Barcalo Buffalo Tools

[d42jeep]

I finished up the restoration of the ‘55 large combo set.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I couldn’t resist this when my Barcalo buddy Phil Jones pointed it out to me on eBay. It is likely from the early ‘60s. I should have most of the combo wrenches to fill it out.
-Don
As received
After initial clean up
Back side
Appropriate wrenches

Now that I‘ve returned to the Bay Area, I went through the Barcalo shrine and picked out and cleaned up the most appropriate scoop combos to fill out the roll.
Completed roll.

-Don

 

[four.cycle]

Don's secret source for Barcalo roll-ups

 

[Provincial]

Now that I‘ve returned to the Bay Area, I went through the Barcalo shrine and picked out and cleaned up the most appropriate scoop combos to fill out the roll.
Completed roll.

-Don

Sweet!

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Don's secret source for Barcalo roll-ups

How many of those does he have? I want one. How much Don?

 

[d42jeep]

It came free in a box of Cracker Jacks. Every week or so it spits out another Barcalo roll.
On the right are some combo wrenches shown first in the 1958 catalog. The four on the left were made after Barcalo was sold off and they have part numbers on the backs.
1958 catalog pages

-Don

 

[d42jeep]

My daughter bought a birthday gift by today that she went in on with my wife. It’s the only Barcalo catalog No. 16 that has been seen, as far as I know. These are photos from the eBay listing.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

One Barcalo DOE wrench turned up at yesterday’s Oakland tool sale. Here it is cleaned up.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Spent a little time on this wrench that I found at a garage sale yesterday post evaporust. It’s one of the late ones after Barcalo was sold.
-Don
Before
After

 

[d42jeep]

Another item that was in the package from Catfish Dan was this nice 6” Barcalo adjustable wrench. A little cleanup and lubrication and it’s now working just fine.
Cleaned up and lubed.

-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Several additions to the Barcalo shrine generously donated by Fred Knox. Thanks, Fred!
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

This Barcalo tool makes me wish that I still had a Model A Ford to try it on. It arrived yesterday.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I cleaned up this scoop end 15/16” combo that came from an estate sale on Saturday.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is the DOE wrench that was found at today’s estate sale.
-Don

 

[Provincial]

Going through my combos today, I noticed four distinct patterns, in conventional and "scoop" versions.

From the bottom up:

Conventional raised-panel with raised lettering (so far, all I have are Parkerized, so possibly WWII production)

Conventional raised panel with stamped lettering ("Barcaloy" on all my specimens)

Scoop raised panel with stamped lettering

Scoop with large raised panel (I call these "Billboard" pattern)

The Billboard pattern seems to be the latest production. Some specimens have etched markings instead of stamped ones. Many of these are marked "Wardmaster" so probably supplied to Montgomery Ward. These etched markings are very prone to wearing away. Another small difference is that some of those with stamped markings do not have the high polish on the Billboard plating seen on the later production.

I have not mentioned the Powr-Kraft versions or the Crescent ones. I need to look closer at them, but memory tells me the PK Scoop ones exist in both versions.

 

[d42jeep]

Both of the top two styles of wrenches in your picture were being sold at the same time as shown here in the 1958 catalog. I believe that by 1960 all of the styles had converted to the “scoop” on the box end of the combination wrenches
After the sale of Barcalo, part numbers were added and other changes were made to the appearance of the top style of wrench in your picture.
-Don

 

[Provincial]

Sunday's flea market Barcalo:

6-1/2" pliers
Barcalo Buffalo DBE 3/4 x 25/32
1" combo, standard stamped letters. Parkerized finish.
15/16 combo, raised letters. Parkerized finish.
13/16 combo, raised letters. Parkerized finish.

The 13/16 fills a hole in a set. Now from 1" down to 11/16" in the raised lettering type. The 15/16 is a duplicate.

This is the first Parkerized combo I've seen locally with stamped lettering. All the others have been raised letters.

 

[Provincial]

.

 

[d42jeep]

I have a few of those but not many. I don’t know the reason for the dark finish.
-Don

 

[Provincial]

I am thinking WWII production finishes during the chrome-plating restrictions. Same with the raised lettering. It would eliminate one production process - stamping the lettering on the finished beam.

 

[d42jeep]

Although I don’t have concrete evidence, my feeling is that the dark combos with the recessed sizes are postwar. Probably Korean War era.

I have a combo marked for the Packard/Rolls Royce set and the size isn’t recessed.
I believe these are wartime combos.
-Don

 

[mapolus]

Hi. My first post in the Barcalo forum. Found these 6.5" pliers at a flea market here today...paid $1.25. I had trouble finding this particular style/font/etc. Can anyone point me to a general timeframe so I can look at some catalogs and learn more? Many thanks! Cheers, Matt

 

[d42jeep]

Whenever pliers have a screwdriver blade on one handle, that indicates that they are very early.
-Don

 

[mapolus]

Thanks Don! I hadn't even realized that that was a screwdriver blade on the one handle. Thanks again for the info. Cheers, Matt

Whenever pliers have a screwdriver blade on one handle, that indicates that they are very early.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a recent eBay purchase. It had some surface rust which I wanted to get rid of while still maintaining some patina. Here is how it came out.
After.

-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is the Barcalo haul from yesterday’s estate sale. It took a while to remove the sticky residue from the size labels.
As found
Cleaned up


-Don

 

[Provincial]

Today I ran into my first Life-Time wrench. This was a sub-brand of Crescent after they merged with Barcalo, so the little 11/32 combo has the "scoop" design. The logo of a "hex inside a C" is distinctive. 6-point on the box end.



This will be a place holder as it is my first 11/32 scoop combo.

 

[d42jeep]

Yeah, the 11/32” combos aren’t very common. They all seem to be 6 point on the box end.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

This 1033C DOE wrench arrived in the mail today. It’s unusual in that it is Chrome plated. Most all of the raised panel 1033C wrenches I’ve run across are either cad plated or have a black oxide finish. This one either was made right before the WW2 metal restrictions went into effect or right after they ended.
-Don

 

[Machinehead]

Never heard of Barcalo Buffalo until seeing it here, maybe its a regional thing. But now I want some because I keep saying the name over and over in my head.

 

[3baygarage]

Grabbed this lonely Lakeside today because I felt bad for it.

 

[Machinehead]

Saw a large Barcalo wrench this weekend in the flesh and on West Coast. Forgot to take a picture or get the size. I didnt buy it because right in the middle was the old owners name scratched in it.
Can that be ground off without damage? probably not.

 

[d42jeep]

These “Double Grip” Barcalo DOE wrenches were found at an estate sale in the little community of Genoa, NV on Friday. They came out of the evaporust today. Being Cad plated, they required care in cleaning. I had to leave some of the discoloration in place.
As found

Cleaned up.



-Don

 

[d42jeep]

No Barcalo collection would be complete without one (or more) of these. This one is a recent arrival
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I received this set from a gentleman on Tool Talk today. This prewar set appears to be Barcalo’s entry into the manufacturing of combination wrenches. I haven’t run across another like it and this exact set doesn’t appear in any catalog that I have found although I have found a few of the individual wrenches.
-Don

 

[Provincial]

Wow! The size stampings certainly vary. Especially, the 5-8!

 

[d42jeep]

Yeah, it looks like they hadn’t quite made up their minds. Here are my individual wrenches. Exactly the same situation.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

The size stampings certainly vary. Especially, the 5-8!

Slash. Dash. Slash and dash.


I picked up this little ARROW wrench the other day. When I picked it up, I was expecting Barcalo markings. It's quite similar to the TOMAHAWK wrench too. We've discussed those, but the search function did not bring up ARROW in this thread.

 

[d42jeep]

I received this set from a gentleman on Tool Talk today. This prewar set appears to be Barcalo’s entry into the manufacturing of combination wrenches. I haven’t run across another like it and this exact set doesn’t appear in any catalog that I have found although I have found a few of the individual wrenches.
-Don

One thing I noticed about this set was the damage to the 3/4” wrench where some material had been ground away on the end of the raised panel on both sides. The 3/4” marking was poorly struck as well. I found a better example on eBay and replaced the damaged wrench in the set.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's a little barcalo wrench I got in a box of tools.