Canadian Wrenches; Dreadnaught, Gray, ETF, Fleet, Snap-on

[kwigly]

I was sorting through a box of my neglected old wrenches to make a set, and noticed I had a variety of Canadian brands/styles. Some true Canadian brands; Gray, Dreadnaught (a Gray brand), ETF, and a couple of US subsidiary makes; Fleet Mfg CAN, and a Snap-on OEX 240.
Plenty of variation in the Gray product markings; different logos and different steels

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

That is pretty cool. I’ve got some Gray and ETF but no Dreadnaught but could be mistaken. I’m at the lake right now but will take some pics when home.
@kwigly Where are you located?

 

[kwigly]

Where are you located?

I'm in Ontario, where most (all ?) of these tools were made, so not surprising that they've turned up in my old wrench stash ( accumulated as collateral damage in buying local estate auction lots during antique-woodworking-hand-tool searches )

 

[2oolhound]

Heres some Dreadnaught: The last 2 pics also show a German Steinadler adjustable.

 

[2oolhound]

Oh ****, here's more, mostly early snap-on:

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Plenty of variation in the Gray product markings; different logos and different steels

Wow! I love the little pressed steel wrench with the antique Gray diamond logo stamped on the shank. I have a 1920's Gray socket set with that logo on the lid, and I wasn't aware they were making pressed steel end wrenches.

Here's some Dreadnaught:

That is a beautiful set.

Oh ****, here's more...

What does it say on the pipe wrench? I can see the "National Tool" and I can read the "Toronto Canada", but I can't make out the word(s) in between.

 

[2oolhound]

I'm not sayin...

But here's a better pic:



so it says "National Tool Distributor". I think you got me on this one. This pretty well indicates it wasn't neccesarily made in Canada and quite possibly only distributed by National Tool. It's a pic from an old file I found on my computer but I should still have the wrench and will try to check for the coo later.

And one more the the made in Canada files:

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I've posted these on the ETF thread before (see Index in Sticky), but here's my 1940's 6-wrench 2000R wrench set, plus 1 (the tiniest wrench - 5/16 x 13/32, was not part of the kit). I'm pretty sure the dull finish is cadmium. The 3000R set was exactly the same but chrome plated. It took me several years to complete. I found three at once, then against all geographical odds, a fourth, all at flea markets right here in industrial NJ. I got the fifth (5/8 x 3/4) in a trade with GJ member Northwindtracker, the sixth (1 x 15/16) from GJ member outofbounds, whose scrounging territory is on the border in Michigan, if I recall correctly, and the seventh (the tiniest) in a trade with GJ member odes, a Newfoundler. I am very fond of the ornate logo. Might be top 3 for fancy wrenches for me, right up there with Kraeuter and Barcalo art deco. I would trade my left nut or pay "stupid money" for the green vinyl pouch with an ETF marking!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I think you got me on this one. This pretty well indicates it wasn't neccesarily made in Canada and quite possibly only distributed by National Tool.

Honestly, I just couldn't read it!

 

[The Cobbler]

I was raised a stones throw from the ETF Tools plant. infact I rented workshop/ storage space for several years there after the second owners closed up shop

 

[c1504]

Cool! I never knew there was Fleet stuff made in Canada. I wonder if it was made in the same factory as the Canadian Proto stuff?

 

[2oolhound]

I didn't find out much about this Dominion Pipe Wrench. There is no coo marked on it so I fear Dominion Tools Distributors Ltd. may have been another "Jet" type company (importer or reseller of tools of outside manufacture). I did find old listings for an 8" pipe wrench and also a lead pot burner set that burned naptha or similar fuel.



I found it interesting that they found it necessary to cast "Oil Hardened Alloy Steel" into the dynamic jaw. The "O" steels are good tool steel but I don't know what the competition uses or why they found it important to cast that info into the mold.



One thing for sure is this wrench was an SAE wrench made for SAE pipes as you can see the size denotations on the opposite side of the dynamic jaw all in inches ;-)

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

I started a thread a while back on some Robertson branded screwdrivers. They were common when I was a kid, don’t see them any more. There were also Tecomaster tools made for Eatons and SnapOn among others.

Robertson Branded Screwdrivers

I’m sure someone can fill in some information on these screwdrivers that belonged to my Dad. I’ve looked around the internet and can’t find anything. I don’t know much about them except they seemed old when I was a kid in the 70s. I think they are made by Robertson and I know they are early...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[Private Lugnutz]

@2oolhound
That pipe wrench was made by Ridge Tool Company. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Zero doubt. See my 'Ridge' thread. It's in the Sticky Index.

 

[2oolhound]

OK, Thanks!

 

[humber2]

The remains of a 3/8 drive Tecomaster socket set, A/F and Whitworth in the front row.

No COO or part #’s but these sockets have some weight to them.

 

[matthew]

One Proto CANADA and a selection of Gray:

 

[GaryM909]

I have a bunch of Gray and a couple Dreadnaught. Also a Dublhex I got from my dad. I have a lot of Proto Canada and Challenger Canada wrenches.

 

[rancherbill]

The remains of a 3/8 drive Tecomaster socket set, A/F and Whitworth in the front row.

No COO or part #’s but these sockets have some weight to them.

Tecomaster is OEM Snapon Canada. I have a 1/2 set and I got them when my Aunt worked at Eatons and she told me they were great quality.

 

[humber2]

I figure my Tecomaster sockets are from the late 1960’s after the prior Snap-on examples were phased out.

Some opinions are that these may be wrought by Wright but I have no examples to know if this is right or wrong.

 

[matthew]

I would think Snap-On manufactured Tecomaster would have SO date markings, no?

There was definitely some after that which sure looked like Wright - tootsie roll ratchet and all. Not sure if any other makers followed, or if different parts of the line were sourced differently at the same time period.

 

[rancherbill]

I would think Snap-On manufactured Tecomaster would have SO date markings, no?

I don't know. they obviously used different dies to put the Tecomaster marking and a date code wouldn't be necessary, because Eaton's was doing the warranty.

 

[kwigly]

Canadian pipe wrench from GTD Canada, Galt.
GTD (Greenfield Tap & Die) history in Galt Canada seems somewhat tangled, but it looks like Canadian Tap & Die was bought by Wells Brothers in 1914, but though they manufactured under Wells Bros name, Wells was a subsidiary of Greenfield and supposedly also sold GTD products.

 

[Shed of tools]

Not really vintage but some modern wrench’s with the latest Gray Tools logo

 

[rancherbill]

I always wanted to get a full set of Gray Wrenches. I wondered what price range they are in nowadays.

I looked at their site and...

I'M SHOCKED !!!!

look at all the item that are sold out. They are a wrench company. This does not bode well for the company.

https://shopgraytools.com/collections/wrenches

I took a look at KMS and they used to sell Gray in the Calgary store. I haven't seen much of it lately and their website only has a handful of items on clearance.

 

[matthew]

I suspect Gray, like Snap-On, has deliberately set the online price to full list so as to not undercut their dealers.

Only trouble with that is their distribution is not nearly as extensive as it used to be. Not that you can’t say that about the other industrial brands - Proto is no longer ubiquitous, either - but still doesn’t make it easy for someone not working in their target industries to get a set of their wrenches in hand. Seems a shame that it’s a lot easier to have a vintage set of Gray than a modern set...

I have been wanting a Gray ratchet. I’d used someone else’s 3/8” flex and was amazed at how good the handle shape felt in hand. With the 3/8” flex was also offered without quick release...

 

[Shed of tools]

I always wanted to get a full set of Gray Wrenches. I wondered what price range they are in nowadays.

I looked at their site and...

I'M SHOCKED !!!!

look at all the item that are sold out. They are a wrench company. This does not bode well for the company.

https://shopgraytools.com/collections/wrenches

I took a look at KMS and they used to sell Gray in the Calgary store. I haven't seen much of it lately and their website only has a handful of items on clearance.

I paid $300 for the set which makes it my most expensive set of wrench’s but they offer 25% off on Father’s Day,Black Friday so I try to buy then.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

An old workmate gave me one of Gray wrenches. Never seen a Alligator/Crocodile wrench before in the wild.

 

[torontotools]

I have no idea where I got this but noticed it in the garage this week, CANFORGE WELLAND ONT, is a forging company that still exists. They tend to do much larger forgings and I never thought of them as a tool maker. I am wondering if the tool was made for their own factory use?. I worked just down the street from CanForge in Welland in the late 70s and early 80s for few years, at the Wabasso cotton mill.(denim plant). In 1912 Canforge products were merged with James Smart out of Brockville Ontario. See some history https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/n...cle_73bebf77-00d9-5c4f-9e5c-e826efe39e4d.html

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Well, that's the second one I have seen now, and I am equally as intrigued as the first time, when GJer @Odes posted one a few years ago, linked here.

The interesting aspect for me, as a Billings & Spencer guy, is that these wrenches are dead ringers for the B&S "Duo-Forged" M- series wrenches that B&S made during WWII, as I noted on his thread.

That tells me that in the 1940's B&S still had some kind of corporate association with the conglomeration of their Canadian branch with the two other companies that became Canada Foundries and Forgings in 1912, as the article you linked states. Maybe they even used them to produce wrenches.

Either way, it appears that Canada Forge made their own wrenches with the exact same pattern as the B&S "Duo-Forged" M-series wrenches. Same dies except the markings. Possibly (and perhaps we can say probably) at the same time. That "C-5-4" could very well be a date code on those, either May 1944 or April 1945. Note that @Odes' was a C-6-4.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here are a few B&S models...

 

[Mintgrun]

FWIW, they also resemble these CONTROLLED STEEL wrenches made by JP Danielson. The size markings are located in the trough and they share a similar (date) code.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Interestinger and interestinger! I was instantly thinking B&S M- series because of the previous relationship, but there is a resemblance, Tom. What would compel CANFORGE to use J.P. Danielson's date code system for wrenches they were branding with their own name, though? That's the only thing that gives me some pause.

 

[leg17]

CANFORGE contracted the wrenches from Danielson??

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That would actually be a good explanation for the date codes, but make bizarro sense for an enterprise whose bread and butter was conrtact forging.

This one is making my brain hurt.

 

[Mintgrun]

Sorry for adding to your pain.

My brain's simply entertained by, "hey! this one looks like that one."
As well as, "look what I found!"

 

[torontotools]

Wow interesting stuff. Thanks for all the responses. I have sent an email to CanForge...but chances of a response maybe not so great unless they are really in to the history of their own company.

 

[Wally Higgins]

Cool! I never knew there was Fleet stuff made in Canada. I wonder if it was made in the same factory as the Canadian Proto stuff?

I have some too..and it's great

 

[lilredex]

Some FLEET sockets for $20, if there is interest.

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[cannuck]

I have no idea where I got this but noticed it in the garage this week, CANFORGE WELLAND ONT, is a forging company that still exists. They tend to do much larger forgings and I never thought of them as a tool maker. I am wondering if the tool was made for their own factory use?. I worked just down the street from CanForge in Welland in the late 70s and early 80s for few years, at the Wabasso cotton mill.(denim plant). In 1912 Canforge products were merged with James Smart out of Brockville Ontario. See some history https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/n...cle_73bebf77-00d9-5c4f-9e5c-e826efe39e4d.html

I was borne in Welland and came back to visit many, many times. The anchor industry was Atlas Steel and there were smaller businesses located beside Atlas and scattered around the Niagara peninsula that made all kinds of products. Sadly, I also got to witness the end of Atlas when changing out the last main power transformer in the substation within sight of my Grandmother's home. Every time I see a tool or part made in Welland my eyes tear up a bit of the loss of industry.