Dunlap Adjustable wrench- Made in Germany

[OmegaDPW]

Hello all,

First post here. So far, it's been a wealth of information.

My Dad passed recently at 88 years old. He was a Sears guy at heart- almost all of his tools are old Craftsman USA stuff, along with 5 toolboxes, etc. I found an old Dunlap brand adjustable wrench in one of his boxes and found out that they were the economy line of Sears tools. This one is made in Germany. Any idea what company was making tools in Germany to sell over here in Sears in the 50's and 60's? Thanks for any help!

 

[ericg]

Early Craftsman Tools and Their Makers [Page 5]

Page 5 of an article on early Craftsman tools and the companies that made them.

alloy-artifacts.org

 

[Qualitytools]

Welcome to GJ. Sorry to hear of your dad’s passing. When you can post a photo of the tool it would be helpful.

 

[OmegaDPW]

Welcome to GJ. Sorry to hear of your dad’s passing. When you can post a photo of the tool it would be helpful.

Thanks so much. He was an airline mechanic and then a Tool and Die maker after Eastern went belly up. It's been great getting through all of his old tools and bringing some back to life. I found this one yesterday so hadn't had a chance to clean anything up, yet. Sorry for the poor picture but it's the typical Dunlap logo and if you look really hard, you'll see the Made in Germany stamp at the bottom. It locks up well with almost no play in the jaws. It'll be a user (I work in water/sewage so adjustable wrenches are always the easiest thing to grab).

 

[OmegaDPW]

Early Craftsman Tools and Their Makers [Page 5]

Page 5 of an article on early Craftsman tools and the companies that made them.

alloy-artifacts.org

Alloy Artifacts was the first place I looked. Couldn't find anything about German companies- just a couple of American ones making the tools. Thanks though!

 

[woody 73]

Back in their day sears had a brilliant marketing dept., and they soon realized that even the poor among men could not afford their high-end tool line, so in order to get every last penny they came up with the Dunlap tool line. Now granted in my 50 years of buying tools this is my first made in Germany Dunlap tool, again not saying rare just not seen before. With that being said they must have contracted with a tool firm in Germany to produce that particular hand tool.

Also, op keep in mind sears only gave out tool contracts to the lowest bidders out there, period. So, my guess is they found the American suppliers were too expensive and that German company could produce it cheaper and still ship it over here for less cost.

Very interesting indeed.

 

[KnurledNut]

No help with the history, but I have a 12" version.

 

[3baygarage]

There are so many old tools marked Germany or W. Germany. How could anyone know the mfr. without an identical German brand version to compare to? Near impossible without first hand knowledge or documents from an American retailer.

 

[Rinspeed]

Welcome to GJ.

 

[BrandonV]

Gives me Zerem vibes.

Pardon Our Interruption...

Pure conjecture. Does the other side have similar markings?

 

[OmegaDPW]

Gives me Zerem vibes.

Pardon Our Interruption...

Pure conjecture. Does the other side have similar markings?

Yes! Exactly the same. Thanks so much. Now, I can start researching Zerem.

 

[BrandonV]

Yes! Exactly the same. Thanks so much. Now, I can start researching Zerem.

I never found much. Company was started by Eugen Zerver. Interestingly, Hazlet was started by Herrmann Zerver.

Related?

 

[BrandonV]

I will add... they seemed to try to sell these all in one wrenches pretty hard in trade publications and magazines.

 

[d42jeep]

The Made in Germany Dunlap adjustable wrenches are prewar. I have no idea of the name of the company making them. By the time WW2 rolled around, Sears was sourcing their Dunlap adjustable wrenches from Danielson.
-Don

 

[BrandonV]

The Made in Germany Dunlap adjustable wrenches are prewar. I have no idea of the name of the company making them. By the time WW2 rolled around, Sears was sourcing their Dunlap adjustable wrenches from Danielson.
-Don

Interesting. So are we to assume that the Zerem wrench is perhaps bought tooling post-war?

 

[3baygarage]

Gives me Zerem vibes.

It sure looks like you have a match!

 

[KnurledNut]

Correction: mine is branded Fulton.

 

[BrandonV]

Correction: mine is branded Fulton.

I really can't see these being pre-war. Does anyone have any proof they're pre-war?

Was there really a market for German adjustable wrenches in the United States before WW2?

This seems like something that would be pumped out after your economy is destroyed and you're melting scrap steel.

 

[d42jeep]

If they were post war they would be marked West Germany. Dunlap tools as a brand was pretty much phased out around 1960. Fulton as a brand was even earlier than Dunlap. Postwar tools weren’t marked Germany again until the fall of the Berlin wall. Sears only concern was price, particularly when it came to Dunlap tools.
-Don
This is a Danielson sourced Dunlap adjustable wrench from around ‘40 or ‘41 based on the Vanadium marking.
This is likely to be a postwar Dunlap adjustable wrench