Montgomery Ward Powr Kraft tools

jd_1138 · May 16, 2013

My step-dad has a complete set of Powr Kraft tools (Montgomery Ward's) from the 1970's or 1980's that he bought brand new as a set. Every time I walk into their garage I see that shiny red box (roller and top box). I've had the honor of using a lot of those tools when I was a teenager when he was showing/helping me work on my car -- imparting his years of amateur race car wrenching experience onto me.

Now he's in pretty bad shape. He was exposed to agent orange in Vietnam and has a lot of health problems. Every time I see those tools, I think of him. Those tools are as beautiful to me as a shiny new Snap-On box with $30k worth of tools in it.

Spudland_Dave · May 16, 2013

Great memories!
My dad had a bunch of Montgomery Ward stuff at home. When he upgraded his Table Saw back in '07 he gave me his Montgomery Ward saw. While that saw doesnt have the nicest fence on it, its sure a brute...He built our house with it back in '76, built his garage/shop in '91, COUNTLESS Projects between 76 and 2006, and in 06 he gave it to me and I used it to finish my basement and last year used it to build my own garage. One of these days I'd like to take it all apart and restore it. Between sentimental value and the fact it still works great, I just couldnt get rid of it.

RCStocker · May 16, 2013

It is nice to have memories.
Cherish every moment you have with your father. They will even mean more when he is gone. God bless and prayers said for him and your family.

893cv · May 16, 2013

That is a great story. I have a few of my dads tools, they are very important now that he is gone.

beerdog · May 16, 2013

Power Kraft are actually pretty good. I tink you can read u on power Kraft on Alloy Artifacts.

930dreamer · May 16, 2013

I spotted a Powr Kraft two wheel grinder with the belt driven motor and foot pedal today. The Restore Store was asking $40 for it. I also have a PK shaper sitting in the living room. :bounce:

Binrat · May 16, 2013

I have a large Powerkraft chain saw that is from the 70's. It was my granddads
.

lbgradwell · May 17, 2013

Can you post some photos of the actual tools?

B17E1943 · May 18, 2013

I was going through my Duro/Indestro collection today and I found a Powr Kraft wrench made by them.

byoungblood · May 18, 2013

Their sockets and ratchets were made by Wright, so it certainly isn't your run of the mill department store stuff.

egnorant · May 18, 2013

I grew up with this as the hand drill box.

I remember the first drill was a Powr-craft but it died about 1972 and was replaced with a skinny little Black& Decker that finally bit it last summer.

Bruce

jd_1138 · May 18, 2013

lbgradwell said:
Can you post some photos of the actual tools?

Next time I go there, I will take some pics. It's an a complete set that he bought in the early 80's I think.

Flatintoone · May 18, 2013

I have a collection of Powr-Kraft tools. The ratchets and sockets were made by Wright for a long time, but I believe switched to Thorsen at some point. I have a number of wrenches that are identical to the Barcalo 'scoop' style.

Provincial · May 18, 2013

Power Kraft always seemed a step above Craftsman in power tools. For instance, Craftsman sold rebranded Atlas metal lathes and Wards sold rebranded Logan lathes. I have another thread here where I show my favorite combination wrench - a 3/4" Power Kraft! It is the "scoop" style, and must have been made by Barcalo.

Fixnair · May 18, 2013

My dad bought me my first set of tools when I got hired as an apprentice mechanic. First job. They were Power Kraft from Montgomery Wards. I still have a fe today. Nice story and thanks for reminding me about my dad.

toolmutt · Aug 19, 2014

I inherited this from my dad. Think of him every time I use it.

Nick Danger · Sep 17, 2014

I got my father's old Powr-Kraft ratchet sets this Spring. They're from the late 1960s.

SteveCh · Sep 17, 2014

I had a few Wards power tools I bought as a kid back in the sixties. They lasted me for decades and just seemed to keep on going. They all finally wore out, but that was after maybe 35 yr. and I used them hard.

Jagmandave · Sep 17, 2014

My first toolbox, given to me for Xmas when I was 10 - that would have been 1959 BTW......still have it, in fact it's my travel toolbox. It's been with me all over the states, been stood on as a stool to reach stuff, and banged around pretty good. I would not part with it for anything....

View media item 43321
I still have the full set of wrenches that were in it too....no telling how many cars, motorcycles, bicycles and mowers I've fixed over the years with those wrenches....

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stage20 · Sep 17, 2014

Flatintoone said:
I have a collection of Powr-Kraft tools. The ratchets and sockets were made by Wright for a long time, but I believe switched to Thorsen at some point. I have a number of wrenches that are identical to the Barcalo 'scoop' style.

thorsen makes sense now that i think about it. ive got a set of PK 12pt deep wells and they looks exactly like my old throsen stuff i have.

SMKS · Sep 17, 2014

Nick Danger said:
I got my father's old Powr-Kraft ratchet sets this Spring. They're from the late 1960s.

That top set appears to be made by Wright, or at least the ratchet was.

The bigger set clearly includes a Thorsen ratchet.

Nick Danger · Sep 17, 2014

SMKS said:
That top set appears to be made by Wright, or at least the ratchet was.

The bigger set clearly includes a Thorsen ratchet.

Both sets were bought whole, so I assume that everything in each set came from the same manufacturer. When was the changeover?

wildbill23c · Sep 17, 2014

This is my grandfather's old Wards Air compressor. Its not a power kraft but it was sold by Montgomery Wards. Grandpa bought it in 1976, still works great. I put a new head gasket in it last year as it was starting to leak oil. Seems though I've got another oil leak somewhere, but haven't been able to figure out where. From what I've been able to research is the pump itself is actually a Campbell Hausfeld pump. This is the twin piston pump, and a Wagner 1HP motor.

btbsandman · Sep 17, 2014

I have a Powerkraft Mower. Damn thing refuses to die.

captain14 · Sep 17, 2014

My father had a toolbox with the 1/2 and 1/4 sockets and drivers with it. It is still In my mothers basement. I will have to sort through his boxes and put the set together . I can't even guess the age since he always had it. Early to mid 50's?

Flatintoone · Sep 18, 2014

SMKS said:
That top set appears to be made by Wright, or at least the ratchet was.

The bigger set clearly includes a Thorsen ratchet.

Is that a Thorsen ratchet? I thought it was Wright, but I'm not an expert.

If that is a Thorsen ratchet, that kind of screws up my theory:
The 'italic' Powr-Kraft logo (as seen above) represents the Wright era. Later they went to a 'standard' font that seemed to be supplied by Thorsen. Those tools seemed to be of lower quality, and went overseas at some point.

I believe the Powr-Kraft name had been in use since before the war, at least on power tools. My guess is that they started using it for hand tools in the late '40s/early 50s. Reason being is that I've seen 'Ward-Master' and 'Speedmaster' tools that most closely resemble Walden of that era.

Does anyone have any evidence to support this? Like a collection of Ward's catalogs! I'd be happy to be proven wrong...

Hiball · Sep 18, 2014

Flatintoone said:
Is that a Thorsen ratchet? I thought it was Wright, but I'm not an expert.

If that is a Thorsen ratchet, that kind of screws up my theory:
The 'italic' Powr-Kraft logo (as seen above) represents the Wright era. Later they went to a 'standard' font that seemed to be supplied by Thorsen. Those tools seemed to be of lower quality, and went overseas at some point.

I believe the Powr-Kraft name had been in use since before the war, at least on power tools. My guess is that they started using it for hand tools in the late '40s/early 50s. Reason being is that I've seen 'Ward-Master' and 'Speedmaster' tools that most closely resemble Walden of that era.

Does anyone have any evidence to support this? Like a collection of Ward's catalogs! I'd be happy to be proven wrong...

As a collector of vintage wright tools, including power kraft/speedmaster etc, I've never seen a Thorsen Oem set. The ratchet looks suspicious, but the part number appears to represent wright. The power kraft rats always had a darker outer ring, but generally mimicked wright, but does look like Thorsen. I did do some googling and came up with some Thorsen sets, I'd also like to know what era they OEM'd for power kraft. I do know that as early as 1956 min, wright was producing ratchets under the powr-kraft name.

Here is a Another Thorsen set that recently sold on ebay, per the description it has paperwork that date it into the 70's. The set in question a couple posts up appears to be older, I wonder if at one time or another the ratchet got warranted as the extension in that set appears to be wright also, that leaves the ratchet the odd man out.

Hghgrad · Sep 18, 2014

This was my grandfathers. It's in my shop now, holding all the socket doubles and my drill bits.

Fyrme · Sep 18, 2014

I'm looking forward to resto-ing this little table saw. I see the small 8" Craftsman saws all the time, but this was the first Powr Kraft I'd ever seen. It even has the original Montgomery Ward 1/2hp motor on it.

photo 3-11 by Fyrme, on Flickr

photo 4-5 by Fyrme, on Flickr

SweetD · Sep 18, 2014

Hghgrad said:
This was my grandfathers. It's in my shop now, holding all the socket doubles and my drill bits.

I bet that box was made by RemLine. Very cool - I have a nice RemLine chest very similar to yours.

My Powr-Kraft DP:

Dave

wildbill23c · Sep 18, 2014

Fyrme said:
I'm looking forward to resto-ing this little table saw. I see the small 8" Craftsman saws all the time, but this was the first Powr Kraft I'd ever seen. It even has the original Montgomery Ward 1/2hp motor on it.
photo 3-11 by Fyrme, on Flickr
photo 4-5 by Fyrme, on Flickr

Looks like that saw is in pretty good condition, just a bit of rust cleanup is certainly a must. Is it still operational though?

I agree, I see the Craftsman saws similar to that quite often on Craigslist, I haven't seen a Power Kraft yet.

Fyrme · Sep 19, 2014

Yes, it runs like a top. It is missing the two removable side panels though. Which, matching the paint color and age will be harder than making new panels. Other that that it's all there and runs smooth. The fence alone weights 12lbs, and is 100% steel.

ecotec · Sep 19, 2014

SweetD said:
I bet that box was made by RemLine. Very cool - I have a nice RemLine chest very similar to yours.

Dave

It was made by Rem-Line. I have a different configuration of that stack (3 drawers instead of big squarish drawer on right side of the top box). Mine is also branded Powr-Kraft. One of my best purchases ever.

mrborohachi · Sep 19, 2014

Sears had the same compressor in green and I found a friend an 80's Montgomery Wards one in Kahki both same exact design/pump as yours.

wildbill23c said:
This is my grandfather's old Wards Air compressor. Its not a power kraft but it was sold by Montgomery Wards. Grandpa bought it in 1976, still works great. I put a new head gasket in it last year as it was starting to leak oil. Seems though I've got another oil leak somewhere, but haven't been able to figure out where. From what I've been able to research is the pump itself is actually a Campbell Hausfeld pump. This is the twin piston pump, and a Wagner 1HP motor.

3baygarage · Sep 19, 2014

Flatintoone said:
Does anyone have any evidence to support this? Like a collection of Ward's catalogs! I'd be happy to be proven wrong...

Darn, I just saw a massive collection of old Wards catalogs a few weeks back at an estate sale. I took a glimpse at some of the Powr Kraft stuff. Wish I had bought one at least.

3baygarage · Sep 19, 2014

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Nice Barcalo made wrenches there Jagman.

wildbill23c · Sep 19, 2014

mrborohachi said:
Sears had the same compressor in green and I found a friend an 80's Montgomery Wards one in Kahki both same exact design/pump as yours.

Yep, I've seen a few different compressor brands that have the same design as far as the pump. This is due to the fact that the pump itself is a Campbell Hausfeld unit. The 2 cylinder pump like mine uses a 2-3/4" pump rebuild kit from Campbell Hausfeld. The pump hasn't changed much over the years, why change it when it works LOL. Its good to know that I can still get parts though, but I don't see needing any for a long time the way its been going. It has a small oil leak somewhere that I can't pinpoint but the oil level never seems to go down between the times I do oil changes in it. So about once a year for oil changes is what it usually sees.

These things are great. Power Kraft has some pretty good tools from what I've seen and the few I've got to use.

four.cycle · Sep 7, 2016

just a heads up to any POWR-KRAFT collectors:
Ebay seller just listed several lots of POWR-KRAFT sockets and drive accessories - most are oddball hodge-podge mixed lots.
worth a look if you're trying to fill holes:
scroll down to "socket" here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5969786#post5969786

MShaw · Sep 7, 2016

I have PK 1/2" drive deep sockets and 3/4" drive sockets from the early 70s. The 3/4" drive look exactly like Bonney.

Rrumbler · Sep 7, 2016

I bought a complete set of Power-Kraft mechanics tools in 1961 from the local Montgomery-Ward catalog store; don't remember how much they set me back, but it was an investment for a kid who was, at the time, an E-3 in the Navy. It was 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 inch drive with ratchets, sockets, extensions and adapters, combination wrenches, pliers, hammers, and screwdrivers, all in a really stout hip roof box very much like a Kennedy box. Over the years, the ratchets have walked, and a couple of the combination wrenches have disappeared, but it is still the tool I reach for first, even though I have other brands, some premium ones. In truth, I wish M-W was still around, but that was a different time and place.

Montgomery Ward Powr Kraft tools

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