Fairmount Tools

[Provincial]

I'm starting this thread because the Fairmount tools are spread out in many short threads. I have posted Fairmount wrenches in the Garage Sale threads as I found them, but they would be hard to find.

I found this Fairmount 9" auto wrench at a sale yesterday. I wonder if it is a WWII toolkit item? It is not frozen up, and really only has light rust.

I have several other Fairmount wrenches, which I will list later.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It's prewar, Jock. Fairmount did provide an 11" Auto Wrench to Willys MB jeep kits during WWII, but it didn't have a "CLEVE." marking. None of their wartime tools did. They also provided a 16 oz ball-pein hammer, 6" combination slip-joint pliers, and the DOE wrenches (731-A, 28-S, 27-C, 25, and 723) to Willys. I'll have to dig out some of my photos. For now, I'll bump you with these pliers, 6" and 8" combination slip-joints, which I think are also probably immediate prewar with that triangle-FTF (Fairmount Tool and Forge) logo.

 

[Oldsoul]

Thats all i got i think.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

My first Willys MB jeep toolkit had a set of FairmounT in it. See Pics 1, 2, & 3. Those are known as "rounds", for their circular head, in the jeep collecting community. By contrast, Fairmount also made wrenches with extravagantly pear-shaped heads known as "sharps." See Pics 4, 5 & 6.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Very interesting never heard of this one either. I’ll have to be on the lookout for these too you never know what you will find in my pawn shops I have found tons of old and valuable tools.


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[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here are a couple different styles of Chrome-Alloy examples. The top one is late 30's. The one that went through the postwar re-pack surplus process must have already been in the military inventory or snuck in before October 1942, the final deadline for using up old stock.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is my Fairmount auto wrench that I believe is correct for a Willys MB toolset and some re-handled Fairmount ball pein hammers.
-Don

 

[outofbounds]

Uncovered this old Fairmount DOE in a "Box and Contents" lot I dragged home yesterday..

 

[Leviton]

Here's an inline socket wrench from Fairmount Tool.
9/16" and 1/2" hex socket ends with a 1/2' square shank for turning with a wrench.
Overall length is 7.6".
Only stamping is "Fairmount Cleveland".

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Came across this little fairmount wrench today in a box of wrenches

 

[outofbounds]

Found this really nice Fairmount Open end 25/32 x 5/8. Struggling to make out the part number on the opposite side. I can barely make out 28-S. Maybe 728S? I really like the shape of this wrench aesthetically. Input always welcome as to age. EDIT AA shows it as 28-S without a lot of additional details as to what the logic is to that nomenclature.

 

[d42jeep]

Found this really nice Fairmount Open end 25/32 x 5/8. Struggling to make out the part number on the opposite side. I can barely make out 28-S. Maybe 728S? I really like the shape of this wrench aesthetically. Input always welcome as to age

Those are the sizes for a 28S
-Don

 

[outofbounds]

Those are the sizes for a 28S
-Don

Can I take it that is some industry standard at some point?

 

[d42jeep]

Can I take it that is some industry standard at some point?

Sorry. Here is an informative link.
http://alloy-artifacts.org/table_oe_wrench.html#size-table
-Don

 

[outofbounds]

Sorry. Here is an informative link.
http://alloy-artifacts.org/table_oe_wrench.html#size-table
-Don

Thanks for that, Don. It is informative! (albeit still a bit perplexing for me to apply a logic to it versus simple memorization) I suppose that is rooted in a deeper understanding of the progression of sizing in U.S.S. and related Hex Caps, of which I possess none.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I suppose that is rooted in a deeper understanding of the progression of sizing in U.S.S. and related Hex Caps...

It's not. There's no mathematical correlation to the milled opening sizes, either, as is often seen with the model numbers for other wrenches and sockets, where the model number may end in the number of 16/ths, for example.

What the AA chart doesn't show is that the Industry Standard Numbers are the same as early J.H. Williams model numbers.

Williams, Billings & Spencer, and Herbrand (believe it or not - they go just as far back and just as broad and deep in the early industrial marketplace as Williams and B&S in terms of forge operations) vied for supremacy there, and gradually Williams won, in the sense of everyone else, including B&S and Herbrand, eventually, adopting the Williams scheme as the standard.

It must have killed their sense of pride, but not until the early 1930's did B&S start showing the Williams/ISN numbers next to their own in their catalogs (out of necessity!), and also on the wrenches themselves.

That's how the Williams numbers became analogous to the industry standard numbers.

Like the Borg, or the Yankees.

 

[outofbounds]

It's not. ........That's how the Williams numbers became analogous to the industry standard numbers.

Like the Borg, or the Yankees.

Thanks for that additional insight, Private! I do appreciate it. PS - have you looked at the ETF thread lately?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

PS - have you looked at the ETF thread lately?

Yes, but I missed your post until now! As it so often happens on the slow-moving 1 post at a week's or sometimes month's time type threads, you posted, then someone posted 11 minutes after you, but there had been so little activity prior, I read his, which was innocuous, and overlooked yours, which was critical! Haha. Thanks for the ping. I'll take it.

 

[RTM]

I was just at a biz close out sale. They had a Fairmount 2-15/16" wrench. Or maybe 2-15/32. It was huge. Took a slightly smaller Williams instead. Did not want to start accumulating a different family. Did not think do get a pic. They bought a cabinet from a defense contract group, it was full of huge tools.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

They bought a cabinet from a defense contract group, it was full of huge tools.

Not surprising the cabinet had some Fairmount tools in it. They enjoyed a rather privileged and exalted position with the Ordnance Dept after WWII due to their favored supplier status with Willys. It didn't last long as the federal government moved to standardization and the low bottom line just as the industry was moving to conglomeration.

Here is most of my collection.

As you can see with the face spanner (7/32"), the pin spanners (19/64"), the adjustable hook spanners, the adjustable face spanners, and the spud wrench (1/2"), like Billings, Williams, Armstrong, and the other oldtimers, they didn't just concentrate on automotive tools. The toolbox pattern 24-oz ball-pein is one of my favorites, and the logo matches the logo on the 6" and 8" slip-joint pliers. That SOE wrench is 1-1/16". The DOE wrenches are wartime jeep wrenches, 27-C, 28-S, and 731-A, all sharps. (Missing a 25 and a 723.) The cosmo-cheesecloth encrusted DOE wrench is postwar.

See thumbnails for close-ups.

Oh, and the jeep is from Midget Toys in Rockford, Illinois.

 

[Binderminder]

Here's a Fairmount 8" adjustable that I bought at a swap meet about 1985. I carry it in my overalls when I am running the steam loco at the local RR museum. It has served me well.

 

[Mintgrun]

I found this Fairmount 3724 today. Shown next to a 1/2" CORNWELL wrench for a size/style comparison. I'm not sure why I bought it... I guess I just thought it was cool.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

A handy angle wrench. Nice grab!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Those Ohio hex throated skinny shanked angle wrenches are cool looking.

 

[outofbounds]

I found this Fairmount 3724 today. Shown next to a 1/2" CORNWELL wrench for a size/style comparison. I'm not sure why I bought it...

You bought it because it was too cheap to leave behind I’ll guess. That same wrench is still made to this day as discussed earlier in this thread as Martin Tool & Forge and are obscenely expensive. I don’t know what you paid and I still say you ****!!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Snagged a vintage 4-oz. ball-pein at the flea this morning. Bit o' flip-worthy gold there because these are not common, the GMTK had 4- and 32-oz ball-peins, and Fairmount is a popular wartime brand. That two-tone handle, which looks kind of cool, is not original. Or rather, the second tone isn't. I favor wire whipping to repair cracked handles, but someone did a very nice job on this one. I suspect there is a longitudinal pin or screw involved. Even though there is a little separation, this thing is solid. Nice, deep marking.

 

[outofbounds]

Snagged a vintage 4-oz. ball-pein at the flea this morning. Bit o' flip-worthy gold there because these are not common, the GMTK had 4- and 32-oz ball-peins, and Fairmount is a popular wartime brand. That two-tone handle, which looks kind of cool, is not original. Or rather, the second tone isn't. I favor wire whipping to repair cracked handles, but someone did a very nice job on this one. I suspect there is a longitudinal pin or screw involved. Even though there is a little separation, this thing is solid. Nice, deep marking.

That is a peach there. You can take that and the Bonney you were showing, and get a side gig as a xylophone player perhaps. Both are awesome.

 

[drivesitfar]

I know I have some of this companies tools somewhere so i'm going to follow along just because and maybe i'll have some to post of my own some day.

 

[PSCo1867]

Here's a strange (to me) Fairmount combo.
Box: 2-1/8"
OE: 1 7/16"
OAL: 8-1/2"

 

[humber2]

Here's a strange (to me) Fairmount combo.
Box: 2-1/8"
OE: 1 7/16"
OAL: 8-1/2"

Several makers of these, commonly believed to be for 1920's Studebaker hubcaps.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Several makers of these,...

Yup. Here's one from just a few blocks away in the same city! And it would not surprise me in the least if one of them made it for the other or vice versey.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

This is the only Fairmount tool I own or have seen in person just picked it up last week at the pawn shop. Anyone know what year it might be from?


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[PSCo1867]

Several makers of these, commonly believed to be for 1920's Studebaker hubcaps.

Yup. Here's one from just a few blocks away in the same city! And it would not surprise me in the least if one of them made it for the other or vice versey.

Thanks for the info, guys!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I would say it's no earlier than mid to late 50s and could be later than that.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

I would say it's no earlier than mid to late 50s and could be later than that.

Thanks. Wasn’t too sure. Couldn’t really figure anything out based on Alloy Artifacts


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[Debcrow]

Fairmount 3/4 double offset thin wrench.

 

[elidas]

I have one with no name stamped on it.

 

[elidas]

Forgot the picture!