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The antique machinery/steam club I've gotten involved with is less than an hour south of KC, but it didn't dawn on me that I've been that close to Epstein's until a few weeks ago. They're only a few minutes around the corner from the Arabia riverboat museum so now I've got a two-fer reason to...

I've been using the aerosol version of NAPA Sil-Glyde for many years on the ratchet obsess... er, "collection". A quick burp thru the straw down into ratchet guts I don't want to tear completely apart has always worked fine for me - years later I can still pick up a ratchet and it's as smooth...

Why not? No lottery involved, just a good 40-ish years of flea markets, yard sales, auctions, fleabay, etc. Only a very small handful were bought new for some specific purpose/need, and none of them came off a tool truck. With less than 6% from the Big 4 truck brands I'm obviously pretty darn...

Well, I'm a sucker for an RHFT with any brand on it (and there are quite a few), but the Craftsmans will always stand out. As a side note, I may be responsible for coining "RHFT" to describe this specific MDF/Easco design. A good 30+ years ago on Mark KW's Tool Talk (or was it Tool Source?)...

Well if you're talking action/gut design then I'd have to say the MDF/Easco RHFT tops the the list, with Herbrand oval head vertical slide button shifters and Wright round heads (the later ones retained with a flat split ring instead of screws) following. From personal usage history/nostalgia...

Yeah, I've got @ 140 brands with at least one ratchet, and another 18 brands I've seen but haven't got a rep of yet. Have been adding from 1 to a few previously unknown/unseen brands each year, and manage to pick up the first ratchet rep of one every now & then. Less than 6% of the total are...

Well the last time I replied to this specific thread 15 years ago (post #78) the count was @ 325. I just broke 900 on the "official" USA count, and if I counted all the duplicates and Pacific Rim ones it's well over 1000.

Here are the 2 Ridgid 1/2" ratchets I have so far - long handle RHFT by MDF/Easco/Danaher and reg length by Thorsen. My assumption has been that these were supplied as ratcheting handles for manual pipe threading sets as I've never seen a Ridgid socket or any other non-pipe/plumbing related...

Start Googling your general area/state/adjacent states for swap meets & flea markets, some are weekly, others monthly, others a few times or just once a year. Some areas don't have anything like that - Little Rock is a dead zone for me. Antique/peddler malls are often all over the place and...

I've got a 1/2" one as well, circle W 1-1, also have a couple Vlcheks with different grips & a Bonney & Bon-e-Con. I'm no Bonney expert but this design shows up in the #60 catalog (when they were still Bonney Tool & Forge) I've got saved as 1959 (don't see any date on the catalog, was likely...

I'd say it's swapped too, the few dual marked tools I have are marked as d42's.

+1 on the long handle 1/2", got a few of those in Blackhawk and NB stashed around. And yeah, here's a few of the Penncrafts, interestingly that's been one of the Kilness brands that I've seen quick-release versions of more frequently than most (Kilness that is). Wonder if competing against...

I've got 23 different brands (including unbranded/no brand) listed for Kilness ratchets so far, out of 32 total for a New Britain sourced/patented ratchet design. Kilness is def the most prolifically branded ratchet design.

That's a MAC pedigree ratchet in that set, I'll bet a dollar to a donut on that. Don't recall the year offhand that Stanley grabbed up MAC, but IIRC it was to get their foot in the pro mechanic truck tool door. Proto got them into the factory/industrial/pro but not truck sales side while the...

Stanley continued Kilness production for at least a little while after swallowing up NHT. Here's my triple play of Challenger Proto Kilness ratchets. The ratchet on top is the design I think finally killed the Kilness - virtually identical in appearance and size but a much simpler gut design...

Recently fished this 3/8" Billings ratchet out of the 'bay when I finally realized it' not like any other Billings ratchet I have. In fact it's the same mysterious design that only 2 other ratchets in the "collection" share, both of them being Vi-Chrome (3/8" & 1/2"). I've never found a...

No, I have no idea on a change date, just that the tri-wing was first and the bar later. Bonney's are the only ones I have with both versions - Utica, Herbrand, & Dayton are tri, while Bon-e-con and John Deere are bar. From what I've seen these ratchets are virtually indestructible - soak the...

Some thoughts in no particular order: - set limits/parameters like only collect a particular size or few sizes, only made in USA (or British, or European, etc), only one or a specific few designs (there are a lot of "adjustable" wrenches in many different shapes/designs). Also consider what you...

Wow Lump, sorry to see you part ways with tool collecting, but def understand - while I still have the ratchet obsess.... er, "collection", it's def slowed way down in growth the past several years as I've turned more to tractors, ag tractor/implement history, and participation with a steam...

Holy mud!! Even though I'm much more into ratchets than adjustables, I'da been on them like white on rice!