Cman Professional differences

[Cummins_Powered]

searched but didnt come up with much. I know(or pretty sure) that at some point SK made wrenches for craftsman and i think i know what they look like...


The back of this wrench is marked "professional" then a sideways "k"

here it is again next to a current cman pro.

So this is a picture of one of the current production wrenches with what must be an older one on top (15/16ths)

and the back

But the 15/16 is backwards compared to ALL other craftsmans i have seen, included the older SK above...

What gives?

 

[warmpancakes]

china reads opposite from us

 

[Cummins_Powered]

china reads opposite from us

Hilarious.

 

[sk farmer]

sk at one time made the long combos and standard combos. the standard length was only around a short time. the last long pro combos were danaher and now imported. i think for a short ime there may have been som full polish raised panel similar to the short wrenches. i would consider those raised panel full polish.

 

[mrholeshot]

You have some of the SK made and some of the Dannaher made. I prefer the Danaher versions. I may pick up a set of each before the China versions hit the stores. It's rare I break a wrench so I'll take the chance.

 

[Cummins_Powered]

sk at one time made the long combos and standard combos. the standard length was only around a short time. the last long pro combos were danaher and now imported. i think for a short ime there may have been som full polish raised panel similar to the short wrenches. i would consider those raised panel full polish.

So the 3/8 wrench i showed. SK right? it resembles a raised panel sort of but is full polished. Also, the back of it says professional on it, with the sideways K

You have some of the SK made and some of the Dannaher made. I prefer the Danaher versions. I may pick up a set of each before the China versions hit the stores. It's rare I break a wrench so I'll take the chance.

Any reason for the 15/16 being backwards? and i assume it is an SK wrench, even though it is differnt from the smaller 3/8 pictured above.


I was thinking the same, i have a few misc. full polish cman Danaher wrenches and i like them, and i doubt ill break any. Would be nice to pick up a US made metric set...

 

[thesilverone]

Funny how this came up when I was reading about this last night.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46781&page=5

 

[Cummins_Powered]

Funny how this came up when I was reading about this last night.

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46781&page=5

Ive seen that, and some pictures in that thread explain a little. But the SK sourced wrenches have the same font as mine above, but they are not slightly fatter, as mine is, from what i can tell. Also, this is being nitpicky, but there is a clear and definite bulge from where it was stamped with size and brand, which is not present on the other ones. it annoys me lol

Just trying to figure out why my 15/16 is backwards...

Also, best i can tell from reading is that Sears offered a "raised panel" pro wrench for maybe a year...then discontinued...

 

[Tool Pants]

This comes up once in a while. I search my memory, Looks at the old catalogs I saved. Think I figured it out. Then forget it.

I remember when the professional long pattern came out because I eventually bought a metric set and then the sae set. The beams on what I bought are flat. But this was not the original version. The original had a raised panel. In the 2 pictures you can see the difference. The raised panel in the picture I recently bought at the flea market. Both have a K which should be for SK.

I guess this style is now Danaher, made in China. I went to Sears last weekend and they do not yet have the Chinese versions. They have what looks like my flat panel version. They were locked in a case so I was not able to touch them, but the packaging said USA.

There was also normal length professionals, but they were not around for long. The third pic is from ebay of what I think is the normal length versions.

There was/is the stubby version. Originally they were flat and came in a plastic pouch. I do not know who made them, but if I were to guess I would not be suprised if S-K. Then they replaced by a raised panel version, which I bought. These have VV on them so they must be Danaher.

 

[Cummins_Powered]

Toolpants, it looks like my 15/16 matches your 17mm top wrench exactly. even the direction of the name and size is the same.

Also my 3/8 is the the same as the bottom 17mm in the picture.


So the originals were "raised panel" made by sk. Dates?
Then they went to a smooth beam, still sk.
Then they went to Danaher smooth beam.
And now replaced by the chinese ones, similar to the previous generation. (these i have in fact seen in store)


I need to compare my pro 3/8 raised panel with a regular raised panel as im not sure if it is a long beam wrench.


Thanks for the info, clears up quite a bit.

 

[Tool Pants]

I don't know if Danaher USA made long pattern wrenches, since I have not been in the market and the sets I saw last weekend were locked up. I assumed they were the second versions of S-K, like what I have, and Sears recently went from S-K to Danaher China. I did not see Chinese long pattern Craftsman wrenches at my local Sears, but maybe they hide them.

I hate looking at the old catalogs, but if you have part numbers I might be able to find them. When the versions changed so did the part numbers.

 

[Cummins_Powered]

I don't know if Danaher USA made long pattern wrenches, since I have not been in the market and the sets I saw last weekend were locked up. I assumed they were the second versions of S-K, like what I have, and Sears recently went from S-K to Danaher China. I did not see Chinese long pattern Craftsman wrenches at my local Sears, but maybe they hide them.

I hate looking at the old catalogs, but if you have part numbers I might be able to find them. When the versions changed so did the part numbers.

According to most on here I think Danaher started making long pattern wrenches in the USA for at least a little while. I do have a few that are not marked with a "k" and the script is printed opposite the smooth, non raised sk professional wrench.

Im pretty sure, if it says made in USA, as of now it is a Danaher made USA professional wrench, although that wont be the case for long.


Dont worry about the catalog, my part numbers start the same as the wrenches you have pictured so i assume they are of similar age if you happen to know those. Otherwise, dont worry about it, you gave me the info i was lookin for



EDIT: i see you added a picture, those are the sk made, non raised panel ones right? long pattern or no? hard to tell.

 

[Tool Pants]

This morning I had the guy open the case. The long pattern pros are no longer S-K like people say, and must be Danaher USA. No K stamped on them anymore. But I bought my S-K produced long patterns at least 10 years ago, and I assumed S-K had continue to supply them all these years. And now it is going to be Danaher China - which my store does not have yet.

Looks like the part numbers for the original raised panel style S-K started with 42. Then the S-K smooth was 44. The Danaher USA ones I saw today start with 45.

The third pic I added was the normal length that were not around long. Someone with these would have to confirm they were S-K produced, but I bet they were. Danaher has had the Sears contract for 20 years after it bought Easco. But Danaher did not produce fancy stuff back then. Seems it was until GearWrench came out that Danaher got into the fancy stuff.

Since the case was opened I also looked at the Made in China flair nut wrenches everyone has been talking about, that replace the S-K produced ones. I could not pull one out of the set to see if it has a country stamped on it, but the package said China.

 

[mrholeshot]

I was looking at those 13 pc sets today. Can beleive the size of that rack. I like the last USA versions better than the SK ones. Just a better feel for me. I'll be pulling the trigger on the metric and SAE sets soon I beleive. Not sure who makes them but they are nice in form and fuction