Craftsman Sockets =V= Series Fonts

[Joseph B]

More '48-'69 =V= dating mystery questions
I've been buying up loose =V= era sockets to hopefully put together authentic sets for my collection, after numerous hours researching and buying the plan seamed to be working.

The Plan: locate, purchase then sort and group by type, codes, drives and size. Easy peasy right? well after executing this plan with great success, the bottom fell out.

Problems: As to my dismay I began noticing slight differences such as font/script sizing, styles also solid lines on some at bottom or middle of sockets or both, MM hash marks at top or bottom or none at all, not to mention that there are different types of plating.

Question: Is there any resources out there that can use these differences to narrow the dating of manufacturing.
I've included some of the examples
Any help to this hair puller would help me a lot.
Thanks

 

[four.cycle]

Here is the most recent update of Mr. Gary Lauver's list in *.txt format.

Unfortunately, the problem you're encountering is due to running production changes, and you're going to find mixes of those fonts in the same sets - at least I have. I believe there are.... three different iterations of the =V= and maybe two of the -V- (???) .... memory's fuzzy because I don't focus on Craftsman at all.

 

[d42jeep]

There are a lot of Craftsman experts on this site. I am not one. One thing I look for in =v= tools is that the earlier tools have pointed letters A. The more recent =v= tools have a rounded A. The -v- tools generally have part numbers.
-Don

 

[Lesserstore]

I covered some of the lines on sockets and the pointed A to flat A transition in my socket evolution, but I never bothered with fonts because I really didn't notice it and I think it would be impossible due to Sears not always updating catalog images for minor things like a font change. A few ways to date it would be if the person you bought it from knew when they were bought new; a set that came in a box that you could date using the box's design, or a set that came with a paper with a copyright date.

Craftsman Socket Evolution 1948-2024

Part III ADDED Craftsman Socket Evolution 1948-2024 In this time of great boredom I have written the first part in a series about Craftsman sockets. Part I will cover Moore Drop Forge and Easco, Part II will cover Danaher's takeover of Easco and their U.S. production, Part III will cover...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[Jim C.]

As others have said, the different fonts are simply the result of various production runs over the years. It‘s difficult to determine when the fonts changed from one to another, which are more recent or dated, etc. There is one specific set of sockets from the classic =V= era that can be accurately pin pointed to a small window of time. Between 1960 and 1962, Craftsman offered a set of ten Whitworth sized 1/2” drive sockets. They’re easy to identify because each one has a “W” after its size. While it might not answer all the questions about which fonts came first or later, at least you’ll have somewhere to start and can be confident about the font being used in the early 1960s based on what was on the Whitworth sockets. If necessary, I can produce the set for observation.

Jim C.

 

[d42jeep]

Here are some early metric Craftsman combination wrenches I picked up at an estate sale yesterday. The 19mm and 14mm have the pointed A markings while the 17mm has the slightly newer rounded A markings.
-Don