Show us your factory flaw and unfinished hand tools

3baygarage · Feb 20, 2014

Please feel free to share anything in hand tools (wrenches, sockets, pliers, ratchets, screwdrivers, etc.) that was a Factory Error or Unfinished.

This kind of thing is cool to me at least. Being from Buffalo I've seen tons of scrapped old tools from J H Williams. Also, I've come across a lot of Barcalo Buffalo and Crescent from Jamestown. I've honestly seen more reject tools than I can remember at estate sales and so on. Some have wound up in my tool collection over time. A couple I have shown here before and I'll repost them up and add some others as I dig them out of their hiding places.

While a lot of it I'm sure made it's way straight from the factories in workers' lunchboxes, I have also heard that some came from the railroad yards on its way to become recycled steel.

There are also those wrenches and sockets out there of various brands that may have dodged quality control. They may just not be quite right in one way or another, kind of like myself :lol:

.

So I hope this can be a gathering place for some of the ones that were tossed away for scrap or the ones that slipped through the cracks at some point.

Let's see the:

Unfinished
Rejected
Scrapped
Mis-stamped
Uncut
Raw metal
Unstamped
Improperly numbered
Wrong size marking
Double stamped
Half forged
Didn't quite make it to chrome process

And whatever else. You guys get the idea

3baygarage · Feb 20, 2014

Here's my uncut and unstamped 10" Crescent wrench blanks. This came straight from Jamestown where the wrenches were produced.
I showed this before in another thread but a lot of people may have never seen it.

3baygarage · Feb 20, 2014

Here are some unstamped Williams impact swivel socket bottoms that never made the cut. They are 1/2" drive. One has a hole where the square would be. I recently posted these up as well.

3baygarage · Feb 20, 2014

Here's what was supposed to be I believe a 13/16" JH Williams raised panel Combination Superrench.

3baygarage · Feb 20, 2014

This is a Williams 3/4" drive 1" socket. Never was completed for one reason or another. It came from the estate of a man that worked for Williams. His son sold me some cool stuff.

Sam'sAutoParts · Feb 20, 2014

Very cool thread. I'm going to follow this for sure.
-Sam

jaker10 · Feb 20, 2014

Here is a socket that is marked 15mm. It's 15MM on one end and the other end is 16mm It's marked 15mm O-RATCHET TAIWAN 14315. Didn't see it till I looked at the pictures. One end looks like it's cut for an O-ring. I guess I don't have a clue if this is a screw up or what it may be. Well I just googled O-ratchet and it took me to GJ I'll be damned learnt sumpin today.

3baygarage · Feb 21, 2014

Sam'sAutoParts said:
Very cool thread. I'm going to follow this for sure.
-Sam

Thanks, stay tuned!

jaker10 said:
Here is a socket that is marked 15mm. It's 15MM on one end and the other end is 16mm It's marked 15mm O-RATCHET TAIWAN 14315. Didn't see it till I looked at the pictures. One end looks like it's cut for an O-ring. I guess I don't have a clue if this is a screw up or what it may be. Well I just googled O-ratchet and it took me to GJ I'll be damned learnt sumpin today.

We almost had one there jaker :sad:

. If that socket wasn't stamped O-RATCHET I would have wondered about it myself. Don't stop the quest there. :thumbup:

eyeballengineer · Feb 21, 2014

Snap on double stamped both sides 7mm flank drive. Not sure about the picture quality

3baygarage · Feb 21, 2014

eyeballengineer said:
Snap on double stamped both sides 7mm flank drive. Not sure about the picture quality

Cool, so that's an overstrike stamp? SNAP On USA over Snap On USA? And 7MM over 7MM?

KnurledNut · Feb 21, 2014

I have a Craftsman socket on the hang-tag that was over-stamped with Easco markings.

3baygarage · Feb 21, 2014

KnurledNut said:
I have a Craftsman socket on the hang-tag that was over-stamped with Easco markings.

Now that I must see. I have some Craftsman mishaps kicking around here.

928'er · Feb 21, 2014

Here's the Cornwell TRF4 1/4" flex ratchet I received from the "group buy" on here a while back:

3baygarage · Feb 21, 2014

What is up with that? Jacked up chrome or detent issue?

DSLTRK · Feb 21, 2014

I have an unfinished long pattern wrench with a black chrome plating, non-tempered.

928'er · Feb 21, 2014

3baygarage said:
What is up with that? Jacked up chrome or detent issue?

Peeling chrome out-of-the-box.

I was checking it out when I first received it and noticed flecks chrome on the front of my shirt...

Cornwell replaced it under warranty.

ganymede · Feb 21, 2014

What a treasure that wrench forging from the closed Crescent factory is.

eyeballengineer · Feb 21, 2014

Yeah it's the same stamp just a double tap a little off center.

fhemm20 · Feb 22, 2014

Companion 1/4" drive 7mm socket with drive end and hex end reversed.

Solo · Feb 23, 2014

1-1/4" Blackhawk socket. No markings at all.

kc-steve · Feb 23, 2014

Interesting idea for a thread! Unfortunately I don't have anything except the common double stamp on a Craftsman socket. It isn't even worth posting much less worth the time it would take to find it. I'm sure everyone has one of those.

Steve

mustangSR70 · Feb 23, 2014

Here's my contribution, picked up off San Diego CL with a few other Plombs last week. The PLOMB stamp is only the top half, can't see in the pic, but very top edge of what appears to be U.S.A. is there, the hole for the "Hole-Tite" featured was never totally completed, plus the hole would have been off center by a bit.

Moose-LandTran · Feb 23, 2014

My Snap-on hard handle, half orange and half cranberry.

scottbob · Feb 23, 2014

11mm craftsman stamped on the wrong end...still tricks me every time I use it!

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3baygarage · Feb 24, 2014

Awesome stuff you guys. I knew you all would come out with some cool tools. Keep the good stuff coming. I really like that Plomb socket.

DSLTRK said:
I have an unfinished long pattern wrench with a black chrome plating, non-tempered.

Excellent, I like that. Any idea who made it?

928'er said:
Peeling chrome out-of-the-box.

I was checking it out when I first received it and noticed flecks chrome on the front of my shirt...

Cornwell replaced it under warranty.

Good to hear.

ganymede said:
What a treasure that wrench forging from the closed Crescent factory is.

It sure is a treasure. A guy from Jamestown posted it on Craigslist and I jumped on it. Said his friend found it in his grandfather's attic when he passed.

eyeballengineer said:
Yeah it's the same stamp just a double tap a little off center.

Okay, nice.

kc-steve said:
Interesting idea for a thread! Unfortunately I don't have anything except the common double stamp on a Craftsman socket. It isn't even worth posting much less worth the time it would take to find it. I'm sure everyone has one of those.

Steve

Why not put it up if you find it? The idea's just to have some fun. Looks like we have 1 Craftsman already.

Travisnd · Feb 24, 2014

radrush said:
factory flaws...

Bought an 8-piece set of reverse-ratcheting wrenches - Craftsman Industrial.

Trying be patriotic, you know, support the American worker and all. My efforts were rewarded with these two POS wrenches. 25-percent failure rate.

One of the wrenches is flat, without the 5-degree offset.

One of them is beyond flat and actually has a reverse curve in it.

In the picture the one in the middle is good, the upper one has the reverse curve, and the bottom one is flat.

I expect this kind of **** for the communist Chinese...not my on peeps...

I guess I can warrantee them at Grainger. Since they don't actually stock these items not sure what the process is.

If you purchased a set, they should have come with a piece of paper with warranty info, at least all of the Craftsman Industrial wrench sets I have purchased did. I had to warranty 1 wrench that we slightly bent and had no issues, got a replacement within 7 days in the mail and still got to keep the bent one!

DynoDale · Feb 24, 2014

End for end:

HotwheelsYJ · Feb 24, 2014

These were in a yard sale batch of tools I picked up. I'd never seen any Berylco wrenches before or after. The heads have never been finish machined. You can still see the casting flash on one end

ChevyEFI · Feb 24, 2014

an eBay seller had a (chrome PN) finished in (black G(overnment finish) wrench. I shoulda picked it up; it was long pattern about ~$90 new in chrome, went for < $20.

bwringer · Feb 25, 2014

I used to have a 13mm Craftsman socket with no markings at all, and no detent in the drive end.

So basically, you couldn't tell what it was, and if you remembered it was a 13mm and tried to use it, it would fall off the ratchet or extension.

Finally, after having this stupid thing for several years and cursing every time I happened to grab it, a small, dim bulb lit up deep in my brain. What if... I just threw it away? What if I tossed it into the scrap bin instead of back into my miscellaneous socket drawer?

It's really depressing to consider how long it took me to realize I could just throw it away and be free...

3baygarage · Feb 25, 2014

Here's one for the Craftsman lovers and the haters. Never used USA made from 5+ years ago. Not the most interesting to look at but I was a bit surprised when my friend got it new from the store.

The extension looks like the stamping die barely touched it. Too hard to photograph but all that's visible around the top are two dots, a faint half "C" and half "N" of CRAFTSMAN, and a faint half 4 and 3 of 44283.

3baygarage · Feb 25, 2014

This is a 1" Barcalo combo wrench reject. Looks like they darn near missed the wrench.

honcho · Feb 25, 2014

HotwheelsYJ said:
These were in a yard sale batch of tools I picked up. I'd never seen any Berylco wrenches before or after. The heads have never been finish machined. You can still see the casting flash on one end

Berylco makes Beryllium-Copper non-sparking tools for use in explosive / flammable environments. Beryllium is bad stuff if inhaled. Machining operations would require extensive and expensive protection of workers to protect them from exposure to airborne beryllium particles

From Wikipedia: "The commercial use of beryllium presents technical challenges because of the toxicity of inhaled beryllium-containing dusts. Beryllium is corrosive to tissue, and can cause a chronic life-threatening allergic disease called berylliosis in some people"

3baygarage · Feb 25, 2014

Nice, Frank. I take it that's a PLOMB. What is the flare nut wrench?

3baygarage · Mar 2, 2014

Here's one of my favorites. A little J.H. Williams Superrench 7/32" ignition wrench that was never completed.

The Williams diamond W logo is on the blank side.

fhemm20 · Mar 3, 2014

honcho said:
Berylco makes Beryllium-Copper non-sparking tools for use in explosive / flammable environments. Beryllium is bad stuff if inhaled. Machining operations would require extensive and expensive protection of workers to protect them from exposure to airborne beryllium particles

From Wikipedia: "The commercial use of beryllium presents technical challenges because of the toxicity of inhaled beryllium-containing dusts. Beryllium is corrosive to tissue, and can cause a chronic life-threatening allergic disease called berylliosis in some people"

Beta tools has a full line of copper-beryllium tools and they are all very pretty.

www.betatoolstore.com/collections/hand-tools-spark-proof-tools

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3baygarage · Mar 8, 2014

Almost forgot, I did a thread on this one before.

Snap On 5/8" 6 point combo wrench #OSH20 (pictured next to a similar 5/8" 12 point wrench OEX-20).

There is no Snap On name on the wrench. Also the OSH20 part number is stamped crooked on the back. The picture doesn't really show that too well.

spotco2 · Mar 8, 2014

I don't know of any error tools that I have, but somebody here has a wrench that stands out in my mind.

It was stamped, and stamped and stamped some more at the factory. It was stamped so much it's almost comical to see the pics they posted here of it a month or two ago.

I don't remember who it was but maybe someone else will. It had to been posted since the first of the year.

3baygarage · Mar 9, 2014

I wonder who owns that wrench. I know I've also seen a nice Plomb wrench on here that was stamped but never cut out. Problem is I don't recall where it was. I don't think it was the Plomb thread. Anyone know where that's pictured?

3baygarage · Mar 17, 2014

Here are some more examples of BARCALO wrenches + 1 called ECLIPSE, also by BARCALO. There has never been any shortage of flaw or reject wrenches around here, at least from my experiences. I would be interested to know if it's like that in other tool making towns, or former tool making towns.

Some of these have no stampings, and some are, well, a bit off.

Show us your factory flaw and unfinished hand tools

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