ETF Wrenches

[Gregg33]

I'm sure a lot of my fellow Canucks are familiar with ETF Tools, my American friends probably not so much so. ETF was a local company (St. Catharines, ON) that hasn't been around in years and stopped making wrenches even longer ago. If anybody is interested, there are some good articles on the net about this company, as well as a vintage catalogue available for download. They had quite an extensive tool line, from pipe wrenches to garden tools.

Anyways here are some pics of a couple sets I'm working on. Maybe some1 can help me fill in the wrenches I'm missing. Sorry for the mediocre pictures, daylight was running out and I was using my cheaper Fuji camera.

For the combos I need the following sizes 5/16, 7/16, 11/16, 13/16, 7/8, 15/16 and 1". There were 2 finishes available, a satin chrome and a polished chrome. As far as I can tell mine are the polished chrome (other than the rusted 3/8 which I wouldn't mind replacing).

In the open ends I'm looking for 5/16-11/32, 3/8-7/16 and 13/16-7/8 . These are the dropped forged line of wrenches. I don't use open ends a lot, but they are pretty thin to reach in tight areas, so it is likely they will get some use. There is also a line of alloy open end wrenches that ETF made as well, which look totally different and I'm not after.

Any help in finding these is appreciate, I will gladly pay a fair price, I also have lots of miscellaneous Gray wrenches I can trade.

 

[3baygarage]

Gregg, I have some bigger ETF combos similar to the ones in your first pic. I bought them from a flea market guy here a couple years back. I'm not sure they'd meet your standards as the chrome was chipped up if I remember correctly. The downside to my post is I do not remember where I stored them and would have to do some real searching to dig them up.
If I find them I will post them up here. That's not a brand I see too much of.

 

[sevnd3z28]

Gregg, thanks for the info on ETF tools....I had never heard of them before your post. I have a large double open end wrench by them. Have no idea where I got it but have had it forever. It's very well made.

 

[Gregg33]

Gregg, I have some bigger ETF combos similar to the ones in your first pic. I bought them from a flea market guy here a couple years back. I'm not sure they'd meet your standards as the chrome was chipped up if I remember correctly. The downside to my post is I do not remember where I stored them and would have to do some real searching to dig them up.
If I find them I will post them up here. That's not a brand I see too much of.

Much appreciated, a wrench with bad chrome is better than no wrench! To my knowledge (tbh a lot of it is an educated guess) not much ETF made it over the border. I think it was a hardware store brand, probably sold at hardware stores, lumber yards etc. I don't think it was as high end of a brand as Gray. I'm only a 30 minute drive from the border, so keep me posted! Thanks

 

[Gregg33]

Gregg, thanks for the info on ETF tools....I had never heard of them before your post. I have a large double open end wrench by them. Have no idea where I got it but have had it forever. It's very well made.

No problem. Locally they were fairly common in the early 60's, but I don't think they ever had the national distribution that Gray or Challenger had.

 

[3baygarage]

Well, I dug around the garage for an hour today and couldn't find them. Don't worry though, I'm on the hunt. Still have some other locations to look through but may take some time.
Do you frequent the Super Flea since you're so close to the border?

 

[Gregg33]

Well, I dug around the garage for an hour today and couldn't find them. Don't worry though, I'm on the hunt. Still have some other locations to look through but may take some time.
Do you frequent the Super Flea since you're so close to the border?

Ok no problem, thanks for looking. Actually I've never been to Super Flea? Is it good? I always seem to cross at the Rainbow Bridge, so I usually end up in NFNY, more than Buffalo, not sure why I go that way, I guess out of habit as I used to work in NFO a couple years ago. The Peace Bridge is likely a bit closer to my shop than the Rainbow.

 

[3baygarage]

You have to hit up the super flea come spring time if it does not close on us. If you've never been there you'll really enjoy yourself. Tons of tools.
They're open every weekend year round but there's not much to see right now..
I will keep you posted on the ETF wrenches.

 

[Gregg33]

You have to hit up the super flea come spring time if it does not close on us. If you've never been there you'll really enjoy yourself. Tons of tools.
They're open every weekend year round but there's not much to see right now..
I will keep you posted on the ETF wrenches.

Thanks!

 

[The Cobbler]

I rented shop space after ETF tools closed down. I knew someone that worked there and it was declining as the owner was getting old & wasn't marketing very well. New people bought it with all kinds of vigor but they didn't know the tool business, one guy owned a paint & wallpaper store) , at the same time the Chinese were making huge inroads with tools. ETF was doomed. The owner rented out shop space and had the property for sale for years. It sold & now there's housing on the property.
I have a few ETF crowbars, a 5lb sledge , a pair of tins nips & various other stuff.

 

[sasquatch12]

Thanks Greg for the interesting topic. Gotta check i "Think" i have at least one ETF, can't remember right now. Going to google the company, always enjoy history about this kind of stuff.

 

[The Cobbler]

google maps 21 Woodburn Avenue, St. Catharines, ON will show the location of where ETF tools was located. Any one know if there are there archives of google images? Google used to show the factory

 

[Gregg33]

Interesting info for sure! Sad that Gray is the only company that still makes wrenches in Canada and one of the few that makes tools. Does anybody know who were the major dealers for ETF? sasquatch12 let me know if you find any wrenches! Thanks

 

[lbgradwell]

I imagine that the ETF articles Gregg mentions are two parallel threads I posted on other forums two years back. I'd tried for years to find the story behind this now-defunct Canadian manufacturer and couldn't believe there was almost no information available!

We now have pretty much the entire story...

The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.

The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.

 

[sk farmer]

I imagine that the ETF articles Gregg mentions are two parallel threads I posted on other forums two years back. I'd tried for years to find the story behind this now-defunct Canadian manufacturer and couldn't believe there was almost no information available!

We now have pretty much the entire story...

The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.

The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.

what the hell mr gradwell? don't you know there is nothing of value at the garage gazette?

why just the other day someone said all we do is talk about holeshot. of course the most current comments on him were in a thread here but why let facts get in the way?

 

[jkeller]

I have picked up a few ETF wrenches in random places. You are welcome to them if you want. I am not particularly attached to them, just kept them since they are Canada made.

 

[Gregg33]

I imagine that the ETF articles Gregg mentions are two parallel threads I posted on other forums two years back. I'd tried for years to find the story behind this now-defunct Canadian manufacturer and couldn't believe there was almost no information available!

We now have pretty much the entire story...

The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.

The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.

Yes that's what I was talking about! Thanks for your help again! I should join both of those forums, Rob especially recommended the Garage Gazette, but I never seem to get around to it!

 

[Gregg33]

I have picked up a few ETF wrenches in random places. You are welcome to them if you want. I am not particularly attached to them, just kept them since they are Canada made.

Thanks for the offer, what sizes are the top and bottom wrenches in the photo, can't make out the sizes of those 2. Thanks again.

 

[jkeller]

The top combo wrench is a 1/2" and the bottom DOE is 13/16 and 7/8.

 

[Gregg33]

The top combo wrench is a 1/2" and the bottom DOE is 13/16 and 7/8.

Cool, I'm definitely interested in the 13/16-7/8 DOE. If you want pm me with how much you want for it and we'll work something out. Thanks.

 

[The Cobbler]

I was in Habitat for Humanity is St Catharines today. they have several box end & open end wrenches by ETF in reasonable shape. $4 each I thought was a bit high$$$, I didn't buy them

 

[Joeltimo]

I'm sure a lot of my fellow Canucks are familiar with ETF Tools, my American friends probably not so much so. ETF was a local company (St. Catharines, ON) that hasn't been around in years and stopped making wrenches even longer ago. If anybody is interested, there are some good articles on the net about this company, as well as a vintage catalogue available for download. They had quite an extensive tool line, from pipe wrenches to garden tools.

Anyways here are some pics of a couple sets I'm working on. Maybe some1 can help me fill in the wrenches I'm missing. Sorry for the mediocre pictures, daylight was running out and I was using my cheaper Fuji camera.

For the combos I need the following sizes 5/16, 7/16, 11/16, 13/16, 7/8, 15/16 and 1". There were 2 finishes available, a satin chrome and a polished chrome. As far as I can tell mine are the polished chrome (other than the rusted 3/8 which I wouldn't mind replacing).

In the open ends I'm looking for 5/16-11/32, 3/8-7/16 and 13/16-7/8 . These are the dropped forged line of wrenches. I don't use open ends a lot, but they are pretty thin to reach in tight areas, so it is likely they will get some use. There is also a line of alloy open end wrenches that ETF made as well, which look totally different and I'm not after.

Any help in finding these is appreciate, I will gladly pay a fair price, I also have lots of miscellaneous Gray wrenches I can trade.

Gregg, there are several sets of various wrenches including ETF brand for sale by Crown Assets right now at www.gcsurplus.ca, in the Ottawa area if you happen to live there. Go to the website, select "Hand Tools, Maintenance and Repair Shop Equipment" category in the National Capital Region (NCR) and you will see three lots that are available for bids; one closes March 5 and the other two on March 6. Hope this is helpful to you.

 

[Gregg33]

Thanks for the leads guys, I bought several of the wrenches from Habitat. Some looked pretty rough, but the majority cleaned up pretty well.

The gov't surplus wrenches look in near mint condition, they sold fairly cheap too. I have a set of gov't surplus Gray combos I bought through a Kijiji seller (who bought them from a similar auction), they appear unused as well. Too bad Ottawa is so far! Apparently some stuff is sold out of Downsview, ON which is a reasonable drive, but nothing from that location is up for bid.

 

[lbgradwell]

The gov't surplus wrenches look in near mint condition, they sold fairly cheap too.

What did they go for Gregg? I was planning on bidding, but was just too busy last week...

 

[3baygarage]

Gregg, after I got home from the flea market today I spent a good couple of hours tearing up every box of tools I hadn't searched yet. Still no ETF combos. I had two of them but it's possible that I sold them several years ago and just don't remember.

I found this one today at the flea. I know you were looking for combos but if you could use this give me a shout.

 

[Gregg33]

What did they go for Gregg? I was planning on bidding, but was just too busy last week...

The lot that had a set of ETF box ends, a set of ETF combos and 2 sets of open ends (not sure of the brand, the wrench rolls obstructed all but the ends) went for $65. All appeared in really good shape. For me it was pointless to bid on those because everything was located in Ottawa and you must pick them up in person.

 

[Gregg33]

Here is a set of ETF box end wrenches I made up. It actually wasn't a set I intentionally collected, I just looked through the wrenches I had purchased in recent months and came up with a set minus the largest 1 1/16 - 1 1/8 size which I don't have. 2 of the wrenches are industrial finish, while the remainder are "Poly-Chrome", most of which have some rust unfortunately. Not sure how much use I'll get out of these as I already have 2 sets of Gray box ends, as well as some very old Mossbergs which I use a fair bit. Still a neat set though!