Spreading the Bonney affliction!

[Steven 33]

Wow! Great find. I agree, the smallest wrenches are often the hardest to find. I’m not sure whether I just overlook them, or whether they are actually scarce.
I’ve been slowly building two sets of the early E4x DBEs to display both sides.

My two sets have no E40s (just a single later-era placeholder) and only one E44 (w another later-era placeholder). Similar issue with Zenel E18 and E20 DOEs.

I have some somewhere.I'll see if I can dig them up

 

[Mikeske]

I have a partial set of the older, pre-Loc-Rite flare wrenches. Nice feel, solid tools, only used them a few times but they worked nice.

Oh yeah and I have a few of the pre-Loc-Tite and a lot of the Loc-Tite flare wrenches. The open-box on the right were from a military set I got off eBay several years ago and the ones in metric and SAE in the red vinyl roll ups were from my original set of Bonney I bought in 1984.

 

[Steven 33]

Pipe wrench

 

[Raineman]

If anyone wants these, I can send them to you. Maybe help with postage. They don’t fit in with my preferred Bonney collection and I’m purging a lot of my collection of other brands as well.

Free to anyone that wants this batch. If you feel inclined to help me with shipping cost, okay.

 

[2001ZR2]

1/2 - 9/16 DBE with PWA markings apparently for Pratt Whitney Aircraft...interesting tool for 75 cents.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked up another suspected postwar stud puller. This one does not show any signs of having any number resembling a Snap-on date code, unlike the first one I found, which looks like a Snap-on, and had an "8" resembling a Snap-on 1948 date code, in a location where other Snap-on and other identical stud pullers with other brands (e.g., Hastings) had date code numbers. Loooong and as I recall inconclusive discussion back in 2019 if anywhere cares to re-visit.

Cleaned up well.

 

[LesserSon]

So what do you get when you buy two NOS Bonney No199 utility knives? These are identical to the Stanley No199 utility knives, with the exception of the raised-letters company name that's on them. Like the screwdrivers and hammers (at least the Stanloid-tipped ones, which have red paint instead of orange paint), likely made by Stanley. Bonney made forged products, and there isn't anything forged about these. It would be fascinating to find correspondence specifying the products and financial arrangement that created them, and whether Bonney made any components or complete products for Stanley.

I added a fourth and fifth No199 utility knife to my collection recently, and didn’t expect any surprises, but I got one when I opened them up to remove the dull and rusted blades. Inside, one had a single Stanley No1992 and several General No852, the other had several Millers Falls No3325.
The one with the MF blades was more heavily-constructed than the one with the General blades!

This led me to open up the NOS examples, which were stocked with unmarked blades, sharing the size and angle of the MF and General blades, but with two notches (like the Stanley, but not sharing the length or more acute angle of it) instead of three. Hmmm. I had hoped to use the blades to establish whether the heavy knife was older or newer, but the blades may not help. Neither NOS examples, nor another earlier acuisition shared the heavy construction.
I’m favoring the “heavy is older” theory for now, but will have to see if Stanley utility knives show a similar internal redesign.

 

[Raineman]

I had one of those and forgot it was in a box of stuff I sold as a lot. Regretting that, and haven't been able to find another since.

 

[LesserSon]

I added a fourth and fifth No199 utility knife to my collection recently, and didn’t expect any surprises, but I got one when I opened them up to remove the dull and rusted blades. Inside, one had a single Stanley No1992 and several General No852, the other had several Millers Falls No3325.
The one with the MF blades was more heavily-constructed than the one with the General blades!

This led me to open up the NOS examples, which were stocked with unmarked blades, sharing the size and angle of the MF and General blades, but with two notches (like the Stanley, but not sharing the length or more acute angle of it) instead of three. Hmmm. I had hoped to use the blades to establish whether the heavy knife was older or newer, but the blades may not help. Neither NOS examples, nor another earlier acuisition shared the heavy construction.
I’m favoring the “heavy is older” theory for now, but will have to see if Stanley utility knives show a similar internal redesign.

View attachment 2550551
Another surprise when I opened up two Stanley No199 utility knives.
Neither is identical to either type of Bonney, though they all share some characteristics.
From comparing elements, I say the order of development is

 

[Private Lugnutz]

^ Interesting deep dive, LS. I did a "Curator's Corner" on Utility Knives linked HERE, and a few updates after that, which you can find in the Lugzsonian thread index in post #1, but while I included a Bonney and Stanley and noted the identical production, and took a quick stab at the No. 199 history, I did not do a close comparison.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was elated to pluck this Bonney Champion No. 112 (1-1/2" jaws) out of a wooden drawer this morning at the flea. I couldn't reach it leaning from the front of the table and tried to not dance too excitedly around the corner with anticipation as soon as I spotted it. It has a gorgeous 'Princeton' logo.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Photos of the markings, including a very oddly placed "U.S.A.", obviously stamped when the jaws were closed. It could just be my brain doing some instinctive wishful thinking, but a very reasonable expansion of the "O.D." stamped just above it, and quite probably at the same time, if not the very same stamp, is Ordnance Department!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

1914 Catalog excerpts...