Help me date this Ridgid 18" pipe wrench resto

[dwasifar]

I bought this 18" Ridgid for $5 at a barn sale. Unfortunately my "before" picture appears to have gone to the big bit bucket in the sky, but we all know what a completely rusty pipe wrench looks like. This one was covered with moderate rust except for a splash of blue paint at the end of the handle.

Anyway, here it is now:




I did a two-day soak in vinegar to loosen up the rust, followed by too much time on the wire wheel and Dremel.

There was one small spot along the handle where the rust had made a significant pit about 1/4" wide and 1/8" deep; I filled that with Bondo to level it out. I reground the flat areas of the top jaw on a benchtop belt sander to remove rust pits and damage, and removed the lower jaw in order to regrind the chevron the same way. The paint is Rustoleum Poppy Red satin, and the black parts were done with Birchwood Casey Perma-Blue cold bluing.

Not sure about the date on this one, but from the overlapping D and G in the logo, and the squared off end of the jaw threads, I'm thinking it could be 1940s. Maybe some of you can help me narrow it down.

 

[dwasifar]

Aha, I found this thread, which helped me date it definitively to January 1945. Which means I painted it the wrong color. Should have been black. I suppose I could repaint it but I kind of like the poppy red.

 

[vwtrey]

Say nice things to it, like your hair looks good today, or something about it's outfit. If you do that enough, it'll open up conversation to lead to a date. Everything else is straight forward from there.

It's amazing I even got married. That's all I could come up with.

I agree with the red, but I think it would look even better black. That's not part of the date joke.

 

[4xdog]

Looks terrific, @dwasifar, especially the results you got from the bluing/blackening on the bare metal parts.

I still use my grandfather's and father's Ridgid pipe wrenches from the early-mid 1950s, so red looks just fine to my eyes.