New Tool History Site

[twertsy]

Some of you know I've been diligently working on a new tool history site. This came about as a consequence of whatever life changes the AA site owner has been / is experiencing. I know we all wish him all the best. That said, there have been many revelations and discoveries since he quit editing his AA site, and they've not been captured anywhere but random forum posts and are doomed to be lost unless someone fixes it.

I've spent 3 weeks and 2 days so far on this site, with the help of many folks from here, other sites, and some folks that don't frequent forums. I have a new found respect for just how much effort went into the AA site! We are nowhere near the content they have where they left off, but we're working on it, and we've found many new discoveries already! So, I'd like to invite you to take a look around, register if you feel compelled, and contribute what / when you can. Unlike AA, I've designed this site so any registered member can contribute pictures, knowledge or whatever to any and all of the content, AND WE NEED CONTENT. This way, I feel we will capture a much broader knowledge base and ultimately become THE source for old tool identification, dating, etc. The vast majority of information is in Plomb and Bonney, but we're working other sections as well.

Just this morning I discovered 2 new company acquisitions on the part of Plomb, previously undocumented! Those are under the "Timelines & Case Studies" tab, under the Plomb timeline.

My current project is a "webified" catalog browser where users will be able to explore, sort, combine, discover production dates, etc. of 1,d, 3 or all catalogs at the same time. All catalog data will be stored in tables so, for example, one could select a given socket set, and view it's contents/configuration over it's entire lifespan, all in one spot. By the end of the week, I'll also be adding the capability for anyone to upload their catalog scans as well.

Ladies & Gents, this is a LOT of work and we could use all the help we can get. So, register and post up your knowledge! Last important note: Do NOT copy ANYTHING from the AA site. I humbly request anyone who contributes respect his wishes, which again, are to not use ANY of his content.

www.toolarchives.com

Thanks! Todd.

 

[woody 73]

Oh **** now I went and did it I forgot my pass word codes again, getting old *****!

 

[twertsy]

Oh **** now I went and did it I forgot my pass word codes again, getting old *****!

No worries Woody............Sent you an email with new pass.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Thanks for starting the new site... Best of wishes.

 

[twertsy]

Thanks RC, and to all those who have registered so far..........I'm trying to keep up approving accounts! This is a community effort and all of those who've registered and contributed already are greatly appreciated!

 

[notlob]

Hats off to Twertsy for taking on such an ambitious project!

 

[gipraw]

Wow. Looks like a lot of work. Thanks for taking it on.

 

[DuroChrome]

The site looks good. I don't have a lot to add except a few catalogs I need to scan and a cool Proto toolboard I bought. It would be really cool if the owner of alloy artifacts allowed you to reference the site via hot link or credit, if only so that you didn't have swap back and forth. I love that site and am enjoying the new one so far!

 

[woody 73]

twertsy Hi, I sent you a pm via the GJ.

Not to scare the bejeebus out of you but are you opening up the door to the troll world on your new site?

 

[Alan Douglas]

I'm looking down the list of vise makers, and seeing no Parker, ??? Ah, there they are, under "Chas. Parker." A cross-reference would fix that. Don't see any Athol either.

 

[twertsy]

Thanks Alan, we'll get there. Although I own more than a dozen vises (including a Starrett Athol and Parker), I'm no expert. That's why I'm asking for y'alls help!

 

[twertsy]

twertsy Hi, I sent you a pm via the GJ.

Not to scare the bejeebus out of you but are you opening up the door to the troll world on your new site?

Well, here's how I look at it Woody. This is NOT a forum, it's a history site. If comments aren't about the correct context, either contributing or discussing historical points, I'll simply get rid of them.

 

[taumac]

Thanks Twertsy. Should be a great website to learn from.

 

[woody 73]

I tried sending just one picture but I am having such a hard time I am sure I am doing something wrong just not sure what it is?

 

[snapmom]

I tried sending just one picture but I am having such a hard time I am sure I am doing something wrong just not sure what it is?

You have to resize your pic to below 1M

 

[twertsy]

I could make the size limit bigger but I don't want it to take forever for pages to load for those who don't have fast connections. Woody, what you can do is open the pic in Paint, then resize to 50% and save.

 

[woody 73]

No problems don't worry I am sure it will be like working on a Nuclear Sub Reactor room.
Darn now I have to bribe my kids for help...

 

[jask]

Wow! just had a look and my hat is off to you- that is a very ambitious undertaking! I will register and try to add at least a few things
If you develop the chronological time line can I suggest that changes in logo or nameplates could be a hyperlink header? also how will you handle content such as catalogues and manufacturers literature? will you be linking to outside sites or hosting all of the content? do you have a standard permissions request for content you want to copy from other hosts/ sites?

 

[sha]

I appreciate anyone contributing, just a thought:

New Craftsman code CM? I saw this topic linked from your thread, CM is known and talked about more on other sites than this one. I have found them myself in the wild and have seen them fairly regularly for sale online. I'm unsure if you want to know more about it because it was a personal find but there are more unusual and scarce Craftsman codes. Because of how they appear, were made and packaged, it is fairly agreed upon that it is Snap On but a different code was used.

 

[sselander]

There is a bunchof stuff I could add, but I would have go through what I have archived.
There is stuff that comes up on ebay occasionally that would be nice to capture as well.
(I am thinking of pics)
A lot of stuff has gone through this forum, and pics have been lost due to the pics hosted on other sites.

 

[Plombob]

I tried sending just one picture but I am having such a hard time I am sure I am doing something wrong just not sure what it is?

Hey Woody - A simple solution is to use "FastStone Photo Resizer". It's a free tool and has a lot of features. I use it for all of my posts.

Twertsy - You've laid a great foundation for us to build on. Thank you! I know how much work it takes to build a site from the ground up.

 

[twertsy]

Wow! just had a look and my hat is off to you- that is a very ambitious undertaking! I will register and try to add at least a few things
If you develop the chronological time line can I suggest that changes in logo or nameplates could be a hyperlink header? also how will you handle content such as catalogues and manufacturers literature? will you be linking to outside sites or hosting all of the content? do you have a standard permissions request for content you want to copy from other hosts/ sites?

Absolutely agree on the timelines. If you (or anyone) wants to post comments to document a "logo history/timeline," I'll create it. Currently, the timelines will look like the Plomb, Craftsman, etc. ones. In the near future however, I'll be upgrading the timeline "look" where you'll be able to scroll across time like a traditional timeline. In terms of outside sourced items, if it's not "mine," I usually link to the source (see the snap-on catalogs section for example). When grabbing pictures from old books/magazines, I always appropriately quote the source and include the "media link" to the source as well. I do not have a standard "request form," but perhaps that's not a bad idea? I've been sending email requests thus far such as the P&C site has given permission to use their content, etc.

I appreciate anyone contributing, just a thought:

New Craftsman code CM? I saw this topic linked from your thread, CM is known and talked about more on other sites than this one. I have found them myself in the wild and have seen them fairly regularly for sale online. I'm unsure if you want to know more about it because it was a personal find but there are more unusual and scarce Craftsman codes. Because of how they appear, were made and packaged, it is fairly agreed upon that it is Snap On but a different code was used.

The CM code wasn't in Lauver's list, so if he didn't have it listed, I figured it was new! If you have "other codes," post them up!!

There is a bunch of stuff I could add, but I would have go through what I have archived.
There is stuff that comes up on ebay occasionally that would be nice to capture as well.
(I am thinking of pics)
A lot of stuff has gone through this forum, and pics have been lost due to the pics hosted on other sites.

I don't think you can copy ebay pics legally? But I really don't know for sure. Personally, I've stayed away from that.

Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who has, or is planning on contributing! As I said before, I have a newfound respect for the AA authors in realizing just how much work this is. Hopefully, our "village" approach will make it much more comprehensive!

 

[zeet]

Great start on a VERY cool idea, Twertsy... Count me in!

 

[twertsy]

Great start on a VERY cool idea, Twertsy... Count me in!

Thanks Zeet! Looking forward to the addition of your knowledge and pics of your inventory!

All, a LOT of research is going into this. More and more information becomes "digitized" every day, and we're finding a LOT of stuff. Keep an eye on the "Timelines & Case Studies" tab where new info is being added to the appropriate timeline(s) every day.

Now, I have this coming Thursday and expect a lot of new information on Bonney Tools just after Charles Bonney sold the rights to his company.

 

[twertsy]

Discovered 3 new Bonney catalogs this evening: 1914, 1915, & 1919. Should have them by thend of the week and will begin uploading data!

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Nice... and just in time for the cessation of summer activities in the US...

 

[twertsy]

Bonney 1915 "Cement Tools" catalog and 1919 tool catalog posted at Toolarchives.com --> Hand Tool Manufactureres --> A-B --> Bonney --> Bonney Catalogs

 

[twertsy]

Bonney 1914 wrench catalog posted under Bonney.

 

[maddawg1952]

Hi, I just wanted to say thanks for allowing me into your site and also to express my interest in all the hard work you've put into this site . Nice job, keep it up THANKS!!! PRL

 

[twertsy]

Ok folks, things are going well on the site for the first month. So, just in case they keep going well, I'm redesigning it to make it simple to find everything. Basically, instead of posting pics and info on a page, we will post individual tools, tagged appropriately, and you folks will be able to view it however you want.

As an example, let's say you find a DBE wrench but the stamps were ground off for whatever reason. You could go on the site, select DBE and the broach sizes and view every example on the site on one page. Or, maybe you want to see every wrench of a certain size, or model # Blue Point ever made. Just select BP and the model and presto, all on one page. Or, let's say you wanted to see all wrenches by OEM, regardless of brand, same thing, just select the company.

The thought is that any registered user will be able to add examples, and the appropriate views will display them just based on the selected tags.

So, over the next few day you'll start seeing a new area to play around in. Enjoy and thanks to those who have been contributing!

 

[twertsy]

All, as noted in my last post, I've begun (believe it or not) redesigning portions of how things will work on the Tool Archives. Check out "Tools for Analysis" and I'd ask you to provide feedback on the "Wrench Analyzer" tool. There will be more "tool analyzers" for ratchets, sockets, hammers, etc. in the future. Also note that any registered user can add tools. So, dig out your rust and post up some info!! If I don't have the right manufacturer / brand for the wrench you want to upload, shoot me a note and I'll take care of it, but mark it "unknown" in the meantime.

Once again, I want to thank everyone who has been contributing. It is going to take a village to get this thing sufficiently populated!

 

[twertsy]

Folks, tons of new content and capability have been developed. Here's a couple highlights:
The Tool Exchange is open (for wrenches so far) where you can flag items in your personal inventory, flag as a need, or flag as something you have for trade.

Under Tools for analysis there are multiple new tools for analyzing data, including a catalog content mapper. This tool (when we get all the catalogs uploaded and tagged) will take a "tool model number" as input, and display when the model first showed up in catalogs, as well as when it disappeared. An excellent tool once we are done! It currently works for Plomb/Proto Combo wrench model numbers.

Lots more coming soon!

 

[drivesitfar]

Twertsy: thanks for doing this and hopefully i'll be able to help you this winter when i have more time.

 

[twertsy]

Ok Folks, been workin' on a new page, the Ratchet Playground. We've focused heavily on the Ratchet content and we'd like to make a big push toward a comprehensive (yeah right) list.

It will be filled with multiple ways to slice and dice the "ratchet inventory" at the tool archives, and designed to stimulate contributions! Anyhow, you can list all the ratchet patents where we have examples and conversely, list all ratchet patents where we don't have examples (and upload your example!!!), list ratchet patents where the manufacturer is unknown. The goal here of course is to have examples of everything produced. I'll be adding many more "perspectives" to the left side menu in the coming days as well.

A couple things FYI:
First, I've focused on the major manufacturer patents (Bonney, Snap-On, NB, Easco, S-K, etc.)
Second, I've focused on pre-1970 patents
Third:
- If I'm missing a patent you would like to see, PM me.
- If you think we've associated the incorrect patent with the example, please make your case via comments on that ratchet's page. I haven't figured out how / if I can allow comments against patents (they are a different kind of element).
- If you know what patent should be associated with an existing ratchet, PM me.

I've had a hard time with a couple ratchet designs.
1. The Bonney fine tooth round head. There are 2 patents by Hare and I have 2 completely different "patent pending" examples. I'd love to know which is which because I can't tell.
2. Blackhawk. There are many Pfauser/Mandl patents for what must be minute "tweeks" to designs (bald head and free-wheeling). Very difficult to bin them appropriately.
3. Easco Paintbrush - again, at least 2 patents look right, and I have multiple examples.

Anyhow, I'll say it again..............it takes maybe 5 minutes at the most to upload a ratchet...........I'm just sayin'.

Here's the link to the playground.

 

[gungatim]

I just tried to join and explored the site for the first time.

nice job, hard to believe its free? seems like it'd be worth a couple bucks just to join the tool exchange!

 

[twertsy]

I just tried to join and explored the site for the first time.

nice job, hard to believe its free? seems like it'd be worth a couple bucks just to join the tool exchange!

Naw, enjoy. Ultimately, there will be a tool-only auction site but that's quite a ways off. Focusing on the content and the cost of entry is UPLOAD YOUR TOOLS!

 

[Empty Pockets]

I don't know if this will add to your craftsman date code data base. It's a 19/32 X 11/16 Combination Wrench which came to me in a box lot at an auction, some time ago

 

[ekegelmann]

still seeking Bonney sockets?

 

[rickhigginshtbr]

I'm going to attempt to contribute as much as possible. Feel absolutely free to steal as many images as you can from my auctions!

 

[twertsy]

I'm going to attempt to contribute as much as possible. Feel absolutely free to steal as many images as you can from my auctions!

Great, Thanks Rick. I even took the liberty of purchasing a couple things.