Recent content by Interceptor

John Simpson's Nov 4, 1871 patent that was used on the Athol 40, 41, 42, 43, and likely many others.

Here's an 1889 advert for the same. My vise is clearly a No 41 but the jaws measure 4", not 4-1/2" as advertised. It also doesn't have the steel jaws, so likely was made prior to 1911. I find it interesting that the prices came down by about 10% over those 20 years.

Here's an Athol No 41 "Simpson" Coachmaker's vise that I used in my father's shop when I was growing up. It's been broken and welded twice, he finally replaced it with a new Craftsman vise in the 1980s when the screw threads wore out. It has the 1871 Simpson patent quick release, uses a half nut...

No markings on the first one, and only a casting number on the third one.

I have a few mystery tools here. Any ideas?

Yes it did.

I found this at auction yesterday, had never seen one before. I almost passed it up, I didn't realize what it was until my brother pointed out the Porto-Power emblems.

Olfa makes some cutters with a locking knob. The Olfas I have are made in Japan and very good quality.

Craftsman 5" made in Japan.

I bought some Tekton (Taiwan) ratchets to compare to the Asahi (Japan) ratchets I posted about earlier. After side by side comparison I have no doubt they are made in the same place, or at least the ratcheting mechanisms are. Regardless of COO they are the best feeling ratchets I've ever had my...

I hadn't considered the length of the dashes (I'm not a collector except that I collect useful things!). How 'bout this... — V — Here's a pic of a "1/2 FORGED IN JAPAN -v-", from the same guy I got the 3/4"s from, it had already been sold before I got to it. Notice it has small dashes and it...

Don't shoot me, I got that info from lauver's list of Craftsman manufacture codes, "BF = probably Daido, possibly KTC". These Japan -V- wrenches are nearly identical in forging and finishing to the USA made -VΛ- wrenches, from the front you could not tell the two apart. The BF are usually...

I believe that's what is often referred to as grey market import. Were Craftsman tools sold in Japan?

Those are not the same thing. They are the BF marked wrenches that are fairly common, made in Japan by Daido, they were sold here in the US as well. Anyone else have a Craftsman wrench with -V- and FORGED IN JAPAN on it?

With V and Japan on the same wrench? They are not that uncommon, they were sold in the early 80's. Many Sears and Craftsman tools from that era are from Japan, but they are usually marked BF. The strange thing here is the V code on a Japanese made wrench.