Dunlap tools & boxes

[454ragtop]

Be careful, guys. My Dunlap collection started with a $3.00 flea market toolbox and has taken on a life of it's own. I received these treasures from Pvt Lugz yesterday. Thanks, Lugz! The Barcalo dykes are cool too!
-Don

Thanks for the warning! Looks like you need a ratcheting screwdriver for your collection.........

 

[d42jeep]

That would be fine with me. I'm up for a trade if you are. It's likely that I might have something to add to your collection. What tools are you into?
-Don

 

[bubinga]

All very nice!
I just picked this Dunlap vise up, with the red splitter/Wedge, 0ff 0f C.L. for $10.00.
The vise seems nice and beefy!
Its cool looking too.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Dunlap adjustable wrench, 1" version.. got it for a buck at an auction recently......

View media item 77814

 

[d42jeep]

I took some pictures of my other Dunlap toolboxes yesterday.
-Don

 

[Squashfest81]

Grabbed this guy a few months back. Never seen a Dunlap branded one. How common?

 

[bonneyman]

Great couple of finds, guys!

 

[Interceptor]

I got this little long nose pliers in a tray lot at a local auction this weekend. No other markings except "Dunlap Approved Tools".

 

[d42jeep]

I received the cool Dunlap hacksaw and hammer from Lugz as part of a tool trade and they are now in the Dunlap box. My secret plan is to gradually move his entire collection to the West Coast. I also found a stubby driver at a recent estate sale.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

..and hammer...

Vlchek-made, if inquiring ball-pein aficionado minds want to know!

My secret plan is to gradually move his entire collection to the West Coast.

It is like a weak but persistent invisible pulling force.

 

[Mintgrun]

I found a Dunlap box today at a Goodwill store. Paid ten dollars for it. It is twenty inches, by eight and a half deep, by thirteen tall. It is interesting that there are not drawer glides and the drawers can easily be pulled all the way out of the box. It has some rust on the front of the drawers/box, but the inside is in pretty good shape. The leather handle is a little tired.

 

[HeelSpur]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/razorear/shares/qK226b

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I found a Dunlap box today at a Goodwill store.

That looks exactly like my wartime Kennedy Bighorn machinists' box.

 

[Mintgrun]

I'll bet yours is prettier : )

I'd like to clean the rust off of the front of mine.
I know there will be missing paint, but it just looks so filthy the way it is.
I am not the fussiest guy that way, but the rust 'pattern' indicates pet urine, to my trained eye. I am going to guess it was a kitty cat. No smell now, luckily.

I have a product called Rust Off, which is a mild oxalic acid wash. It will not remove the paint, but does dissolve light rust. It may change the paint color ever so slightly, but this is not a museum piece... so that may be my approach.

Does your Kennedy box have glides?
I sort of like the simplicity of the bare sided drawer boxes that pull right out.
It is different from all of my other boxes in that way. (4 in a similar size/layout)

edit: I removed that add on cross bar on the lid. Looks much better without it.
I may put it back in the lower position, since the holes are already there. It was mounted quite crooked in the top holes and covered the neato logo.

 

[d42jeep]

With the exception of the catches, my Dunlap machinists box looks very similar to yours. Mine also doesn't have slides and if the stops are slightly bent the drawers come right out. I believe that it is much lighter duty than even my earliest Kennedy machinists boxes. Here are a few pictures of mine (thanks, Todd) accompanied by a 1942 catalog image.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

Thanks for posting those, Don.
Your box does look better built. This one is very basic, yet fairly heavy.
It has fewer drawers than yours. I don't think there are stops of any kind.

The other four boxes I have are the seven drawer style, like yours.

 

[d42jeep]

My wife and I went to a small family run estate sale this morning in San Leandro, CA and spotted this vise bolted to a workbench. A couple of minutes later, using a 4" adjustable Proto wrench that I picked up at the sale, it was mine. There was also a pair of Dunlap pliers in good condition.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I got this off of eBay for the Dunlap collection. The roll has some patina but the tools inside look unused.
-Don

 

[ganymede]

....I believe that it is much lighter duty than even my earliest Kennedy machinists boxes...

Still looks made to good tolerance though.
Look how small the gaps between drawers are..

 

[Mintgrun]

The drawer boxes themselves are the same width as the drawer face.
There is not the typical overhanging face plate, to cover the glides, since there are none.

Clean little boxes, once they're removed and they come out very easily, with no stops whatsoever.

For situations where you might want to grab the whole drawer full of contents, this would/will be a handy box. Simple as it is, it seems very sturdy.

 

[bonneyman]

I'm betting you could get a "new" leather handle made up quite easily. Just go to your local cobbler. They're used to cutting and sewing leather for boots and shoes - I'm sure they'd have some scrap they could turn into a handle for you.

 

[d42jeep]

Since I've found quite a few toolboxes with missing or worn out leather handles, I now check the closets of each estate sale for old luggage or valises with leather handles that can be repurposed as toolbox handles. Here is one from Sunday.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

I have one old (Kennedy) box that had a compromised leather handle, so I used some copper wire to add an exoskeleton. It seems to work very well and I don't mind looking at it.



Another similar box was missing the handle completely, so I tied a noose with a length of rope and doubled it back into a handle. I enjoy grabbing that one too. (I'd like to add a couple 'grommets' to make it last a little longer).


Here are a couple close ups of the Dunlap handle. I am not sure what I will do to it yet.


I do appreciate the ideas/input!
Tom

 

[paulm12]

Recent Dunlap hand plane I picked up, has a different (non-Stanley) frog setup. Iron is stamped "made in West Germany". .

 

[d42jeep]

I have one old (Kennedy) box that had a compromised leather handle, so I used some copper wire to add an exoskeleton. It seems to work very well and I don't mind looking at it.



Another similar box was missing the handle completely, so I tied a noose with a length of rope and doubled it back into a handle. I enjoy grabbing that one too. (I'd like to add a couple 'grommets' to make it last a little longer).


Here are a couple close ups of the Dunlap handle. I am not sure what I will do to it yet.


I do appreciate the ideas/input!
Tom

I'm kind of in the same position as you. Other than a couple of the Kennedy handles, these were mostly repurposed from vintage suitcases. These are either on Kennedy cantilever or Dunlap boxes.

 

[four.cycle]

I made a phone call yesterday to the cobbler out in Lakewood that I've been dealing with for over 30 years.
They do stock brand new replacement leather handles for luggage, believe it or not.
She suggested I bring the old one in to make sure I got a match because the means of attaching them to the suitcase (or toolbox, as the case may be) varies from one to another.

So they are available as brand new replacements.

Just an FYI.

 

[Mintgrun]

Those are some nice examples, Don.
While taking the photos above, I took a couple of the leather handles on a 32" SK box.

I'm pretty sure I was the one to wrap the top handle with friction tape, a long time ago. Your last photo prodded me into posting these.

The box has slowly filled up, so I try not to bring saws home anymore. They are just hard for me to pass up for a couple of bucks.

 

[Mintgrun]

 

[HeelSpur]

Sweet, never seen one before.

 

[Mintgrun]

I picked up another little Dunlap box yesterday. I guess $3 seemed cheap enough. It looks like it used to hold a small drill. I wish I'd looked at the one on the shelf across from it... that may have been the one.



Another 'light duty' box, but I like the rounded corners on the bottom.


I really like the two tone hinge.

Might make a nice lunch box : )

 

[d42jeep]

I found a second Dunlap hacksaw at an estate sale yesterday. It's quite different than the closed handle saw that I received from Lugz.
-Don

 

[markbugno]

Some feeler gauges. Available if any of you Dunlap collectors are interested.

Mark


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bonneyman]

Sweet, never seen one before.

I've also never seen a Dunlap like that. Very cool!

 

[bonneyman]

I picked up another little Dunlap box yesterday. I guess $3 seemed cheap enough. It looks like it used to hold a small drill. I wish I'd looked at the one on the shelf across from it... that may have been the one.



Another 'light duty' box, but I like the rounded corners on the bottom.


I really like the two tone hinge.

Might make a nice lunch box : )

Yes, the box held a drill - I inherited one from my FIL. My example is a chrome plated 1/4" drive.

 

[Mintgrun]

Very nice : )

I noticed that this little tool was made by Dunlap.
I assume it is like a very stiff wire brush/scraper. (?)
I think the collar can be slid out towards the end, to change the stiffness.



Does anyone know what the S in a circle signifies?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Sears?

 

[four.cycle]

S-circle = Kastar, ca. 1960 - 2008, perhaps earlier

(Kastar Tool - now Lang - Racine, Wisconsin)

Carbon scraper. Nice example.

 

[d42jeep]

The Dunlap carbon scrapers are a slightly different design than many others such as Plomb. I've run across a few feeler gauges. Dunlap also made power drill accessories such as this chest containing an early multi tool. It would have been pretty impractical.
-Don

 

[sheltonfilms]

Thanks for the Dunlap/Germany photos. These look old, perhaps pre-WW2 since a lot of post-war stuff is marked West Germany up until reunification, which of course occurred after the Dunlap era. I don't see a lot of Dunlap mechanics hand tools down here in Florida. Don't know why, just rarely encounter them. Of those I see, they're all USA. But it doesn't surprise me that a few Dunlap were made in Europe, especially early ones. Ganymede was speculating on a possible Japan origin for a Dunlap pliers with no COO. I still think it would be surprising to find a Japan-made Dunlap hand tool since the two time periods don't line up well. Post-war Japan imported few traditionally USA-made products in earnest until the 1960s (they made lots of dime store stuff and cheap ceramics during the 1950s as well as a few mfrs cranking out cheap fishing tackle), and I believe by that time the Dunlap name on hardline hand tools was history.

Of course, a single artifact can turn the established historical view on its head (I've found a few items like that myself). That's the fun and sometimes frustration about collecting.

I'm just gonna put this photo here to "turn the established historical view on its head".

Found this at a yard sale and I am still dumbfounded by it. It didn't appear until I ran it through my electrolysis bucket. Never seen a Japan made one and I've been searching for days on ebay and accross the web.

Holy Grail?

 

[DadsTools]

I'm just gonna put this photo here to "turn the established historical view on its head".

Found this at a yard sale and I am still dumbfounded by it. It didn't appear until I ran it through my electrolysis bucket. Never seen a Japan made one and I've been searching for days on ebay and accross the web.

Holy Grail?

I've heard of a number of Japan Dunlap tools. I don't think they're common, but don't know if "JAPAN" on a Dunlap does anything for its dollar value. Now, if you found a Dunlap DOE out of Japan....

They lifted the trade law specifying "Occupied" Japan around 1952. Doubt we were buying Jap tools in 1938-41 at the beginning of the Dunlap era. Probably circa 1952-58.