Don’s Den of Dandy Delights

[d42jeep]

When it comes to New Britain made tools I am bothered by the lack of available catalogs so I tend to take what tools I find and make sets out of them. I have several incomplete 1/4” drive sets but these three are going into the basement, right or wrong.
-Don
First, the larger set.

Here is a None Better marked set
Finally, a smaller New Britain marked set.
In the basement.

 

[d42jeep]

I added this Williams 1/4” drive set and a Vim punch set along with an early Irwin auger bit set in a wood box.
Here is the Williams set.

The Vim set.
New additions together
The Irwin auger bit set.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Today I poked through some toolboxes to pick out some items for the basement display. Here are the things I came up with.
-Don
Visegrips in the box with literature.

Western Auto hanging set. I found some sockets for it.
NOS Proto snap ring pliers in the box
Kastar ignition wrenches in a yellow roll with Lectrolite pliers and a Stanley screwdriver.
More to follow.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a nice early Irwin expansive bit in the box complete with literature and a little sawdust.
In the basement.
Western Auto set with it’s Indestro relatives.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Not much to report today. I cleaned up my Crescent 1/4” drive set and added it to the display. I also drug out an old Craftsman compressor that I bought at an Oakland hills estate sale and immediately regretted it. I had to carry it up what seemed like a thousand stairs and even though it works, I’ll never use it. I put on the floor under the other Craftsman sets where hopefully I’ll never kick it again.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ That little Crescent set is nice. I have one very similar to that.
What's wrong with the compressor?

 

[Shiftless]

Thanks again Don for your continued posting of all of those interesting items.

 

[d42jeep]

^ That little Crescent set is nice. I have one very similar to that.
What's wrong with the compressor?

There isn’t anything wrong with it. It ran okay and compressed air. It just wasn’t something I could really use and it was always in the way in the garage. It won’t be in the way now!

Thanks again Don for your continued posting of all of those interesting items.

Thanks for your nice feedback. Probably see you soon to grab that large hunk of NB steel you generously offered.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I added my Signal Corps pouches to the display today. I bought some TL-29 electricians knives for my GMTK but replaced them with US Army marked knives. The pouches seemed like a natural use for the extra knives.
-Don

 

[JjKk40]

Wow Don you have some truly impressive stuff man! I look forward to seeing your posts on the daily!!!!

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks!
I’ve been working on trying to make sense of 1/4” drive Walden socket variations and decided to add these postwar Walden 1/4” drive sets to the basement display.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

Painting galvanized material is exciting. A former coworker used to tell me you had to pickle it first, else the paint would not stick (have not dealt with in 24+ years). The acid bath here is pickling as I understand it.

How to Paint Galvanized Steel in 4 Easy Steps - Independent Metal Strap

A Step-by-Step Guide to Painting Galvanized Steel

indmetalstrap.com

I'm straining my memory to go back 45+ years, but I recall my dad (who was a tin knocker by trade) said something to me about using vinegar to make the galvanize coating accept paint.
He used muriatic acid to eat away the zinc so solder would stick on those pieces he needed watertight. (He would then have to paint the joint so the unprotected steel wouldn't rust). But decorative pieces were too big for muriatic as it was expensive, so I think he said he used vinegar to prep the galvanize for painting on a budget. This guys story confirms my ole memory.

 

[Farmer J.]

Great thread Don, lots of lovely tool sets to be seen. I had a break from computer recently, and now there's 3 pages to look through Thanks for all the organising, sharing and posting the pictures.

 

[m6z]

Wow!

Amazing collection.

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks, guys. Today I added the Ajax drill index I found at an estate sale yesterday. A little elbow grease and some brake cleaner got rid of the felt pen markings. I added some number drills I had sharpened but it looks like I need to pick up some more.
-Don

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Symbol of the Drilluminati

 

[d42jeep]

I’ve had quite a few random oilers in various locations in the garage so todays project was to gather them up, clean off some of the collected filth and relocate them to the basement. Here is how it went.
-Don
These are marked Plews




Here are some just marked USA



These are marked Eagle although the one on the left is a reproduction of a WW2 Jeep and GMTK oiler
These were made by Gem. I found the flower painted one in the wild.
Here they all are.



Moved into the basement.On display.

 

[d42jeep]

My old buddy passed along this Black & Decker 1/4” drill in the original box that he received from an elderly friend. It is now on display in the basement.
-Don

 

[Tarnished]

d42jeep: Perhaps you should check out this post: Holy Grail? of oilers/oil cans LOL.
Nice collection, just needs one more

 

[steel 35]

Your drill stuff had my attentio, but the index, was to much!

 

[d42jeep]

I was poking around in the garage earlier and found a cool item I stashed away a while back that would be a good display item in the basement. What could be safer than to inflate your Ford tractor tires with gases from your combustion chamber? I really like the Ford script in the pressure gauge. We found it a few years ago at a Tahoe estate sale.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ you sure that thing doesn't belong in the "WTF" thread?

 

[RTM]

I have not seen one of those in ages. My boss had one back in the 70s, mostly as a novelty, left over from the 50s. Said he used it once in the 60s when stuck in the desert.

 

[Mintgrun]

How it works.

 

[Farmer J.]

A friend of mine had one. Those things were great, so simple and easy to inflate a tractor tyre on his Model N Fordson. Nowdays, with the modern diesel engine tractors I have to use a 1970's PTO driven compressor instead.

 

[Farmer J.]

What could be safer than to inflate your Ford tractor tires with gases from your combustion chamber?

Just ignite some combustible gasses in the tyre, quick and easy!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I've done that

 

[Smokeshow69]

Heck of a basement there Don! You know I love the tower of plomb best but you have a bunch of other cool stuff as well!

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks. It’s much more fun to visit the basement now than it used to be.
-Don

 

[honza.vosalik]

@d42jeep Don, how many socket sets does one person need? Sounds like this would be an infinite number?

 

[saukit]

@d42jeep Don, how many socket sets does one person need? Sounds like this would be an infinite number?

I'm guessing the answer is "one more".

 

[d42jeep]

Well, I may be slowing down a bit. I did complete this Thorsen set today, however.
-Don

Even though it was complete, it looked a little sparse so I added a few extras. I imagine that could have happened back in the day.

 

[JjKk40]

I do the same thing! I always add stuff because it bothers me when it looks empty and there's too much space left! Nice Thorsen set!

 

[d42jeep]

A shout out to JoCo for solving the mystery of my Dunlap hex drive sets. It turns out the 1954 catalog illustrations were more accurate than the accompanying text. I figured out a use for the green box with the sliding lid I recently found at an estate sale. It’s perfect for holding the Dunlap hex drive spares.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

It turns out that the small plastic box set on the lower right is probably from around 1957 and the set in the plastic pouch from around 1960. I found a few of the metric sockets shown in 1960.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

Love the spark plug inflator, Don. The ingenuity of folks back in the day!

I have a Coleman (i.e. camp stove people) portable tire inflator that runs off the cigarette lighter. Emergency use only.

 

[JoCoSawdust]

That Dunlap stash gets bigger every day! I'm very much enjoying your tour Don!

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks again for your Dunlap help. I’m enjoying your tour as well.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

@d42jeep Don, how many socket sets does one person need? Sounds like this would be an infinite number?

I'm guessing the answer is "one more".

Here are some S-K sets I’ve sold off in the last few months to lighten the load a little and minimize the (H) accusations. They were a little too modern anyway.
-Don

 

[saukit]

Let's be honest Don, we know that you just sold those three so you could buy 4 more!

All kidding aside, those are beautiful! Hope you got a good bit of picking $ out of them!