J C Penney Wrench

[Empty Pockets]

I bought two sets of these about 1978. Very good tools. Just replaced them this year. At that time Pennys had pretensions of challenging Sears.

I kinda wonder if JCP would source hand tools from a quality USA manufacturer, if they might could put another nail in the Sears coffin. We can only hope

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

Unfortunately JCP is not doing all that well either

 

[smittyjones]

My dad has a 3/8" socket set with ratchet from JC Penney, I always thought it was so strange growing up...

 

[sk farmer]

if anyone has some sk made jcpenney stuff i would gladly make an offer on it. especially ratchets, wrench sets or socket sets.

 

[survivor]

I know this is an old thread but would you happen to have a penncraft 4000 ratchet or know of someone that may have one? Thanks

 

[MShaw]

Penncraft was made by New Britain, J C Penney by someone else. When I worked for them in the early 1970s they were experimenting with full polish wrenches. I don't know if they ever went into production. Definitely not before I left in 1974 as I was the support engineer for wrench production,

 

[The Fall]

It's shocking to see such high-quality American-made tools available from JC Penney. I'm too young to remember when that was a thing. I have some older SK flare but wrenches as well as combos, and the stamping is identical. I don't know which incarnation of SK that was (i.e., ownership), but it's the same as the combo wrench shown at the beginning of this thread. They do look similar to vintage Snap-on, but a little off. It's SK for sure.

 

[Tallpilot]

It's shocking to see such high-quality American-made tools available from JC Penney. I'm too young to remember when that was a thing. I have some older SK flare but wrenches as well as combos, and the stamping is identical. I don't know which incarnation of SK that was (i.e., ownership), but it's the same as the combo wrench shown at the beginning of this thread. They do look similar to vintage Snap-on, but a little off. It's SK for sure.

That's a real shame isn't it? Real American steel in a department store. Now you pretty much need to be a tool geek to even know where to purchase a US made wrench and it's going to cost you way more than JC Penney prices.

 

[The Fall]

That's a real shame isn't it? Real American steel in a department store. Now you pretty much need to be a tool geek to even know where to purchase a US made wrench and it's going to cost you way more than JC Penney prices.

Big time. I just purchased a set of Williams 1/4" deep SAE sockets earlier today (made in USA) when, honestly, I would've just gone to JC Penneys had this been the 1970s! I was chatting with my wife about it today when we went for a walk. Her response was, "We should've been born decades earlier."