The Russian nesting doll of screwdrivers

[Captain Spaulding]

An older screwdriver that was in my late father-in-law’s stuff. Brass handle with no brand markings.



But wait, there’s more!

Take the rear cap off and inside is…

Another screwdriver.



If you order right now, you can take the rear cap off of that one and…



And finally, you take that one apart and there is one last screwdriver.



Don’t know the origin. Gun maintenance? Fishing? Anyone know?

 

[LXCam]

Yes. That’s the invention of orgay screwnoff

 

[slowtwitch73]

I remember as a kid those being for sale on the counters of hardware stores. They also did a hammer version. Kinda gimmicky.. screwdrivers aren't great quality. Gam Manufacturing.

 

[4xdog]

IIRC, those were often on a display as a checkout-lane impulse buy. Probably 1980s for the ones I remember. Likely too early for the Chinese invasion. Could be Japanese, but quite likely Taiwanese.

 

[Tostal]

I found this one recently while consolidating things, iirc the person I got it from had it in the 1960's. There's no makers name or symbols anywhere on it.


~T.

 

[matthew]

Gam Manufacturing, from Lancaster, Pa. or somewhere nearby.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

IIRC, those were often on a display as a checkout-lane impulse buy. Probably 1980s for the ones I remember. Likely too early for the Chinese invasion. Could be Japanese, but quite likely Taiwanese.

The look and feel makes me think this is older than that. It’s brass, not plated. Fit of the threads is good and the blades and shafts aren’t the light zinc coating you see on cheap stuff.

 

[4xdog]

The look and feel makes me think this is older than that. It’s brass, not plated. Fit of the threads is good and the blades and shafts aren’t the light zinc coating you see on cheap stuff.

That makes yours a lot cooler! And I'm sure the knockoff guys had to get the idea someplace.

 

[RTM]

My grama had one in the early 70s when she moved from Ohio to California. I thought it was the coolest gadget as a 12 y.o.

 

[JAYoung]

Gam Manufacturing, from Lancaster, Pa. or somewhere nearby.

I grew up in Lancaster in the 1950s and they were everywhere -- I swear every kitchen junk drawer in the county had one. GAM might have given them out at Christmas, which small companies did back in the day.
The hammer was quite useless, the screwdrivers serviceable, but the tiniest one was perfect for tightening eyeglass frames.

 

[bbbarracuda]

I’ve got this one, advertising for a hardware store.
I think it’s probably 50 years old or so. I remember my folks had it, back in the day.
Edit: It has 2 digit phone no. Quite a bit older than 50 years.

 

[slowtwitch73]

but the tiniest one was perfect for tightening eyeglass frames.

Only problem was 99% of the time the small one was missing!

 

[bbbarracuda]

These two are both marked
Frey Co.
New York, NY
Made in USA

 

[Ilikeike]

I remember as a kid those being for sale on the counters of hardware stores. They also did a hammer version. Kinda gimmicky.. screwdrivers aren't great quality. Gam Manufacturing.

I still have one in my hammer drawer,
sometimes screwdriver drawer, it's confusing.

I've had it since the 80's, not sure why I still have it, I think my wife must use it occasionally, but it's like new.

 

[454ragtop]

I have a minty, maybe NOS, one right in front of me, says GAM MFG Lancaster PA. As mentioned, seems well made, though I wonder how good the heat treat is on the blades.

 

[bonneyman]

The majority of use that my nested driver gets is using the smallest driver to tighten my eye glasses.

 

[WisJim]

I remember getting one for Christmas in the early 1960s, can't find it at the moment
I do have a couple of the hammer version also, one older and decent quality and the other newer and cheaper.

 

[slowtwitch73]

I wonder how good the heat treat is on the blades.

Just north of butter.

 

[AreBeeBee]

Got one also, marked as Gam but no other branding on it. As JAYoung and bonneyman note (posts #10 & 16), the wee little one is good for eyeglass hinge screws, assuming those have not been all chewed by various pointed instruments beforehand. The plating tends to flake at the business end of the blades, and the steel ain't so good either, at least if you want to really torque something.

But, yeah, I was impressed with its cleverness when I got one.

 

[vavet]

Growing up in Atlanta, we'd go up to Ohio to visit Dad's family for Xmas most years. He was one of 8 kids. There was a drawing of names out of a hat several weeks prior to the gathering for a family gift exchange. There was a $5 limit. That might've been Ok in the late 70s, but it got to the point that you were just buying **** that no one wanted so this was dissolved in later years.
One year (1982-ish, when I would've been 8) Dad got a screwdriver like that. I sort of got it by default as he had no interest in it.
Suddenly, things in my room just starting falling apart. The door knob fell off. The ladder that went to the loft just fell off when my sister was up there. Funny how that happens. I was good at taking thing apart. Not so good at putting them back together.

 

[h~moto]

I don't see any markings on mine.

 

[Jim C.]

My dad gave me this nesting screwdriver when I was about ten years old. I used it exclusively to connect all the wires to various switch terminals and accessories on my HO model railroad.

Jim C.

 

[nadogail]

I had one of those nesting screwdrivers when I was about 10 years old. I had forgotten about it until I saw the posting.

Like many other things, it stirred fond memories of when I was carefree and thought I knew a lot.

 

[GreyOwl]

This is my contribution. I will have to take another look to see if there are any id markings.

Edit: No marks of any kind that I could find

 

[d42jeep]

I picked this one up at a NV garage sale today. I called it a Russian nesting screwdriver hammer and he said that I shouldn’t call it that because he was Ukrainian. He wasn’t a big fan of Russia.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I have two. Well, sort of. Some of the little birdies have left the nest.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Gam Manufacturing.

Gam Manufacturing, from Lancaster, Pa. or somewhere nearby.

I have a minty, maybe NOS, one right in front of me, says GAM MFG Lancaster PA.

Got one also, marked as Gam but no other branding on it.

And I will fifth (hiccup!) the Gam identification.

One of mine is almost certainly a Gam, even though it's not marked "Gam Mfg Co", because it's marked...



...and (just in case you didn't know what it was) it's marked on the other side with...



...and Gam did use the "4 IN 1 SCREWDRIVER" branding.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

And for you hammer-and- ̶-̶s̶i̶c̶k̶l̶e̶ screwdriver guys, Gam Mfg also used "6 IN 1 SCREWDRIVER AND HAMMER" branding...



...although the earliest ads I could find don't explicitly include that term...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

These two are both marked
Frey Co.
New York, NY
Made in USA

Found half a Frey this morning. I never leave these behind. I probably have enough partials to put a few complete units together.

 

[d42jeep]

I found another of the hammers on Saturday’s estate sale. When I compared it to the one I got in NV I noticed the Gam markings on the NV one but couldn’t find any markings on Saturday’s.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nice gams! (Mickey Spillane flashbacks).

 

[bonneyman]

The tiniest driver in the OP's photo I find extremely helpful for the screws in eyeglasses.

 

[d42jeep]

I found my third nesting Gam hammer/screwdriver tool at a garage sale this morning. This was the first one that included two Phillips screwdrivers making it a bit more versatile.

Here are all three together.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked up this Made in Germany jobbie this morning. I can't resist these. The smallest one in this set defies fingertips.

 

[d42jeep]

Nice one. I found this unmarked one back in September. It’s the first all Phillips one I’ve run across.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Flea find this AM. Another GAM. No matter how goofy, I just cannot resist these.

 

[matthew]

Another GAM. No matter how goofy, I just cannot resist these.

The hammer is goofy, but I don’t find the screwdriver to be. Knurled brass has a feel of quality, and is handsome. They’re all a decent weight, and feel balanced. Can keep it in a pocket and carry a couple of sizes at once. Might wish for different blades, but I’d buy it too!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

All valid points, matthew. I'm sold! (Several times over!) Oh, and incidentally, the little hammers are good for breaking authentic toffee.

 

[matthew]

I almost forgot -

Brass handles look like pre-plastic vintage, and therefore perfectly fit your collection. Permission to continue collecting, sir!

(Just how many do you have now, anyways)

(and you’re sure the hammer isn’t for cracking walnuts and the claw for opening bottle caps?)

 

[isb cornbinder]

I have a bunch of those nesting tools. These were made in Germany. I do not search for these thingies, but, when I find them and the price is right I buy them. The quality of the screwdrivers is just ok while the claw hammers are close to being scrap.
I have the last two I found on CL. I do not feel like going to the shop to picture the others