J H Williams vintage hand tools

[Private Lugnutz]

Pairs well in era and multi-purpose with the Demountable Rim Tool.

 

[Raineman]

Some older stuff I cleaned up.

 

[RAS61]

Some old wrenches I inherited from my father in law. Any idea how old?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

No earlier than 1947, probably 50s. They are carbon steel Superiors. As opposed to alloy Superenches. Polished faces. Black japan. Those are in nice shape. He took good care of them.

 

[Lesserstore]

I needed a 12" adjustable wrench for a class I'm taking, and I didn't want to use my great grandfather's Proto, so I went to the pawn shop a couple days ago to see if they had one and lo and behold, right on top of a pile was this one. When I got it home I wire wheeled it because it was so dirty and rusty, and then I had to file out where the jaw bar comes out because somebody used it as a hammer and it wouldn't close the last 1/8".

 

[RAS61]

No earlier than 1947, probably 50s. They are carbon steel Superiors. As opposed to alloy Superenches. Polished faces. Black japan. Those are in nice shape. He took good care of them.

He took good care of his tools. A carpenter by trade, Carpenters Mate in the Navy in WWII, then worked for Ulrichson Boats in NJ. A lot of nice woodworking tools in a homemade cedar chest

 

[Provincial]

Nice save, Lesserstore! Those are nice wrenches, and you will like it.

 

[consti2tion]

I needed a 12" adjustable wrench for a class I'm taking, and I didn't want to use my great grandfather's Proto, so I went to the pawn shop a couple days ago to see if they had one and lo and behold, right on top of a pile was this one. When I got it home I wire wheeled it because it was so dirty and rusty, and then I had to file out where the jaw bar comes out because somebody used it as a hammer and it wouldn't close the last 1/8".

It will serve you well I'm sure of it. One of my favorite adjustables is a 15" Williams Superjustable that's on my service truck. The guy that retired and I replaced left it for me, which surprised me because I believe he got it new 30-40 years ago.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Spotted this clamp while poking around in my dad's old stuff. He was a bit of a tool hoarder!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

He was a bit of a tool hoarder!

You know what they say about the apple and the tree, right?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I may be worse

 

[joseywales]

Cleaning out the in-law’s. This wasn’t very promising, then it was

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Wow!

 

[wrenchguy]

Down to 3 needed for the "Silent Salesman" Senior Board.
Oval logo wrenches wanted with below part numbers.
No.1, single head engineers wrench, top row.
No.7, single head engineers wrench, top row.
994 spark plug wrench, may not have oval logo only the "W in Diamond" logo.
thanks 4 any help.

 

[joseywales]

The larger socket is for electric water heaters. It was "locked up"
with the adapter and extension. My FIL said to put it our for sale with the rest of the tools. I asked how much he wanted for the 3 pieces. He said $5. I have a rub burn on my wrist from grabbing the cash out of my pocket. Yes, he knows some of his tools were worth money, but he is "done" and just wants to move on. He was giving us anything we wanted and we played the "what price do you want on this?" only a few times, before he caught on and made us take stuff. We're covering other expenses, etc. and he feels better knowing that I have any tool he'll need, though it's unlikely he'll need many. Tools, as you know, are like a warm blanket.

 

[outofbounds]

The larger socket is for electric water heaters. It was "locked up"
with the adapter and extension. My FIL said to put it our for sale with the rest of the tools. I asked how much he wanted for the 3 pieces. He said $5. I have a rub burn on my wrist from grabbing the cash out of my pocket. Yes, he knows some of his tools were worth money, but he is "done" and just wants to move on. He was giving us anything we wanted and we played the "what price do you want on this?" only a few times, before he caught on and made us take stuff. We're covering other expenses, etc. and he feels better knowing that I have any tool he'll need, though it's unlikely he'll need many. Tools, as you know, are like a warm blanket.

What a terrific set! and even better from family.

 

[joseywales]

What a terrific set! and even better from family.

Thanks. Very true about the family aspect. I kept his Stanley thermos and cooler combo. Great condition and my wife thought I was nuts. I'll never use it (probably), but I couldn't sell it for $5, knowing it was his. The entire downsizing is a bonding as well.

They held various yard sales and I found some Harley exhausts in the trash near my house. Big and shiney, great way to get buyer's attention. I grabbed them up and eventually sold them for $75.

We sold off so much of my FIL's tools, I had to run to a local thrift store for a 14" pipe wrench, to remove his portable heater! He was a plumber/electrician for crying out loud, but we sold off his wrenches! I paid $7 for a Trimo wrench in decent shape, better than most of his, because he beat on those. These are the stories we'll tell.

We also made great deals for buyers starting new careers in the trades. To be honest, it's all been more fulfilling than my fulltime job.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I snagged this Williams ISN 23 wrench at the flea market this morning. On the top side, it looks like a typical Williams ISN 23 wrench with a stamped Diamond-W logo, except for it being mutilated by someone with a grinder.



The flip side has been equally mutilated, but it's much more interesting!



Let's start with the logo on the left.



First of all, note that it is forged in. Secondly, note that it is the Whitman & Barnes logo. Williams acquired the drop-forge and wrench-making half of W&B in 1920. (Keep that date in mind, it will come up again.) This is a Williams wrench that Williams made with a W&B die inherited in the purchase. They only did that for a short while.

But the most interesting marking is that marking on the shank: GLOBE SLICERS.



If you're wondering what a Globe Slicer is, it's a machine for cutting lunch meat! Have you ever been in a good deli and watched them slice your soppressata? Chances are, that's what they used! This wrench was made for maintaining machines made by the Globe Slicing Machine Company.

The Globe Slicing Machine Company was founded in, you guessed it, 1920.



A NYC writer named Jeremiah Moss, who has a book called Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul, and a sort of spinoff website, devoted an article to Globe Slicers, linked here.

Lead line: "As the Bowery continues its radical shift from Skid Row, restaurant supply, and lamps to stratospheric luxury, I am always relieved to walk by and see Globe Slicers still in business."

The store he is referring to appears to be a funky, revered, aftermarket sales and repair shop, where restaurateurs, cooks, and citizens buy used vintage Globe machines and other food processors and take them to be fixed.



I might just put it on my Reading List.

Meanwhile, it has to be said, in jest, that the wrench looks like it could've fallen inside a Globe Slicer. I would think about trying to undo the damage and refinish the wrench, but now I kind of like it. The gouges and grinding lines will accentuate the story!

 

[four.cycle]

^ very cool. quite the odd combination of events to come up with the production of that wrench.

 

[genog]

Hey joseywales, I recently bought a 1/2 drive Williams set that's similar to your's.
Sockets go from 7/16 to 1" and many of them look unused.
When I bought this set, it was missing the 9/16 and 5/8 (found the 5/8 and a 3/8 at the Flea Market)
And most of all, my set, unlike your set, is Missing the Cool Case!

 

[OilyRascal]

Helping friends grandparents get ready to move out of state. Sadly all I could find was the box. Set number looks like 81421?

There was an 81481 set. 1/2" drive - 14 piece

 

[d42jeep]

I found this 6” Superjustable on Saturday. It had already been apart and had the original pin replaced with a modified machine screw. It works perfectly so it’s still in place plus some lube and a drop of loctite.

 

[leg17]

Can't remember if I have posted this before.
(Can't remember what I had for breakfast either.)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It will be fantastic the next time, too!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Beautiful display set. Thanks for posting!

 

[randomthingz]

Those 661's r small and "cute" as my grandaughter calls 'em. Thanks 4 looking out 4 'em.

heres the list, thanks 4 any help.
Oval logo part numbers wanted.
OVAL LOGO ONLY.
1
3
5
7
8
23
35
37
725b
731
733
675b
677b
683b
663g
664
661
spark plug wrench, 993 or 993a or 994

Hi Wrenchguy, new to the group and unsure if this is allowed but I have 2 oval 661s, I am willing to part with. Good condition for their age.

Those 661's r small and "cute" as my grandaughter calls 'em. Thanks 4 looking out 4 'em.

heres the list, thanks 4 any help.
Oval logo part numbers wanted.
OVAL LOGO ONLY.
1
3
5
7
8
23
35
37
725b
731
733
675b
677b
683b
663g
664
661
spark plug wrench, 993 or 993a or 994

Hi Wrenchguy, new to the group and I am unsure if this is allowed, but I have 2 661s I am willing to part with. Lmk please Ty.

 

[wrenchguy]

I'm good on those, thanks. Only needing No. 1 and No. 7 engineers wrenches to complete board.

 

[leg17]

Hi Wrenchguy, new to the group and unsure if this is allowed but I have 2 oval 661s, I am willing to part with. Good condition for their age.

Hi Wrenchguy, new to the group and I am unsure if this is allowed, but I have 2 661s I am willing to part with. Lmk please Ty.

There is some uncertainty about these wrenches. Is that a stylized 'M' in that oval?

 

[misterbill]

Picked up this oldie the other day - A number 25 wrench. Not sure on the age as it did not have the dual USS/SAE markings, just the USS 5/16" x 1/4". Anybody know when they started dual marking Williams wrenches?





Bill

 

[JjKk40]

Won these 2 sets online! Anybody know the timeline on these style markings? I can't find anything in AA or online but I do also have other sets and wrenches with only the "W diamond" logo.

 

[four.cycle]

International Tool Catalog Library - https://archive.org/details/internationaltoolcataloglibrary

As late as 1947, Williams was still using the "banner" decal inside the lids of their sets. Unfortunately, few tool catalogs show the tops of socket set boxes in their catalogs.
At some point they went to a black box with a red-orange lid. Yours falls between those two, but I have no idea where. You'd need to pick through some catalogs - I'm guessing maybe mid-to-late 1950s at the earliest, but that's just a wild guess.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I do also have other sets and wrenches with only the "W diamond" logo.

I once had and like an idiot much later regretfully sold an entire set of six (6) GMTK wrenches, natural steel finish, with only the "< W >" logo and "U.S.A." on the face of the major jaw. If I tried hard enough I could find photos. They may actually be on this thread somewhere way back. But photos are not really necessary to make my point, which is that I have always believed they were late war. Despite the lack of a full brand and a full "MADE IN U.S.A." marking. Perhaps immediate postwar.

And wartime contract or perhaps some other kind of industrial contract in the same era is where my mind goes when I look at your socket sets.

To call them "understated" is an insult to understatement. Grey boxes with minimalist (not a full name anywhere) muted markings. Minimalist (not a full name anywhere) forged or stamped markings on the tools. And how else to explain the danged "S" on everything (I still have some tools with that!) except for "Special"?

Are they chromed? Or is that natural steel that they left satin or polished in places?

But I feel like I have really fallen off with Williams and I'm going to sit back and look forward to what 3bay and Mr. Bill and others have to say.

 

[Mintgrun]

To call them "understated" is an insult to understatement. Grey boxes with minimalist (not a full name anywhere) muted markings. Minimalist (not a full name anywhere) forged or stamped markings on the tools. And how else to explain the danged "S" on everything (I still have some tools with that!) except for "Special"?

"S" for Super?

I have a small grey box with a bit of orange striping and this thread finally clued me into who made it. The stripe placement looks like this one posted above, but the W and # are long gone.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

"S" for Super?

I don't think so. They used "S" for Special on end wrenches, too. But anything is possible.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

S may have stood for standard set. They also had the volume branded sets. These were value line products I think.

 

[misterbill]

Nothing definitive but my guess is post-WWII (the sockets are the "single-groove" style) but before ~1948 (introduction of the "double-groove" style). OTG might be on to something with his mention of the "Volume" tool line as I don't see the "Williams" name on any of the pieces.

 

[JjKk40]

S may have stood for standard set. They also had the volume branded sets. These were value line products I think.

Yes I was reading in AA and these most likely are similar to the Volume sets or contract stuff.

 

[JjKk40]

I once had and like an idiot much later regretfully sold an entire set of six (6) GMTK wrenches, natural steel finish, with only the "< W >" logo and "U.S.A." on the face of the major jaw. If I tried hard enough I could find photos. They may actually be on this thread somewhere way back. But photos are not really necessary to make my point, which is that I have always believed they were late war. Despite the lack of a full brand and a full "MADE IN U.S.A." marking. Perhaps immediate postwar.

And wartime contract or perhaps some other kind of industrial contract in the same era is where my mind goes when I look at your socket sets.

To call them "understated" is an insult to understatement. Grey boxes with minimalist (not a full name anywhere) muted markings. Minimalist (not a full name anywhere) forged or stamped markings on the tools. And how else to explain the danged "S" on everything (I still have some tools with that!) except for "Special"?

Are they chromed? Or is that natural steel that they left satin or polished in places?

But I feel like I have really fallen off with Williams and I'm going to sit back and look forward to what 3bay and Mr. Bill and others have to say.

When I get them in ill check if they're chromed or not but I have 2 wrench "clip" sets, 1 doe and 1 combo and they're both chromed. I wonder if they're later, like 4 cyl says, like 50's or so and Williams used older tooling for their econ or contract stuff similar to what Bonney was doing with BonECon???

 

[four.cycle]

^ That was my best wild guess based on what little information I was able to find. Unfortunately Williams catalogs showing products made in the 1940s and 1950s seem to be in short supply.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Unfortunately Williams catalogs showing products made in the 1940s and 1950s seem to be in short supply.

Hmmm, that's not true of the 40's, 4.c. I have a catalog generally considered to be dated 1941, another with library markings from 1942 and 1944 with 1943 WPB L-216 notices in it, and generally considered to be from 1943, a 1943 Superrench pamphlet, a 1945 Superrench pamphlet, and catalog No. 401, generally considered to be 1947. All downloaded from TA. They should all be on IA/ITCL.

The problem with tools like JjKk's is that they don't tend to appear in the catalogs.