Craftsman Screwdriver Handles

[one8t]

Hello All, stumped on this one. Sorting through a few estate toolboxes and came across some older (1940-1950's) Craftsman screwdriver handles that appear to be unused - never mounted on a shank. Large size handle, Craftsman Vanadium, "G" mark on handle, no part number of course. Three handles, all identical. Does anyone know if Sears ever had replacement handles available?

My guess is production source shrinkage, local tool makers back in the day included Vlchek, Mac, Cornwell and Columbian. Also included were two Craftsman chisel handles and a few Mac wood handles.

Any info appreciated, thank you!

 

[one8t]

Pictures a bit fuzzy, but you get the idea. They rolled around a bit over the years so some light scratching and dirt specks are present.

 

[Lesserstore]

To my knowledge Sears never sold any handles separately. I do know they rebuilt ratchets to give out when someone warrantied one, so maybe they rebuilt screwdrivers to give out as replacements too, but the handle seems like an unlikely point of failure. Another possibility is that these were made in a large batch and were surplus, an example of this is large batches of unused Stanley handles appear from time to time on ebay. The maker "G" is unknown, but not used past 1970.

 

[man-a-fre]

I bet they smell wonderful.

 

[four.cycle]

G = Easco, ca. 1980 - 1989 perhaps as early as 1979 when Easco acquired the Gastonia plant
G continued = Danaher, ca. 1990 - 1999

list them on ebay as "rare vintage" with a minimum bid of $19.99 incl. shipping on each and see what happens.

 

[one8t]

As above, I thought G was Easco but the Vanadium Forged line goes back to pre-1960, doesn't it?

Here's examples of the chisel and Mac driver handles.

 

[chris142]

I bet they smell wonderful.

I have heard of the smell. I personally never smelled anything unusual from them.

 

[Lesserstore]

As above, I thought G was Easco but the Vanadium Forged line goes back to pre-1960, doesn't it?

Here's examples of the chisel and Mac driver handles.

Sears would reuse codes if they hadn't been used for a while. For example I have a miniature Craftsman vacuum base vise made in the late 60s/70s by Panavise that has the code "Z", later on in the 2000s I think, Sears again used Z as the code for products made by Mayhew.
Like I said earlier the maker "G" for screwdrivers is unknown, but after they had been replaced by WF, the G code was used again by Easco.

 

[one8t]

Interesting, I suspected some of the codes were crossed-over and you can usually piece it together by what it's not.

 

[thefraze_1020]

Could that be a handle for a 4-in-1 screwdriver set?

 

[bb29510]

i remember one tool company use to replace the shank on warrenty, dont remember if it was craftsman or snap on

 

[Jgaz]

i remember one tool company use to replace the shank on warrenty, dont remember if it was craftsman or snap on

The SnapOn tool truck drivers used to replace the shank that way