Britool (Made in England) thread

[dutchgray]

Nice stuff Fanders.
I like an L handle too, I like them for crowfeet mostly or for backing up an impact wrench if I can't use a cheap spanner.

 

[Plombob]

you can never have too many tools

That breaker bar, or Tommy bar as you call it, looks exactly like a Plomb, with the exception of the angle of the drive end, and the pin not being ground flush with the head.

Good looking tools! I'll bet they fit the hand well.

 

[fanders]

The result of some eBay purchasing, for the thread here are some pics of my Britool metric spanner collection, starting with combination spanners from 7mm up to 24mm:

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[fanders]

Open jaw Britool 2J pattern (with a couple of 6J short-pattern) wrenches, in 8mm to 32mm:

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[fanders]

And my favourite Britool spanners of all, double box end wrenches, 6mm up to 27mm in 9RBM standard pattern with an earlier 2RBM 30-32mm up at the top (the forging is slightly different, similar to their older DBE spanners). Lower on the left are the 6RBM short pattern spanners in 8-19mm sizes, and a tiny 5-5.5mm RHM hex pattern fellow at the bottom:

View media item 58890

 

[dutchgray]

Nice spanner sets Fanders
I have started to work on a RJM combo set myself, I had a single 19mm for a long time but now have 16, 17, 27 & 30. I don't like to pay much so it will take a while, especially considering I'm also after Facom 40, Belzer 1952 and any others that I see.

 

[lbgradwell]

Three awesome sets, fanders!!

 

[KMinAF]

I thought that name sounded familiar. A couple years ago I was at my fathers house where much to my dismay I learned that he had recently donated his tool box and tools to the local thrift store. Luckily I found a few old tools hanging on nails on sitting on shelves. Dad did his apprenticeship in England right after WWll then emmigrated to USA where he was a mechanic on all things British for 30 some odd years. Although he didn't have a complete set of anything, he had all the tools necessary to get the job done. So here is my "set" of two plus a couple other brands, New Britain & Matador

 

[dutchgray]

View media item 59015Got 2 C shape obstruction spanners and a 9/16" ring crowfoot for my set, now I'm only missing 2.

 

[fanders]

So here's a question about Britool RJM combination spanners - is there more than one pattern? Have a look at this RJM24:

View media item 59106
It has a nice slim shank and an overall length of about 13".

Now have a look at this odd-looking RJM25:

View media item 59107
Despite being the next size up from the RJM24, this RJM25 tool is actually shorter and the shank is fatter. The 'Made in BRITOOL England' stamping on the shank looks much smaller too. It looks like a different pattern of spanner, does anyone know if there is more than one forging pattern?

Cheerio, fanders

PS. I have a copy of Britool Catalogue 104 coming, and will scan it in when I receive it, like I did for the 1949 catalogue. I think Catalogue 104 dates from the mid to late 1950s.

 

[dutchgray]

I don't think I have seen one like that RJM 25 before, it looks older to me though.
I know the ones with out the inset panel are later (my favourite style actually) then there are some which are wider at the box end but still the rectangular beam, then the beam went oval and the Britool font became more modern, they are not so good as the old ones, then obviously you have the current foreign made ones.

 

[fanders]

Well, Britool Catalogue 104 has arrived from Australia and is shown here on the left, with 1949-vintage Catalogue 95 on the right.

View media item 59388
Catalogue 104 came along with a Britool leaflet containing nut tightening torque data for a range of (now) old cars, the latest of which is listed as 1963, so I think that Catalogue 104 might date from the same year (no publication year is listed in it).

View media item 59391
Catalogue 104 runs to about 180 pages, so if I scanned it in and posted one pair of pages per forum post, then it would add quite a few pages to this thread, and it might be tedious to scan through if someone isn't interested. Do people want to see it? It's quite interesting as the range of tools, and patterns, is considerably enlarged from the 1949 catalogue.

Cheers, fanders

 

[lbgradwell]

Do people want to see it? It's quite interesting...

No doubt it is and I would love to see it. However, I know how tiresome it can be to scan catalogues.

But should you do so, I will compile both the 1949 catalogue and this new one into a single PDF file and I'm certain Todd will be happy to host them on his site...

 

[fanders]

OK, I'll scan Catalogue 104 in slow time and will eventually offer it, and Catalogue 95, as downloadable PDFs (maybe I can do that on GJ?). I won't post the whole thing on this thread as it may be tedious to scroll through the whole thing, but below I've posted the wrench pages from this ~1963 Britool catalogue, for interest:

View media item 59493

 

[fanders]

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[fanders]

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[fanders]

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[fanders]

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[fanders]

View media item 59504

 

[fanders]

View media item 59498

 

[fanders]

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[fanders]

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[fanders]

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[fanders]

View media item 59502

 

[fanders]

View media item 59503

 

[fanders]

It was interesting to read about the Jenbro 'Spearhead' 3J open jaw wrenches, which were an economy carbon steel wrench line produced under the Jenks Brothers 'Jenbro' brand and finished in stove enamel black. I didn't know that the nice 6J Britool short pattern open jaw spanners were the chromed versions of the 3J pattern, and marketed as 'Spearhead Chrome' and forged from the standard chrome alloy steel Britool used on most of their stuff.

The 'Jawring' RJ pattern combination spanners are shown in long and short patterns in SAE and WW sizes, but Catalogue 104 doesn't yet have the metric RJMs which I like using so much.

I might post the odd further extract from this catalogue, but don't want to dominate the thread.

Cheers, fanders

 

[dutchgray]

Very interesting catalogue pages, thanks for posting them fanders.
Interesting that 8 point RJ are listed, don't believe I have ever seen one of them.
I now have an RJM41 for the collection, will post some pics when there is a few to show.

 

[humber2]

The 'Jawring' RJ pattern combination spanners are shown in long and short patterns in SAE and WW sizes, but Catalogue 104 doesn't yet have the metric RJMs which I like using so much.

RJM series are in Catalogue 107, undated c 1966

 

[dutchgray]

View media item 59745Said I would post a pic when I got a few more
16-pair 17-pair 19-22-27-30 (newer style)-41
Some are better than others.

 

[fanders]

Nice collection! That 41mm is a whopper, will you find a use for it? I'm probably going to go up to 27mm in combos as I wouldn't get much use out of the larger sizes.

 

[dutchgray]

Possibly find a use someday Fanders, I have needed a 50mm spanner once at work and use 30 and 36 occasionally. However I now own 3 41mm combos the others are German, and a Facom 36 41 deep offset ring spanner. So I probably didn't need to buy it.

 

[melle]

....

 

[lotus_esprit]

Ahh, the near mythical C-series wrenches!

I've got a set of AF ones from 3/8" to 3/4", and a part set of metrics (if anyone has 16,17,18,19mm they'd like to sell?)

The logo puts them in the late 1960s to mid 1970's. I am told they were an effort by Britool to make something shinier than Snap On.

Apparently the best RJ series forgings were selected from the production line before being stamped with this logo and hand polished to a mirror finish whereas standard RJ series spanners have a satin chrome finish on the shank. Because they were hand done they were very expensive and few were sold. They certainly do not turn up very often on Ebay, so the rarity part is true.

Having compered the two I don't think they are the same forgings as the RJ combination spanners. The style is very similar to the RJ, but the lengths are slightly different. EDIT changed my mind on that, see later post.

Some of the 2RB ring spanners have a mirror finish and this logo on as well, so it was obviously intended to be a new range for some reason - perhaps a false start at the later Automotive range which had a full polish finish and also used part numbers starting with a C.

Anthony

I have always bought britool and 75% of my comprehensive tool collection is made up out of britool. Those C series wrenches discussed above are not from 60/70s - they are from the late 80's - they went back to using the old logo for a time on the C series and then changed the logo again to the plain BRITOOL in capitals. I was still buying these brand new in the early 2000's from tool suppliers who were clearing stocks. I also have the later again C series which became the hallmark range.

I needed to buy a long handled 3/8 ratchet recently and bought a britool hallmark one - sadly as far as I can tell it is exactly the same as the Signet / Halfords ones but with the B logo etched on it.

 

[fanders]

Some more Britool items for the thread, a result of some eBaying

Here are a couple of Britool torque screwdrivers - The little TD10 is rated at 20-170ozf.in whilst the larger TD50 is rated at 10-50ibf.in. The logo looks like the 1980s era. Interestingly these torque screwdrivers were made for Britool by Torqueleader in Guildford, England, who are still in business and are now owned by Gedore (http://www.gedore-torque.com/).

View media item 61862

 

[fanders]

Here is a set of Britool hook spanners, ranging from 3/4" for the #3150 up to 3 3/4" for the #3152. I won't need them very often but when you need one, little else will do the job:

View media item 61857
View media item 61858

 

[fanders]

And next is a Britool DPMS 9/32" female to 1/4" male adapter:

View media item 61859
I wanted one of these so I could use this old Plvmb 9/32" drive ratchet handle with my 1/4" sockets:

View media item 61861
View media item 61860
The Plvmb ratchet handle is a WW2 vintage 'war finish' item that came my way in a set of tools donated by a retiring RAF aircraft mechanic; perhaps it came to England with the USAAF? [edit - I recently found out that the WF code on this ratchet doesn't stand for War Finish, but means that it was produced for the USAAF, confirming my suspicions about it coming to England in WW2]. It's nice to keep these old tools alive and working.

 

[fanders]

Saw these metric combos on eBay recently, I've no desire to bid on them but wondered when they may date from? They are stamped BRITOOL England (not made in England!), have a strange E-in-a-square logo and the sizes are stamped CCM15 for 15mm. Not seen those before.

View media item 61903

 

[Dave455]

Saw these metric combos on eBay recently, I've no desire to bid on them but wondered when they may date from? They are stamped BRITOOL England (not made in England!), have a strange E-in-a-square logo and the sizes are stamped CCM15 for 15mm. Not seen those before.

View media item 61903

As far as I can recall, this logo was from 1990's.

The quality of the tools with this logo seemed to vary from 'usable' to 'piss poor'.

Britool were on the way out by time they produced these!

 

[melle]

....

 

[biltonjim]

Quote: I have a few "Britool made in Sweden" adjustable spanners, clearly made by Bahco. Does anyone know what the largest size was they did?

As you rightly say, Melle, those Britool branded adjustable spanners were made by Bahco Sweden. They did have an 18" in the range - the 318. I seem to recall that they were available in phosphate finish or chrome plated.
Bahco make sizes 24" and 30", with their own branding. They have a 45 degree head angle, rather than the 15 degrees of the sizes below.