OP
four.cycle
Well-known member
are you missing any? 
My Small But Growing 1/4" drive Socket Set Collection
- Thread starter four.cycle
- Start date
PowderKeg
Well-known member
Well according to my self-diagnosed OCD I'm ALWAYS missing some... 
.
Fortunately (for my wallet) I'm also a cheap @ss, so I tend to miss more than I pick up.
. Fortunately (for my wallet) I'm also a cheap @ss, so I tend to miss more than I pick up.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
A care package arrived from 4.c yesterday with the mysterious Walden-Worcester 39120-20 9/32-drive socket sets that we have been discussing on the 'Old Walden-Worcester' thread. MR. X helped identify these as previously unrecognized military and probably prewar USN origin and I am excited to research them as I am to try to complete the sets.
But there was nothing funny about the contents of the unexpected third item in the box, which has thrown me for a serious loop!
More on that set soon in the Blackhawk thread...
But there was nothing funny about the contents of the unexpected third item in the box, which has thrown me for a serious loop!
More on that set soon in the Blackhawk thread...
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Picked up a pair of 1/4-inch drive midget sets at the flea market this morning. One set (G.M. Co.) is from the "Cheap but Iconic" category and the other set (CRAFTSMAN =V=) are legitimate tools but from outside my time collecting window.
Here's the G.M. Co. set.
Here's the G.M. Co. set.
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Here's the Heritage era =CRAFTSMAN= =V= set. I know next to nothing about this era, but after paging through a few catalogs, it seems as though they introduced this box with the individual socket holes between 1952 and 1954. It's missing the 5/16"-6 pointer, and probably a pair of extensions. On the other hand, unless I am just missing it, it has a few extras that aren't shown in typical sets, including the two adaptors (1/4F to 3/8M, 1/4M to 3/8F), the screwdriver bit (marked "039"), and a universal joint. Happy to see the tommy bar for the hinge handle.
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OP
four.cycle
Well-known member
^ Your new G.M. set is in really good shape - usually either the 1/4" or 5/16" socket is rounded out. I have a couple of those with that whacky miniature "Frankenstein" ratchet.
That Craftsman set, unless I'm mistaken, didn't originally contain either the adapters or the universal joint. Lucky find on the tommy bar.
That Craftsman set, unless I'm mistaken, didn't originally contain either the adapters or the universal joint. Lucky find on the tommy bar.
d42jeep
Well-known member
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
That's the same page I was looking at in the 1954 catalog to understand what I was missing, 4.c. Someone bought some nice extra accoutrements for their set, which will be a whopping and well-appointed 19-piecer once I find the 5/16-6 and extensions.That Craftsman set, unless I'm mistaken, didn't originally contain either the adapters or the universal joint. Lucky find on the tommy bar.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
4.c
Just a little interesting update on this subject. I was saying on the Old Walden thread, where the subject first broke, that Walden did not make 9/32-drive tools during WWII, that they were known for supplying the 41-W-2615 1/4-drive sets found in GMTK's. But I forgot that I had these two orphan pieces. A cadmium-plated flex extension (7264) and a universal joint (7276). Obviously part of a 9/32-drive set that had 72xx part numbers, possibly wartime. And with the martial "US" markings, almost certainly military. As bonnyeman pointed out on the other Walden thread, the 9/32-drive uni joint seems unusual, and perhaps unique, unless someone can think of another example from another mfgr.
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duddly
Well-known member
GM Co.
I just picked up this GM Co. Driv-O-Socket set. Technically it is a hex set, but I am posting it because it is made by the same company that makes the little 10 piece 1/4 ratchet set that shows up from time to time. I thought it was interesting because it is the first time I have seen anything else from GM Co.
I just picked up this GM Co. Driv-O-Socket set. Technically it is a hex set, but I am posting it because it is made by the same company that makes the little 10 piece 1/4 ratchet set that shows up from time to time. I thought it was interesting because it is the first time I have seen anything else from GM Co.
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Catfishdan
Well-known member
I have a black oxide finish Walden flex extension in 9/32” drive. Also labeled 7264. This one has a faint “U.S.” Stamp in addition to the regular markings.
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Here is a 9/32 Craftsman Vanadium set. Missing the 5/16", maybe someone has one to sell....
View attachment D7I_0114.jpg
View attachment D7I_0114.jpg
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Jianis
Member
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Because of the Indestro-ish pseudo beaver tail? The oddly bulky construction of the head? the knurled button dial selector? Or?
3baygarage
Well-known member
It’s just one of those you don’t see every day, between the brand and the drive size.The overall appearance/style, plus the very thin handle thickness. Can't be very nice to use for long periods.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
True that. Strange how permanently their double flex socket head wrenches have been crescented into our lexicon, though!
Thanks, just curious. Maybe that's what's making the head look even thicker. At first I thought maybe it swiveled the way it sits so high above the frame like that. Not sure why it's not flush.
3baygarage
Well-known member
Crescented, I like that term. Sounds better than Vise-Gripped or Channellocked.
As for the Saltus, this is the wrench I posted earlier in the year. Authentic German. Bad photos, just want to compare the two because it looks like the same font as on the ratchet. Sorry to get off track, but since the name was mentioned.
As for the Saltus, this is the wrench I posted earlier in the year. Authentic German. Bad photos, just want to compare the two because it looks like the same font as on the ratchet. Sorry to get off track, but since the name was mentioned.
Thanks for posting this. The script looks similar to me as well. I believe Saltus supplied tooling to the German military at some point. It's been super hard finding any vintage info for his brand.Crescented, I like that term. Sounds better than Vise-Gripped or Channellocked.
As for the Saltus, this is the wrench I posted earlier in the year. Authentic German. Bad photos, just want to compare the two because it looks like the same font as on the ratchet. Sorry to get off track, but since the name was mentioned.
d42jeep
Well-known member
Thrilled to announce that I have recently acquired this Navy NAF 1108-1 wartime midget set, made by the Philadelphia Manufacturing Company, in a long-distance international trade.
The backstory on this set is a classic GJ saga.
For those with short memories, I found an unusual spinner and sliding tee back in 2018. They were extra chunky, from much bigger stock than any midget set tools I had ever seen before, and unmarked. They were soon ID’d by Odes as Phila. Mfg Co., but nobody, including me, paid any attention to the rest of the decal in the fuzzy photos he posted of his set.
A few months later, OTG bought “a weird set” on eBay, linked here, apparently not remembering that earlier discussion and not making the connection to my orphans and the ID of them as Phila. Mfg. Co. His photos were clearer and the label was unmistakable. It was a partial NAF 1108-1 set, missing only one socket and the extension. A little research by me uncovered all of their WWII contracts…
…and photos of the set list in the Navy ASO catalog Class 41...
...and Don’s Plomb and UNAIU’s Williams NAF 1108-1 sets, respectively, demonstrated the exact same labels.
This set is perfectly complete. That near-white stuff on the sockets is a phosphate finish, and it can also be seen on the handles, just less of it remaining. They were milled, not forged, and cold-broached, without being finished inside to remove the thin leftover broaching fragments.
This Philadelphia Manufacturing Company box arrived in the mail today. Lugz mentioned that he has some spares for me. If anybody else has any in with their orphans it would be great to complete this set.
-Don
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Nice to see a third (fourth counting Len's offboard set...) box! The fat spinner and sliding T - which remained unidentified until Otg bought his complete set on eBay, will be headed your way tomorrow.
bmwrd0
Well-known member
I might have a fat spinner, I will throw it in the Don box.
d42jeep
Well-known member
If anybody has some of these odd looking sockets to spare, I would appreciate adding them to my new Philadelphia set.This Philadelphia Manufacturing Company box arrived in the mail today. Lugz mentioned that he has some spares for me. If anybody else has any in with their orphans it would be great to complete this set.
-Don
-Don
OP
four.cycle
Well-known member
wow.... hard to believe you managed to put that one together.... I guess maybe a few of my crazy emails do serve a purpose.
well done.
well done.
d42jeep
Well-known member
Those aren’t my sockets, unfortunately. The picture came from my tool collecting buddy in the U.K. I do have the box you alerted me to and Lugz has sent a couple of key pieces, now I just need sockets like the examples above.wow.... hard to believe you managed to put that one together.... I guess maybe a few of my crazy emails do serve a purpose.
well done.
-Don
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
He does have the spinner and sliding T though! The sockets are going to be hens teeth, methinks.
OP
four.cycle
Well-known member
OH! Okay, I misunderstood.
I'll keep my eye out, but I cannot recall seeing anything along that line listed on Ebay other than that box.
He'll find the missing sockets for that set before you find a replacement for that rounded-out 9/32" drive 1/4" 12-point Walden-Worcester socket you're missing, and right before I find the 9/32" drive 1/4" 12-point socket missing from my "C" series Craftsman set.
I'll keep my eye out, but I cannot recall seeing anything along that line listed on Ebay other than that box.
Private Lugnutz said:
He'll find the missing sockets for that set before you find a replacement for that rounded-out 9/32" drive 1/4" 12-point Walden-Worcester socket you're missing, and right before I find the 9/32" drive 1/4" 12-point socket missing from my "C" series Craftsman set.
Hi All
Again, not exactly a 1/4" set contribution from me... Don't know where else to post it.
I would like to know the origin of this set, before I clean it up and maybe restore
The outside of the box is completely shot so I want to try color matching the darker red inside and re-paint it. One of the ends of the box seem to have been altered, it has been curved?
Apart from "MADE IN U.S.A" on all parts, the only other marking I have found is "PATENTED DEC. 12. 1822" on the L -handle.
The six sockets (looks to be missing one?) are marked: 7-8, 3-4, 11-16, 5-8, 9-16 and 1-2.
Thank you
Again, not exactly a 1/4" set contribution from me... Don't know where else to post it.
I would like to know the origin of this set, before I clean it up and maybe restore
The outside of the box is completely shot so I want to try color matching the darker red inside and re-paint it. One of the ends of the box seem to have been altered, it has been curved?
Apart from "MADE IN U.S.A" on all parts, the only other marking I have found is "PATENTED DEC. 12. 1822" on the L -handle.
The six sockets (looks to be missing one?) are marked: 7-8, 3-4, 11-16, 5-8, 9-16 and 1-2.
Thank you
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
It's 1922, and the L-handle probably doesn't belong to that set, originally. The patent (1,438,900), for an open style holder called a "Handle Lock" in which the L-handle does double duty as the handle, laying across the top of the sockets and keeping them in place, was owned by a guy named Henry Chase. Chase initially tried to make a go of it on his own with his own company, called the Handle Lock Company, but he was soon bought out by New Britain, who used the design and the name on their early hex drive socket wrench kits.
Based on the style of the container (hinging from the end, with those cutouts for grabbing it), the sockets, and the markings, the kit looks like it could be New Britain/None Better. Either a PO put the L-handle in there from a Handle Lock style container or NB was using up new old stock L-handles and issued it to that set despite the patent referencing a different type of holder.
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Yes, of course 1922, sorry for the typo...
What about the rest? I have looket at Indestro and Dunlap without finding ratchet or sockets...
Thank you!
d42jeep
Well-known member
New Britain/None Better, as Lugz says above. Here is a link to AA showing the sockets.
-Don
The New Britain Machine Company [Page 1]
Page 1 of an article on the New Britain Machine Company.
alloy-artifacts.org
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
And here is a little NB made Husky branded Handle Lock type set that I own with the same sockets.
I have to admit, I don't recall seeing that container before, with the ratchet stored in the lid, atop the sockets when closed. That's a neat one.
I have to admit, I don't recall seeing that container before, with the ratchet stored in the lid, atop the sockets when closed. That's a neat one.
Thank you
Thank you!
Maybe it is a mix but I like it
What about the darker red, wine color, inside of the box? Can that give any clues?Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
As I said, I've never seen that container before, and I'm not too familiar with other None Better hex sets. I do own a 3/8-square drive New Britian set in a red wine finish box. You could try AA or lA/ITCL (see link in Sticky) or looking through old ads (Google Books). Even though they're almost always black and white, the text may include the color. Personally, if it was mine, and I had already decided to restore it, I would just go with the wine red. If it's "wrong" it's not going to offend anyone or anything, and the set is not high value. Except to you, in which case you're right back to your own preference.
OP
four.cycle
Well-known member
I'd go with NB on that set because of the design of the ratchet. The Sherman-Klove 105 and the Indestro 1308 both have rivets along the length of the handle, and (unless I'm mistaken) so also does the Walden "Tomahawk" model.
I have an old NB set kinda-sorta like that, although mine never contained a ratchet - just the sockets and "ell" handle - and it's painted with black wrinkle paint.
Somewhere around here is a "hex drive" thread somebody started a few years ago, but I can never find it when these sets come up.
I have an old NB set kinda-sorta like that, although mine never contained a ratchet - just the sockets and "ell" handle - and it's painted with black wrinkle paint.
Somewhere around here is a "hex drive" thread somebody started a few years ago, but I can never find it when these sets come up.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I picked up this New Brilliams (TM)(C) set at the flea this morning.
