found a small CM toolbox.... WOW!!

[TwoInch]

driving along on a side road today, a small grey and red old craftsman box caught my eye, in someones garbage pile... i spun around, expecting an empty beat up box, but was suprised with a heavy, mostly full beat up box!! threw it in the trunk and headed on my way.

opened it up tonight when i got home, had to force the drawers a bit, but was surprised to find old snap on, mac, very old craftsman, bonney, and some strange brass-ish colored proto stuff inside.

i attached pictures of some of the stuff, triple click the pics, to super enlarge them

pic 1 is the box, which appears to have originated in Tennessee many years ago.
pic 2 is the random wrenches, the dark ones to the right are craftsman underlined, there are bonney, mac, proto, crescent USA, etc...
pic 3 is the top tray with assorted sockets
pic 4 is a bonney ratchet and wrench, and another unknown ratchet
pic 5 is sockets
pic 5 is a craftsman socket with the craft underlined, cant make out whats in the circle yet. gotta clean it up
pic 5 is a williams extension which is copper colored??

i had to use the attachment method, my photobucket wont allow me to sign in for some reason

 

[TwoInch]

here are a few more

 

[MrMark]

might be a circle K. I saw one of those recently. That stuff is ancient, I'm thinking 40's to 50's and all top quality. I wonder if some old timer recently died and that is how his stuff was treated.

 

[TwoInch]

whats strange is, there is not a single "set" of anything in the box. its all random, except for a gedore india wrench set that seems almost complete.

just a bunch of random USA made old tools.

any ideas on the pearhead ratchet? diamond W logo, USA made

edit - craftsman socket is circle H 15/16 12pt.. gave it a good wipe.

the CM vanadium RP wrenches appear to be late 30s early 40s era, and the dark CM vanadium AF wrenches are early 30s, from Alloyartifact

 

[nine4gmc]

YOU **** FOR FREE!!!

some guys have all the luck!!! btw, I have a couple gedore india wrenches, let me know what you are missing.

 

[bigcaddy]

whats strange is, there is not a single "set" of anything in the box. its all random, except for a gedore india wrench set that seems almost complete.

just a bunch of random USA made old tools.

any ideas on the pearhead ratchet? diamond W logo, USA made

edit - craftsman socket is circle H 15/16 12pt.. gave it a good wipe.

the CM vanadium RP wrenches appear to be late 30s early 40s era, and the dark CM vanadium AF wrenches are early 30s, from Alloyartifact

The ratchet is a very early Williams, around 1900 to 1915 is when they used the W inside the diamond logo.

 

[Wrench 2201]

You **** sir!
I thought I had pretty good luck fining tools in the road but you just hit the mother lode! That is some really cool stuff.

 

[jeffmoss26]

You ****!

 

[Steevo]

Is the diamond W logo ratchet a Williams?

I like that Bonney line wrench in the middle of pic 2.

And I have those same Snap-On needle nose. I bought mine in about 1978

 

[wellpoison]

Wish I could get that lucky! You ****!!

 

[CORTEZSS69]

Sweet find!!!!!

 

[Bull]

The ratchet is a very early Williams, around 1900 to 1915 is when they used the W inside the diamond logo.

I'm not used to seeing ratchets from that early in the 20th century having that kind of style and selector lever, though. When I think of that era, I think of push-through designs and whatnot. Can that one really be that old?

Oh, and TwoInch, that is a terrific find!

 

[boro_boy70]

I'm not used to seeing ratchets from that early in the 20th century having that kind of style and selector lever, though. When I think of that era, I think of push-through designs and whatnot. Can that one really be that old?

Oh, and TwoInch, that is a terrific find!

I agree, it doesn't look to be early 1900's. Looks more like an Indestro/Duro handle design.

 

[Outlawmws]

Major suckage in NW INDIANA!

 

[pipsters]

I've found in my part of the US people would rather throw something out than let you get a deal on Craigslist. Example, a recent post I read "If I can't get $40 for this mower I'm just going to throw it out". Seriously?

In Canada it's completely different.

 

[glenmore]

Don't see those Snap-On needle nose with the octopus handles very often!

 

[Packard V8]

Good eye, dude!

Hint - never tell such success stories to or around womenfolk. They are guaranteed to look askance. But even some guys don't get it. Sooner or later, you'll tell some guy about your great find and he'll down you and say, "Didn't know you were so hard up as to be out picking through other people's garbage."

As to how and where stuff changes hands, there are still very real regional differences here in the US.

1. In rural New England, seems as if every third house is running a permanent garage sale/antique shop.
2. In some parts of the southeast, craigslist doesn't seem to get much use.
3. In Salt Lake, KSL.com classifieds are ten times as big as craigslist.
4. In some parts freecycle is used a lot for moving low value stuff.
5. In some cities, some people don't want the riff-raff in their neighborhood/homes/garages, so they donate really nice stuff to Habitat/Goodwill, where it is picked off by the volunteers.

jack vines

 

[930dreamer]

What a great find.

 

[Canoman]

Nice find! I've got a wrench similar to the one that's the sixth wrench from the left. It's dark in color and has oddly shaped ends. Is that one engraved at all? Can't remember who made that type.

 

[emeraldcoupe]

YOU ****!! nice find!

 

[ckadams00]

Hey! You found my box! Geez I've been looking all over for it.

 

[bobcatdan]

There is no way that ratchet is that old, 40's to 50's is more likly. To me the ratchet makes me think cornwell, but I have no knowledge of the W logo.

 

[eborcim]

good eye

 

[ZRX61]

Pale copper colored may mean nickel plated

 

[rusty65]

I think the ratchet is a Williams b-51 and was possibly contract production hence only the w. In case any wants to read more about Williams here is a link http://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/williams-supercompany-p4.html

 

[Displaced Hokie]

Looks like someone was into motocross motorcycles at one time, with the Bel-Ray, "MX", and Spectra stickers. Stickers look late 70's to early 80's to me.

Oddly, the tools don't really seem to match that. Any metric in there? Perhaps someone hated themselves and was into 2-stroke AMF-era Harleys. ???

 

[JASTECH]

2xHoover!

 

[crewchief888]

double suckage..

great find and free on top of it

 

[Mastermind]

so....your wife reads garage journal huh?

 

[beerdog]

This is an urban legend! These things don't happen in real life.

 

[yjWrangler]

If only something like that could happen to me

 

[TwoInch]

there was also 5 boxes full of assorted golf clubs.... usps boxes with tags, but the tags are many years old and tattered. i havent gone through the golf clubs yet, mostly because i know nothing of anything golf related.

the copper williams extension is bright copper, as if somehow the chrome was removed, without disturbing the copper. no clue.

the proto sockets are gold/brass colored, and MTSA chrysler stuff, a master tech award of some sort.

the large bonney line wrench is cool as hell, as is the old proto flare/OE wrench.

the only metric stuff were some really badly made shallow japan no name sockets.

 

[TwoInch]

oh yeah, some of the dark knurled smaller sockets are hex drive, and some are square drive. i can make out any makers marks or anything, but they look ancient

i bet someone went through the box, and took "the good stuff" and threw out all the old "junk"..... i bet