any old wrench experts?

[Mustang67ford]

I picked up a bunch of old rusty wrenches and am finally getting around to cleaning them up if its worth cleaning up. Beyond tools on the market now, I am not famaliar with tools though older quality tools get my interest. Here are the ones I could identify the name of, regular open ended:

spearpoint (england)
oxwall (germany)
plomb (usa)
williams
F.T.F. cleve
The superwrench
vlchek (usa)
indestro (chicago)
M (only mark in middle of handle)
W (letter inside a diamond in middle of handle, williams possibly; 367 or 867 on the other side, and S-shaped)

I was abole to find a little info on the net, but not much.

Since I only have 1 or 2 of each, I don't know what to do with them. It would be neat to make sime type of "wrench poster" to display or something like that.

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[beerdog]

post up some ics of the wrenches. Are they chrome plated mechanics wrenches? Engineer wrenches? i will not be the last to say........POST PICS.

 

[beerdog]

do some research on alloy artifacts

http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/index.html

 

[Mustang67ford]

here are some pics

 

[1953mercury]

Yes, a display would be nice, or there's always metal sculpture. Mike

 

[beerdog]

Just poke arround on alloy artifacts. They also have a list of tool brand stamp pictures to help identify makers if there is only a brand stamp.

 

[Mustang67ford]

I checked out that website. Interesting history. However, it does not appear the older tools are bringing much value on ebay and so forth. Maybe $1.00 a wrench or something like that. Hardly even worth the time to clean them up. Unless you have a complete set of wrenches in a took box, what's the use. You know, what are you going to do with five 1/2" wrenches and missing several others. I might clean up and keep a couple of the neat ones and not sure of the rest.

Metal sculptures seems interesting.

 

[maddawg308]

I'd be happy to give some of them a good home, I like Plomb and Williams wrenches like that. PM me if you'd be willing to trade, or sell all of them for a fair price.

 

[byoungblood]

Old wrenches like that just aren't worth too much unless you have an entire set, even then don't expect to get some crazy amount of money for them. They have limited utility these days which really limits their value to anyone but a collector. Once you start getting into more modern wrench designs, things change, but those wrenches from the 20s and 30s, are usually just good as a conversation piece.

 

[beerdog]

oh yeah, they are not valuable at all. Companies like armstrong still sell stuff like this. Where they are good is when you want something larger to hold onto. A factory i was an engineer at used stuff like this allot because the assembly operators liked their larger, thicker profile. It made them fit your hand well and hurt less after hundreds of wrenchings per day. Outside of that they are only valuable to collectors. If I were to buy those I would spend no more that 3-5$ max at an estate sale.

 

[Joe B.]

The fun thing about old wrenches is that I can collect them and still send my kids to college. Enjoy them for what the are and don't worry about what someone else will pay you for them.

 

[softailgarage]

I collect old wrenches...and use them. I find that the older wrenches (30's - 50's) are alot tougher, feel better in my hand & alot of times fit the object better. I also think about all the past mechanics and users and what things were repaired back in the day. As for value, not much, about a buck per wrench. Too bad, I would be a millionaire otherwise.

 

[Outlawmws]

spearpoint (england)
oxwall (germany) -Oxwall was a US company that both made and imported wrenches, (mostly from postwar Germany) and are pretty close to bottom of the barrel. you would see these in the "bargain bins" at auto parts and hardware stores, Grocery stores and the like, where Oxwall left off timeline wise Globemaster picked up. Again cheap import tools, (mostly from Japan)

plomb (usa) Became Proto and DOES have some Collector interest compared to most old tool brands)

williams - The superwrench Same Same The Williams "Super wrench" wsa considered a great quality tool in its time, Williams is now owned by SO

F.T.F. cleve

vlchek (usa)
indestro (chicago) Well above Oxwall well below Plomb, Williams, adn had an incestious relatinship with DURO (hard to tell where one starte and the other started)

M (only mark in middle of handle)
W (letter inside a diamond in middle of handle, williams possibly; 367 or 867 on the other side, and S-shaped)That is Williams Trademark

I was abole to find a little info on the net, but not much.

Since I only have 1 or 2 of each, I don't know what to do with them. It would be neat to make sime type of "wrench poster" to display or something like that.

Let me know what you guys think.

Put together a shadow box with these and other oddities you may find. there are worth far more than their value in scrap, and DO have collector interest, but not enough to drive them to silly prices.

Or you can start a box and start collecting them as you find them and see what sets you can develop over time. I have several boxes worth of these tools and some are nearing useable volume as sets.

 

[matthew]

Maybe not useful for general purpose use, but not being modern and not being a full set doesn't mean they can't be useful. I like having loose oddball wrenches to keep with a specific job - one for adjusting bench grinder guards, one for clamping things to a drill press, one for your saw arbor, etc. Saves time having the right sized tool at point of use. I hate having sets with missing pieces, so oddballs are great to have for that keeping around with certain jobs. And lots of those jobs are either low torque or open-end only type applications, so ideal for these sorts of things.

 

[NHBandit]

I always check those old style wrenches for car & motorcycle manufacturer names. Ford wrenches are very common and most aren't worth much but I have found Maxwell, Nash, Triumph, BSA, Indian and a few others and added them to my collection. Also any that are stamped with railroad abbreviations. I found a huge wrench in my own barn in NH once that was marked C, M & L RR. Research showed that it came from the Concord, Manchester (NH) & Lawrence (MA) railroad which was only in business for a very short time before being bought by the Boston & Maine. Cool stuff and I'm always a buyer for any others that are marked.

 

[Mustang67ford]

Thanks Outlawmws, that was exactly the type of info I was looking for. The plomb does have a neat feel to it. It does go good at my drill press to adjust the vise as matthew suggested. The oxwall seems like it could have it's place due to the thin design. So would the plumb and Williams be like a craftsman today with oxwall being HF?

Also what is the shadow box?

What are the most saught after wrenches to collect in general and as for plumb?

Thanks.