Let's see your Herbrand!

[Footpusher]

First-time post! Hopefully I don't screw it up!

I have a thing for Herbrand: my Grandpa used a lot of it when he was a mechanic in Absarokee, Montana, from about 1925 to 1940. I got all of his tools, and they were well used. I treasure them.

But for my first post, I want to share my favorite tool find ever: these flex-wrenches that I found in a pawn shop in Florida. I think they are pretty rare, and in particular the metric ones - just based on that I've very rarely seen them when poking around on the web (let alone at pawn shops and garage sales). Not sure about the date of manufacture (if anyone has a clue, please speak up). Appears that the 7/16 end has been repaired with a roll pin.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Herbrand flexbox wrenches started in the 30s. I have never seen a metric set. Nice find!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Spectacular, Footpusher.

Concur with Otg, but with those markings, they would be 1942 or later. Herbrand dropped their script logo in favor of a more simple block lettering during the war. They also dropped their VAN-CHROME (vanadium chrome) branding around the same time due to alloy restrictions, but they could be as late as 1943. Metric size options are not advertised in the 1937 or 1942 catalogs, so those are not only special order, but might have been by request special order. I really like the millimeters markings.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Yes the mm marking is in a nice script

 

[Spike01]

Model 32100 swivel head 3/8 drive

 

[Footpusher]

Here's a follow-up to my Flex-Box post from yesterday. I inadvertently missed the big-guy: the 22 & 21 mm. So, here it is. Photo 1 is of the set of metric wrenches, for perspective. And BTW, it's pretty cool to post some vintage tool photos, and get expert feedback on them, in minutes/hours!

 

[Footpusher]

Here are my T 21-24 tappet wrenches. All CAP letters. I am 96 percent sure that my Grandpa used these in Montana between the late 20s and late 30s. Some of these were in the bottom kitchen drawer of my parent's houses since the at least the early 60s. (And on the garage floors, the basement floors, you name it). I've had adult-ish custody of them since the early 1980s. They mean more and more to me as I get older.

 

[Footpusher]

Here's my script-branded tappet wrenches, H 1-3. I think I've scored all of these from garage sales and Re-Stores. I'm not sure about dates of manufacture

 

[four.cycle]

Those T21-T22-T23-T24 tappet wrenches are gorgeous. Earlier Herbrand did indeed have style.
I was unable to find your metric flex-head wrenches in any of the catalogs I have here.
It was easy to find your tappet wrenches in the 1940 catalog.



* The T21, T22, T23, and T24 do not appear in the 1937 catalog No. 50M. The same style is available, but the part numbers assigned to them were T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5.

* The H1, H2, H3, and H4 "Van Chrome" model tappet wrenches are shown in the 1937 catalog No. 50M.

* Both the H1, H2, H3, H4 "Van Chrome" models and the T21, T22, T23, and T24 "Van Chrome Master" models appear in the 1941 catalog No. 53M.

* Both series appear as well in the 1948 catalog No. 54M

* The 1954 catalog No. 55M offers only the "Van Chrome Master" models T21 T22 T23 and T24 - the standard "Van Chrome" models H1 H2 H3 and H4 do not appear.

* The next catalog I have is a 1966, published after Herbrand was purchased, so what is shown there wouldn't apply to what you have.

 

[d42jeep]

Here are all of my Herbrand tappet wrenches. I posted some of them upthread. First are the script style, next the block style. The third shot is the one I found on Friday. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of my drain plug wrenches together.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here are my T 21-24 tappet wrenches.

All inheritances are special, but those are rare and not easy to find. As 4.c pointed out, they were first introduced in the 1937 catalog, when Herbrand first started using the term "Ultra" as a branding term. I don't know how old you are, but I always get a kick out of seeing that, since "Ultraman" was one of my favorite tv shows as a kid. That paneled, streamline style was echoed in similar styling tics on the Ultra Box wrenches.

I posted a set of the Vanadiums in a roll-up earlier in the thread, linked here.

 

[wrenchguy]

A few from the shop mix-mash drawer.




From the bigger mix-mash drawer.

 

[thisistheshow]

I am new here, and relatively new to vintage tools. This is my only Herbrand. I actually picked it up just a few days ago.

 

[tealetm]

Just picked this up today.

 

[jusridin]

Just picked this up today.

That's nice!
.... can I have it?

 

[jusridin]

Welcome to GJ Teal!
What did you pay? Where did you pick it up at? I am jealous, been looking for on of those for awhile. That looks to be in great condition!

 

[tealetm]

That's nice!
.... can I have it?

It would be a possibility if it wasn't so heavy to ship!

 

[tealetm]

I got a good deal on it. I'm not a collector, I just enjoy usable vintage tools so I grabbed this up pretty quickly when I saw it on Craigslist. I've done some research on them (which brought me to this website and thread) but there isn't a lot of information out there on them. Nice solid construction.

And it came with the original tool tray too

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Anyone and everyone who has more than a dozen or so Herbrand tools would kill for that box. I know twertsy has one. I'm not sure I can name anyone else with one off the top of my head. Like jusridin, I've been hoping to run into one in the wild for quite a few years now. Nice find.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I am new here, and relatively new to vintage tools. This is my only Herbrand. I actually picked it up just a few days ago.

Welcome. Interestingly, your one and only Herbrand wrench further confirms a concept we only just learned about a few days ago: that Herbrand was apparently making and selling metric tools in the script logo VAN-CHROME 30's not indicated in their catalogs. EDIT: I take that back. That wrench looks like it might be postwar, when they went back to the script logo VAN-CHROME. Footpusher's metric Multiflex wrenches might be 50's, too. I just found metric versions of their wrenches including open, box, combo, and multiflex in the 1966 catalog, when they were a division of Kelsey-Hayes.

 

[Footpusher]

Here's my DBEs

 

[Footpusher]

Here's my combos. MGC = Grandpa!

 

[Footpusher]

3/8 ratchet (challenge to photograph)

 

[Footpusher]

Obstructo Box Wrench
DOE
Metal box O tappets. An example of learning the hard way, that I can clean it, strip the paint off, clean it again, prime it, and paint it; but if I just use normal spray paint, it's not good enough for metal-metal tools in tool boxes...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Well, like Don, I now have a No. 193 (just picked it up this morning at the flea market...) and a No. 194 wrench, so I can now handle all female and male drain plugs just by reaching into my Herbrand box. Also picked up a No. 276 battery terminal wrench.

 

[d42jeep]

My Herbrand finds today were these two cad plated ignition wrenches with the block lettering. #81 & #83.
-Don

 

[outofbounds]

The contents of a "take-all" Herbrand box I picked up this weekend......forgive the intrusion of the Billings Slip Groove pliers.

 

[four.cycle]

^ interesting design on the brake spoon.

 

[lardy1]

I'm digging the ratcheting adapter.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked this up at the flea market today. Looks like an old spark plug and cylinder head wrench, perhaps. Some kind of Ford service wrench. Model number 2336. It has the older script and the forge mark on it.

 

[DD T/A]

Herbrand 362P phillips screwdriver. Also says Van-Chrome

 

[lardy1]

Redundantly, I post a piece of Herbrand from this mornings flea market.

 

[bonneyman]

Herbrand 362P phillips screwdriver. Also says Van-Chrome

Just love the baby blue Herbrand drivers.

 

[DD T/A]

I offered 50¢ and the guy wouldn't do it so I walked. ...But I couldn't stop thinking how'd I'd never seen a Herbrand plastic handle before. He wanted $1 and I gave it to him.

 

[LesserSon]

A question about what Alloy Artifacts describes as the “CFT-Oval”, found stamped on some Herbrand tools:
Do we know what C-F-T stands for? Is it Creighton Fuller Thompson (1889-1964)? Does that suggest a particular span of manufacturing years? I googled up a picture of his father, Charles Thompson (1839-1922).

 

[outofbounds]

I offered 50¢ and the guy wouldn't do it so I walked. ...But I couldn't stop thinking how'd I'd never seen a Herbrand plastic handle before. He wanted $1 and I gave it to him.

I love it! It's not just ME!

 

[zeeke]

My Herbrand toolbox. Before & After. The pics were taken back in 2009.

 

[misterbill]

Found this Herbie today. Just posting so the brand gets some lovin'.

Bill

 

[JoCoSawdust]

My Herbrand toolbox. Before & After. The pics were taken back in 2009.

Great work on that chest. Looks fantastic.

 

[d42jeep]

Found this Herbie today. Just posting so the brand gets some lovin'.

Bill

My wife found these today so they came home with us. I’m not sure why.
-Don