket]

Great thread! When we got S·K out of bankruptcy there was precious little history that was easily accessible. One of the things I'm going to do over the next year is to try to establish a historical record of S·K going back to its origins before WW I.

lzenglish, your Sherman-Klove boxes are cleaner than anything I've seen around the plant, particularly the Diamond labels look to be really clean. I'd love to be able to have a cleaner image of that metal label than what I have. Do you have any close-ups of the plate?

I did read a history like that on line. It covered the brands that SK manufactured for before establishing their own brand and the Lectrolite wrench connection. It was a very complete history. It was part if a series covering the history if American hand tools. It even showed the evolution of SK designs. I don't have a link but it should be easy to find.

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[StillTooManyHobbies]

@Cowades206. Nice collection of vintage SK. Great to see that you have Dad's old tools. It appears he needed some "special" wrenches. Do you happen to know what he was working on to need those?

 

[potato]

not sure of vintage but a local store has tons of these.

 

[ganymede]

^^^
Wow, some of that stuff is from the 70's or early 80's !!
I Really dig those interchangeable bit stubbies and the bit drivers with the socket storage in the handle.

 

[raiderhillbilly]

not sure of vintage but a local store has tons of these.

where is that?

 

[d42jeep]

Since Bonneyman spoke so highly of the S-K fine tooth ratchets upthread, I picked one up on my last visit to the flea market. After disassembly and cleaning and lubing it does work very nicely. My little S-K box is getting mighty full.
-Don

 

[Empty Pockets]

not sure of vintage but a local store has tons of these.

Where are you at? I might be interested in adopting some of those SK sets, if near to my home

 

[ryan20021982]

where is that?

meridian tool in oklahoma city,ok

check the Thorsen tools thread also, potato has some good pics of some nice Thorsen stuff there too

 

[cowades206]

I'd like to cause even more confusion to the wrench dating issue. Here is a close up pic of three of the wrenches in the 4010R set (or equivalent) bought in 1956.
Notice one says just SK, one is just Lectrolite and one SK-Lectrolite. BTW, All the long pattern wrenches says SK-Lectrolite.

Another curiosity is the 1/4" and 1/2" drive sockets are knurled, but the 3/8" drive sockets are not.

I guess when SK and Lectrolite teamed up, they weren't too careful with getting sets to match logos.

Stilltoomanyhobbies: I have no idea what he was working on when he modified the wrenches. He worked in an International Harvester dealership for about 8-9 years then worked on semi trucks for a few more years.(mostly Cummins and Detroit engines with 13 speed Transmissions). Then he went into teaching, so the tools came home and got kind of spread around for the next forty some years. The short wrench may have been bent to get the fuel pump off of a Cummins. If you look closely at the 5/8 end of one of the wrenches pictured here you can see it is ground thinner to access something. Dad didn't seem to hesitate to modify tools to get something fixed.

 

[twertsy]

I'd like to cause even more confusion to the wrench dating issue. Here is a close up pic of three of the wrenches in the 4010R set (or equivalent) bought in 1956.
Notice one says just SK, one is just Lectrolite and one SK-Lectrolite. BTW, All the long pattern wrenches says SK-Lectrolite.

Another curiosity is the 1/4" and 1/2" drive sockets are knurled, but the 3/8" drive sockets are not.

I guess when SK and Lectrolite teamed up, they weren't too careful with getting sets to match logos.

Stilltoomanyhobbies: I have no idea what he was working on when he modified the wrenches. He worked in an International Harvester dealership for about 8-9 years then worked on semi trucks for a few more years.(mostly Cummins and Detroit engines with 13 speed Transmissions). Then he went into teaching, so the tools came home and got kind of spread around for the next forty some years. The short wrench may have been bent to get the fuel pump off of a Cummins. If you look closely at the 5/8 end of one of the wrenches pictured here you can see it is ground thinner to access something. Dad didn't seem to hesitate to modify tools to get something fixed.

If you're positive they were bought in '56, I'd be interested to see pics of the codes on the shank of the wrenches, and particularly on the head of the ratchet(s), where the retaining ring is.

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[chopper1]

Another curiosity is the 1/4" and 1/2" drive sockets are knurled, but the 3/8" drive sockets are not.

The 3/8" socket is from a more recent era.

 

[Toothaker]

Actually, according to Alloy Artifacts, the 3/8" drive sockets weren't knurled - back when the 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" were knurled. See http://alloy-artifacts.org/sherman-klove.html about 1/3 down the page.