How Many WW2 Tool Kits Produced ?

[Downwindtracker 2]

How many tool kits did the US produce ? And what was this production compared post war peacetime ?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I've never seen a number for something like that, even an approximate number, in any kind of official historical document from either the US Army Quartermaster Corps - which was responsible for all wheeled-vehicle maintenance up through late 1942, or from the US Army Ordnance Dept, which was responsible for all wheeled-vehicle maintenance thereafter, and all tracked-vehicle maintenance form the get-go.

It is a question that I have wrestled with a few times in more manageable terms based on numbers we have found in actual European Theater Operations records and numbers derived from other numbers, such as vehicles. And that should give you a sense of scale and magnitude enough to satisfy your curiosity.

It is helpful, first, to understand how the QMC and the ORD in turn did maintenance, by echelon.

1st echelon was preventive maintenance, performed by drivers. Every vehicle had a basic tool-set. Five DOE wrenches, pliers, ball-pein hammer, "perfect handle" screwdriver, auto wrench, and a few other things for dealing with hubs, spark plugs, etc., which would vary by vehicle type. Here is a GJ thread link to my kit for my 1943 Willys MB.

Just counting jeeps (Willys and Ford 1/4 ton), Dodge 1/2 ton, Dodge 3/4 ton, Dodge 1-1/2 ton, Chevy 1-1/2 ton trucks, and Chevy/GMC 2-1/2 ton trucks, that's ~1.5 million basic tool-sets. Followed by replacements, because many of them were lost or stripped.

2nd echelon was basic maintenance. There were two unit-level tool-sets that all mechanics drew from, and then there was the Motor Vehicle Mechanics and later General Mechanics Tool-Sets. These are the grandfathers of today's modern "GMTK" and many of us in the community still use the term for shorthand. During WWII, it was about a 110 piece tool-set. Major components included a complete 1/2-inch drive set, a 1/4-inch drive set, DOEs, DBEs long and stubby, ignition wrench set, pipe wrenches, adjustable wrenches, hex keys, two hammers, several pliers, cabinet, heavy duty and common screwdrivers, gages, scrapers, etc. Here is a link to one of my GMTK's that I documented for a GJ "Living History" display thread a few years ago.

Every 2nd echelon level mechanic in WWII was issued a GMTK and we know that of the ~357,000 of them shipped to Europe, over 75% of them made it there.

Every specialist (welder, machinist, etc) got their own basic kit, too. Fewer tools, but issued in the same type of box. Tens of thousands.

The Ordnance Dept also procured a light and a heavy wrecker, a few thousands of each, and those got 125+ piece Master Mechanics kits made by Bonney (light wrecker) and Blackhawk (heavy wrecker).

3rd, 4th and 5th echelon was for major repairs and overhauls and those tool-sets were big unit-level sets, in depots, not personal carry.

That's not counting the tool-sets that the ORD bought for armorers, for weapons maintenance and small arms repair, or the toolsets the US Army Air Corps, Signal Corps or Corps of Engineers bought, which was significant.

Also not counting Navy Bureaus (Ports, Ships, Aviation, etc)

 

[d42jeep]

Over the past few years, I have put together a few WW2 toolsets and am constantly collecting WW2 era tools. As Lugz noted in his very thorough reply, the variety of toolsets produced was staggering. I’ll start with the onboard toolset that would have come with my and every other WW2 Jeep (with some variations depending on brand and year).
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is another upper echelon toolset, the Electrical and Carburetor Mechanics’ set.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

The Machinists toolset was a bit more complex.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is the Welder’s set which was a little less complex.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here are some images of an early Motor Vehicle Mechanic’s Toolset. I’ve tried to accumulate tools that would have been in the set around 11/42.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

My GMTK is the set I’ve been working on since 2014. It is a bit of a hybrid, containing most of the tools used in these sets from 1938 to 1945. I am constantly on a search to upgrade the set and these pictures have been taken over several years.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

More GMTK (General Mechanic’s Tool Set) pictures.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

My current project is a Carpenter’s Set No. 1. I found the box during the summer and have been gradually adding to it. I still have a ways to go but it’s coming along.
-Don

 

[RubiconJK]

Lugz, thanks for that explanation and Don....what am impressive collection! Thanks for sharing. I recently found a carpenter's tool kit that is branded "Baker" and looks like it could be military. It doesn't quite look WWII vintage, but could be close. I haven't bought it yet, and can't decide if it is worth the drive. Are you familiar with Baker?

 

[d42jeep]

Rube,
Thanks for the kudos. I haven’t run across any Baker sets in my WW2 tool searches but apparently there were many different carpenter’s sets used during WW2. When I started searching for pieces for mine, I couldn’t believe the variety of sets I saw pictures of.
-Don

 

[Whca]

This thread has been helpful identifying some of my dads older tools. It’s staggering to imagine the war effort looking at just the support equipment!


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I recently found a carpenter's tool kit that is branded "Baker" and looks like it could be military. It doesn't quite look WWII vintage, but could be close. I haven't bought it yet, and can't decide if it is worth the drive. Are you familiar with Baker?

Often the names on carpenters kits, sappers' kits, and other Corps of Engineers kits were the company that integrated the kit, maybe also provided the box, not who made the tools, which came form the major OEMs. Do you have an address or just the name?

 

[d42jeep]

I’ve posted pictures of the tools in my WW2 Navy Aviation toolbox before but here are some more pictures.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here ya go, Roob. They were making the chests for carpenters' kits, late war.

 

[wrenchguy]

I imagine military vehicle toolkits are probably the most researched and collected... but what about others? Is there a list of known military toolkits online? Listed maybe by the item the toolkit was included with. Is there any interest in tool list from the few TO's and TM's i have?

 

[snapmom]

A Packard Rolls Royce engine tool kit. not complete, needs a few pcs. kit has mostly whitworth tools

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I imagine military vehicle toolkits are probably the most researched and collected... but what about others?

In case you missed it, I referenced several "other" kits in addition to military vehicle toolkits (or 1st echelon maintenance) in my first post. 2nd echelon maintenance kits - including the GMTK (issued to all mechanics), specialists' kits (issued to all machinists, welders, upholsterers, sheet metal mechanics, etc), and unit-level Tool-Sets No. 1 and No. 2 (think engine hoists, portable forges, welding equipment, tap and die, etc) are detailed in several documents a few of us have painstakingly researched and collected, including OQMG Circular 4, TM 10-475, ORD 6 SNL G-27, and the ORD 5. If you go to G503.com, Tools Forum, second "stickie", you will find them provided in a library of links, as well as other resources, such as the 1939 Fed Specs, a GMTK Retrospective Guide I have put together, and Verified Suppliers Lists that I maintain. Between those and these…

View media item 83883
…we pretty much have the bulk of the what and the who covered as far as Army automotive tools go. 

Is there a list of known military toolkits online?

Yes, Wikipedia has actually done a fairly decent job of that, linked here. But you have to know what Materiel Groups they are in. Most automotive related tool-sets are in "G" (with the vehicles) or "J" (common tools). The Radionerds site does an equally decent job with Signal Corps stuff. But these are high level lists.

Is there any interest in tool list from the few TO's and TM's i have?

Maybe. What TM’s do you have?

As long as you ask - which I really appreciate, I am going to use this thread as a platform to make a plea!
---------------------------------------------------------

We do have some compelling research needs...

I am always looking for a wartime version of Section IV of the Federal Standard Stock Catalog, which are Federal Specifications. I have the 1939 Fed Specs, which is close, and they have been a big help, but they are a little dated (requiring some interpretation and analysis because of that), and they didn't include many tools that the Treasury Department simply wasn't buying until the war, that were added to the catalog, especially in 1941, 1942, and 1943.

They would look exactly like this if found still bound...

..or like this if loose...

..., but have different dates.

I am also always looking for ORD 5 SNL's. The ORD 5 was the ORD's master catalog. All tools, by category, irrespective of which tool-sets they could be found in. I am very fortunate to have original issues of the J-2 (Cutting, boring, and tweezing tools) and J-4 (Punch, drift, fastening, and scraping tools), which covers pliers, wrenches, screwdrivers, etc, which is about 75% of the tools in the GMTK (and roughly 75% of all automotive hand tools). I also own a J-1 (Abrasion and compression tools), which includes hand grinders, sharpening stones and the like. But it would be great to have the following..

J-5 Lifting, holding, forming tools. (bit braces, saw frames, vises, clamps, hoists, block and tackle, molds for castings, anvils, jacks, and slings.)

J-6 Percussion, digging, and wrecking tools. (hammers, mallets, mauls, sledges, axes, hatchets, picks, mattocks, shovels, crowbars, pinch bars, etc.)

J-7 Welding, forging, soldering, and brazing equipment. (blow-torches, soldering coppers, melting ladles, and welding outfits).

J-8 Hand tool appurtenances. (file cleaners, handles, heads, tool checks, tool racks, etc.)

J-9 Measuring and testing instruments.

J-10 Small tools. (twist drills, countersinks, counterbores, cutting-off tool cutters, cutters etc.)

J-12 Tools, Maintenance, for repair of group B materiel

J-13 Special tool sets for field artillery, and combat vehicle weapons

J-14 Paint, spraying equipment, and related items.

J-15 Benches, tool boxes, cabinets, bins, tool chests, tool rolls, etc. of general
application.

J-16 Tire repair, and maintenance tools, and equipment.

J-17 Common hand tools

J-20 Miscellaneous kits and tool sets

The covers would look exactly like this...

...but SNL J-x and a different title instead.

I am also always looking for the following to fill in a very short and minor time gap we have:

- March 1944 ORD 6 SNL G-27

It would look exactly like this…

…but with a different date.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone runs into any of those at an estate sale, flea market, or online, PLEASE let me know and if they're affordable, just buy them. I will repay you! Thanks.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

This thread has been helpful identifying some of my dads older tools. It’s staggering to imagine the war effort looking at just the support equipment!


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

Just the amount wood for the barracks in England that had to be shipped from here. Or for a program like the Commonwealth Air Training here in Canada. That's how our local airport got started. Then you realize the carpenters needed tools. I have woodworking tools from that time.

Three million kits, other services, Lend Lease, and home front. I guess would be conservative. Three years of war, so a million a year.

Thanks for the detailed listing, I thought there might be a simple answer, like 45,000 tanks.

 

[JoCoSawdust]

Man that's a wealth of knowledge, thanks folks. I'm sitting here chanting "Don't start collecting WW2 stuff..Don't start collecting WW2 stuff..."

 

[d42jeep]

Man that's a wealth of knowledge, thanks folks. I'm sitting here chanting "Don't start collecting WW2 stuff..Don't start collecting WW2 stuff..."

I have an extra GMTK available.
-Don

 

[RubiconJK]

Here ya go, Roob. They were making the chests for carpenters' kits, late war.

Thanks very much Lugz! Now to decide if I want to drive 100 miles to get it!
Edit: BTW, the tools in this kit are also marked Baker. Here is a copy of the photo provided.

 

[JoCoSawdust]

i have an extra gmtk available.
-don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

BTW, the tools in this kit are also marked Baker. Here is a copy of the photo provided.

I am not saying that's definitively not WWII, but that doesn't look like any WWII carpenters' kit I have ever seen in that attache style case. And some of the tools look postwar and even more modern. But this is not my area of expertise - I just mean in casual passing. Also, not only do I not see any contents list or loading plan with an agency (e.g., Corps of Engineers) name on it, there doesn't look to be a provision for one being attached. Or is it hidden from view? Not trying to talk you out of it, but without that, and only the seller's say-so, I'd be leery of that set.

As for the name, could be a different Baker. Or everything was made for them. What are the odds of an OEM you've never heard of having the capability to make that variety of tools? Just my thoughts.

I can see the interest. Old tools, crude case painted industrial or ocean (possibly Navy) grey, tool outlines. But if you really have a hankering for a bona fide Carpenters' kit, or empty cases to fill, they come up often enough with unmistakable cred. Don is in the midst of trying to populate one - he may have more to say.

 

[woody 73]

Don fantastic good job on getting those sets complete...

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks, Woody. Much appreciated.
Rube,
That set looks to be quite a bit more modern to me too. Here is a set Todd spotted in the DC Craigslist around the end of July. Even though it would have different tools than mine the configuration of box is pretty similar. Another collector in Tennessee found a slightly postwar set and his box is similar to mine as well.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is the Tennessee set that’s dated 1952.
-Don

 

[RubiconJK]

I am not saying that's definitively not WWII, but that doesn't look like any WWII carpenters' kit I have ever seen in that attache style case. And some of the tools look postwar and even more modern. But this is not my area of expertise - I just mean in casual passing. Also, not only do I not see any contents list or loading plan with an agency (e.g., Corps of Engineers) name on it, there doesn't look to be a provision for one being attached. Or is it hidden from view? Not trying to talk you out of it, but without that, and only the seller's say-so, I'd be leery of that set.

Rube,
That set looks to be quite a bit more modern to me too. Here is a set Todd spotted in the DC Craigslist around the end of July. Even though it would have different tools than mine the configuration of box is pretty similar. Another collector in Tennessee found a slightly postwar set and his box is similar to mine as well.
-Don

Thanks fellows. If this one was closer, I'd probably go get it just because it got my attention in the ad even though I'm not a carpenter's tool collector. I think both of your assessments is likely correct on age and to the seller's credit they haven't represented it as war time. Glad to have your opinions which will save me the long drive!

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

RubiconJK, the screwdrivers and the chisel have plastic handles, very '60s. The saw with that handle wouldn't likely be in a government contract. Look up Diston saws, the base models are much plainer. I have a PEXTO brace that is cadmium plated and more of a base model as well. The chuck and the nickel plating is pretty posh. However the plane is WW2 . Hardwood instead of rosewood and a black hard rubber adjustment knob.

The brace and the saw are better ones than a WW2 contract, and worth while on their own. Some guys like the heavy castings of the WW2 planes.

Here is a traditional carpenters tool box https://www.usedcowichan.com/classified-ad/VINTAGE-CARPENTERS-TOOL-BOX_32111041

It's different than a cabinetmaker's or a patternmakers. The oldtime carpenters still used them when I started my apprenticeship. As well as handsaws and brace and bit.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

If this one was closer, I'd probably go get it just because it got my attention in the ad even though I'm not a carpenter's tool collector.

I wouldn't blame you! But then again, I have a thing for actual-size tool outlines!

View media item 83653
View media item 83650

 

[RubiconJK]

I wouldn't blame you! But then again, I have a thing for actual-size tool outlines!

That was partly what got my attention!

 

[MR.X]

1942ish

 

[Private Lugnutz]

1942ish

My eyes went straight to the photo and once I got over my guffawing at the missing pioneer kit (I think only 1 out of maybe every 50 photos of jeeps in the LIFE magazine database includes it!) I noticed your caption.

Okay, X, time to come clean. You're either a very sneaky well-informed jeep guy who hasn't revealed he's a well-informed jeep guy, or you're using something else in that photo to date it. Because there aren't too many guys who would be able to spot the feature on the jeep from that angle that indicates it was, indeed, produced very early war.

 

[MR.X]

Uhhhhh.....no windshield rifle rack? I don't know anything about jeep WW2 evolution though the first stick I ever drove was a jeep on a South Korean training base. I thought the pic was cool cause of the guys doing bodywork..........is that a side car body nose?? Date was form date of Auto digest mag I pulled it from.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Uhhhhh.....no windshield rifle rack?

I didn't even think to look! But yeah, that'll do it, too. Not introduced until mid 1943. The headlight switch is the earlier pull/push type, not the rotary type, which was introduced in 1944.

I thought the pic was cool cause of the guys doing bodywork..........

Oh, I figured that. One guy with the dinger, another with the dolly.

is that a side car body nose??

That's what I was thinking, or possibly some kind of pontoon. The lettering didn't make sense to me, though.

 

[d42jeep]

It’s a Willys MB, not a Ford GPW so I’m not qualified to comment.
-Don