Let's see your Herbrand!

[Marvin Berry]

Did Herbrand ever make a bullet handle 3/8 ratchet? I have a bullet handle breaker bar, and would love to put together a small set that matches.

 

[alinc100]

Short answer is yes. Here is a link to Google images should be able to match up with your breaker bar. https://tinyurl.com/97a488au

 

[Marvin Berry]

I don't see a single 3/8 bullet handle Herbrand in that Google search at all. 1/2 yes, but no 3/8.

Here's my bar:

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's a 3/8

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Did Herbrand ever make a bullet handle 3/8 ratchet?

Ratchets, flex-heads and speeders (for 3/8- and 1/2-inch drive only) below 3/4-inch drive all had bullet handles, apparently for one year only: 1948. If you want to see all the pieces in the 3/8-inch drive set, see pages 7 and 8 in Catalog No. 54 (1948) at IA/ITCL. If you look in No. 54M published in 1949, they were already gone. Curiously, around the exact same time that Blackhawk dallied with the same design.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

There was 1/4 as well

 

[Private Lugnutz]

There was 1/4 as well

Yup. I have two.

Ratchets, flex-heads and speeders (for 3/8- and 1/2-inch drive only) below 3/4-inch drive all had bullet handles

The "only" here refers to speeders.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Good info. Here's the 3/8 speeder breaker and ratchet with a bunch of 3/8 stuff.

 

[alinc100]

I don't see a single 3/8 bullet handle Herbrand in that Google search at all. 1/2 yes, but no 3/8.

Here's my bar:

There are a few in the Google Search, look harder. Now thanks to others with the ratchet available, and more knowledge than I ,we now know you are looking for a J-10 from 1948 or so. Note: In the Google search a picture from WorthPoint comes up several times with a J-10 bullet.

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[jabberwoki]

Old analyzer

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked up this little cutie at the flea this morning. It has a 1/4" opening. I don't recall seeing single box end hex wrenches like this before. From the round finely-knurled handle to the offset, it's a nicely done tool. Not sure of the era. Looks postwar. Guessing 60's.

 

[454ragtop]

Lugzs, nice wrench, I suspect it is for brake bleeders.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's a good bet.

 

[bmwrd0]

Somewhere around here I have one of those little Herbrand SOEs. They are cute!

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Guessing 60's.

Well, my guess was right. @four.cycle found it in the 1966 cat.

They were made in several sizes.

Not according to the 1966 cat they weren't.



Some of the other brake service tools on the rest of the page make some specific application call outs (e.g., Chrysler), but I find this one fascinatingly odd.

I'm going to write a nice letter to Tim Lee, the owner of this hot 1966 Rambler American, and suggest that I either send him the wrench, or he sends me the car!

 

[bmwrd0]

In high school, a friends older brother had a very nice mid-sixties Ramble convertible hopped up in period style. I always loved that car, a nice change from the Mustangs and Novas.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...a nice change from the Mustangs and Novas.

'Zackly!

 

[Ricky Joe]

Well, my guess was right. @four.cycle found it in the 1966 cat.

Not according to the 1966 cat they weren't.



Some of the other brake service tools on the rest of the page make some specific application call outs (e.g., Chrysler), but I find this one fascinatingly odd.

I'm going to write a nice letter to Tim Lee, the owner of this hot 1966 Rambler American, and suggest that I either send him the wrench, or he sends me the car!

Maybe not in the 1966 catalog, but I have seen the 7/16” version. They may not have made the 3/8” or 5/16”, two other popular brake bleeder sizes, but it is hard to imagine they didn’t. I have the other style, one labeled “Herbrand”, the other not marked, but exactly the same.

 

[four.cycle]

^

Have you picked through a Herbrand catalog lately? Stuff is scattered all over - every issue. I was actually surprised that I found that one so easily... usually takes me much longer to find Herbrand stuff in those books - their organization is just whacky.

 

[LNKMK8]

Here is a new one for me... a Valve Stem Nut Wrench No. 174

 

[Provincial]

I assume for the packing nuts on water and steam valves?

 

[Ricky Joe]

I assume for the packing nuts on water and steam valves?

The valve stem wrench is for the older balloon tires, that had a nut on the outside of the tube to hold it to the wheel. This would have been for early models with wooden wheels.

 

[Provincial]

The valve stem wrench is for the older balloon tires, that had a nut on the outside of the tube to hold it to the wheel. This would have been for early models with wooden wheels.

Interesting. The nuts I'm familiar with were all 3/4" hex or smaller, but they were 1/4" extra fine threads.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Interesting. The nuts I'm familiar with were all 3/4" hex or smaller, but they were 1/4" extra fine threads.

I should have looked closer at the size. Herbrand made a smaller version of this wrench with 11/16” and 3/4” sizes. Perhaps this one is for White or Mack trucks, or other large wheel vehicles. I know Pierce-Arrow had a 21” wheel. Otherwise, I don’t know specifically, and I promise to look closer in future.

 

[4x4Pete]

A bit of a funny story related to Herbrand. A buddy and I worked part time evenings and weekends for a heat treating plant in our senior year of high school in the mid 80's
They had a trial run woth Herbrand to treat some combination wrenches. We saw stuff get over treated amd warped and what not while the management and metallurgical staff figured out the proper sequences. Anyway some of the untreated wrenches found their way into our possession. We bent one 5/8 combi wrench into a curl so that the handle part looked as though it had been bent around a piece of 1/2" pipe in a complete loop. One day at school the principal saw one of us with this bent wrench, sent us to the office and then he had the shop teacher come over to see if it was a stolen shop tool. The shop teacher had one look and said " How the f@#$ did you do that!?!?" The principal looked at him shocked that he swore. The shop teacher then laughed and said it wasn't a school shop tool. The principal confiscated it anyway. Later the shop teacher had it and figured out what was going on. I bet he kept it to play jokes on his buddies.

 

[Mintgrun]

Searching the thread for [battery pliers] and [no. 179] did not show pliers like these, so I'll share the ones I found today.




I don't need another pair of battery terminal pliers, but I'm a sucker for that banner-tail-d logo, so I splurged and spent three bux.



AA refers to it as the Script Logo and says this about the SINCE 1881 marking --

• Herbrand Script Logo with "Since 1881". Herbrand tools were frequently marked with the fancy script logo, with "Fremont, O." appearing in the underline and "U.S.A." below and to the right. A small number of tools have been found with the "U.S.A." marking replaced by "Since 1881", and the style of these tools places them in the early 1930s. We now believe that the change in markings may have been done just in 1931, in order to mark the 50th anniversary of the company's founding.

Here they are with the rest of my odd assortment.

 

[3baygarage]

4” adjustable
No 21-4

 

[humber2]

Here is a new one for me... a Valve Stem Nut Wrench No. 174

Without a Catalog entry to verify I think this is for rear tractor tire tubes which have quite large stems to facilitate adding ballast water.

 

[Ricky Joe]

A bit of a funny story related to Herbrand. A buddy and I worked part time evenings and weekends for a heat treating plant in our senior year of high school in the mid 80's
They had a trial run woth Herbrand to treat some combination wrenches. We saw stuff get over treated amd warped and what not while the management and metallurgical staff figured out the proper sequences. Anyway some of the untreated wrenches found their way into our possession. We bent one 5/8 combi wrench into a curl so that the handle part looked as though it had been bent around a piece of 1/2" pipe in a complete loop. One day at school the principal saw one of us with this bent wrench, sent us to the office and then he had the shop teacher come over to see if it was a stolen shop tool. The shop teacher had one look and said " How the f@#$ did you do that!?!?" The principal looked at him shocked that he swore. The shop teacher then laughed and said it wasn't a school shop tool. The principal confiscated it anyway. Later the shop teacher had it and figured out what was going on. I bet he kept it to play jokes on his buddies.

I absolutely despise the mindset that some “educators” have that they can treat students with disrespect and assume that they can assert their small minded will over other human beings. To assume that it was a stolen tool with no evidence, and then keep it once the evidence proves out to be that it was not stolen is only matched by prosecutors who pursue convictions in spite of exculpatory evidence. The only difference is one of degree. Both show a blatant disregard for others that they would not accept were positions reversed. Personal exceptionalism is an ugly trait.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Finger ratchet set I had out for cleaning today

 

[Provincial]

I found this wrench in a group of rusty DOE's at the Branch 15 swap meet Friday. I threw it in my pile simply because it looked interesting. I cleaned off the rust when I got home, and discovered the "H in a diamond" forge mark of Herbrand. The part number isn't normal Herbrand, so I suspect it was supplied to some company that included it in a maintenance kit.



I would describe it as either a "double ended hook spanner" or a "packing nut wrench." The hook nubs look too thick to fit standard bearing nuts. It probably was used on a nut that looked like this:

 

[genog]

Found a Herbrand and a Barcalo today

 

[Ricky Joe]

I found this wrench in a group of rusty DOE's at the Branch 15 swap meet Friday. I threw it in my pile simply because it looked interesting. I cleaned off the rust when I got home, and discovered the "H in a diamond" forge mark of Herbrand. The part number isn't normal Herbrand, so I suspect it was supplied to some company that included it in a maintenance kit.



I would describe it as either a "double ended hook spanner" or a "packing nut wrench." The hook nubs look too thick to fit standard bearing nuts. It probably was used on a nut that looked like this:

I think that wrench was made for Ford model A and T fan hubs.

 

[jabberwoki]

Finger ratchet set I had out for cleaning today

Great now I need one

 

[RTM]

Here is one that may be a first for this thread, didn't see any when flipping through all the pictures, this # 3825 does not come up. I'm gonna have to show my ignorance here. I always thought that ratcheting box wrenches were a 70s invention (when I started using tools a bit more seriously), but flipping back through Herbrand catalogs, this one goes back a ways. The patent on this is from 1947, to the A&E Mfg Co, and was licensed to many people.

Grabbed this at a GS in the next town north, guy I've been to before. The custom paint job matches some tools I found at another hoarder's sale some years back, so wonder if they passed through the same hands. Several buddies grabbed even more colored tools, was kind of a joke for a while. Also bought a big metal chisel, and a pair of vise grip sheet metal grabbers of the same color.

Herbrand 3825 ratcheting box wrench, 1/2" x 9/16" Pat No.2,500,835 Made in USA

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's an interesting screwdriver

 

[bonneyman]

Here's an interesting screwdriver

Not a T-handle, but a T-driver! Love that Herbrand Blue!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Yes that blue is cool! I may try to polish it up