NEWBIE - Sharing A Plomb / Proto Score

[MOPARHOUND!]

Hello all!

First thread here on the board. Came here checking out the awesome garage construction threads, and stumbled into this forum. Always thought there would be a good tool forum on the web.......glad I finally stumble onto this one. I'm not the only tool-aholic wondering whats wrong with themselves.....LOL. Does one guy need ten roll aways, with 2 in the kitchen because he ran out of room in the garage??

Was an avid customer of flea markets/ pawn shops and occasional eBay surfing in the late 1990's, searching for treasure.....er....uh......tools. Then got married, a baby came along, and the tool hysteria went to the back burner. (Yes, the toolboxes were removed/sold from the kitchen, HA, HA!)

Hope you don't mind, if I can find anything rare or unusual I've forgotten about over the last 8 to 10 years, will try to share it.

First up is a 3/4" Plomb set I was shocked to find at the flea market one day. The guy's relative had died, and he was selling a bunch of stuff left to him. I saw the Proto Professional case and expected to find Proto stuff when I opened the lid. Surprised to find all the vintage Plomb inside!! Paid way to much for it, but thought it would be cool to have it in the collection.

The 3 sockets on the leftside of the lid open pic are duplicate sizes of Plomb sockets (some have 2 grooves, some 5 grooves??). The sockets on the rightside of the lid open pic are duplicate sizes marked Proto. Everything in the case bottom in the lid open pic is marked Plomb!

The 2-1/8th socket weighs 4 pounds!! Real steel in the old days boys!!

The shallow 1-1/2 socket in the comparison pic is the only Plomb in this collection marked WF (seems to be medium duty compared to the other sockets).

Hope you like the pic's :

 

[bchee]

Welcome. Nice stuff you have there

 

[Bolster]

Wow, what an outstanding score. My knees are weak.

 

[lbgradwell]

Welcome!

Have any Harry Epstein tales to tell?

 

[vssjim]

great products from Plomb and Proto

 

[48548]

Great stuff, I just got a 5649 the other week and cleaned it up, but haven't taken pictures of it, and maybe I will do a 5849, 5649, 5449, 5249, and 4749 in one picture together to show the size differences. Nice set and I am envious!!!

 

[48548]

Here are some pictures of my new 1/2 I got yesterday and the 3/4 I got last week.

Michael

 

[billymade]

Awesome collection! Those big ones must be unbelievably big; if your tool box wheels are any indication of the size of them! Do you use them or are they for "viewing" purposes only? Did you find all of them on ebay or garage sales/fleas? I wonder if they still have rebuild kits for those old ratchets; have you been lucky and they are all working when you got them? Congrats! Art Deco Plomb ratchet goodness!

 

[old salvage]

Wow
I've never seen one with just 'mfg Los Angeles usa' cast into the handle before.
I'd love to get one of those myself.
Nice.

 

[48548]

The two bottom are proto, that is why they are different... The snap on torque wrench is a tqr250e I think for size comparison. The snap on site shows that as 22 3/8 for lengh. Yes proto still makes the ratchets with the kits and I found a cheaper way to get the kits, long story, but if anyone is interested let me know. The ratchets all work, and I have kits for most of them and ordered the other kits to have spares for all of them. I got them all on ebay. Billy those are the wheels on my kra300f box with the roll down front.

 

[nordstar]

Great collection and story. If you didn't know already the WF marked stuff is what plomb made for the military contract in WWII, It stands for Wright Field, you can read more about it here: alloy artifacts: plomb wf series. There are other sites to if your interested: vannattabros.com , plombtools.com

I have been collecting plomb tools for about 5 years now, the start of it came from my grandfather.
________
FORD XP FALCON PICTURE

 

[davestlouis]

I just got my first Plomb wrench 2 weeks ago, and my ratchets and sockets are in the mail. Something tells me this is going to become an expensive thing.

 

[old salvage]

Yes proto still makes the ratchets with the kits and I found a cheaper way to get the kits, long story, but if anyone is interested let me know.

I've got some 3/8 drive Protos and It'd be nice to have some spare parts.

 

[Uncle Buck]

Welcome!

Have any Harry Epstein tales to tell?

I have been going to HE since around the mid 1980's. During that time I bought several WF series Plomb double box wrenches and a few other bits and pieces all of which seemed to be leftovers of WWII surplus. For example the wrenches. Plomb and also Bonney if memory serves correct were still covered in cosmoline.

I think it might still be easy enough to find some old Plomb stuff buried in the surplus piles in the basement near where they keep all their remaining Bonney NOS tools, or at least what remains of them. I doubt you would find any Pebble handle stuff as that was considerably later in production than the WF pieces. Harrys is the bomb though.

BTW: Today I found a short Plomb 1/2" pebble handle breakbar that was a bit rough, but for $2 I didn't complain.

 

[nordstar]

I've got some 3/8 drive Protos and It'd be nice to have some spare parts.

I would also like some spare parts
________
Extreme vaporizer review

 

[48548]

Well as for more pictures, I have a site at photo bucket.

http://s421.photobucket.com/albums/pp296/48548/tools/

Also as for the kits, you can buy them from grainger or mscdirect or call proto and they might send them to you for free. But I am still waiting for an order I placed from a company for the kits, but I bought the kits for urrea tools, which was once part of proto and I ordered the kits from a place that had them cheap, but I haven't seen them yet, but the tools look the same, so it might save you some money, and just trying to spread the wealth. When I get my stuff I will post the site and info, but don't want anyone to risk that yet until I get the stuff. Here is a link to the tools and you can see they are the same thing with the same part numbers.

http://www.urreaprofessionaltools.com/public/page.aspx?p=1

 

[billymade]

Ahh, your referring to the company that historically, started out as "PROTO-MEX"; a manufacturing partnership with Proto tools! To quote one website:
"Before that, though in 1962, Proto formed a joint enterprise with a Mr. Urrea of Mexico to create a Mexican company, "Protomex, SA" to manufacture Proto tools in Mexico. After Ingersoll Rand bought Proto, Urrea bought out the American share of Protomex S.A. but also gave up the rights to use the Proto trademark, and today we have URREA tools the biggest tool maker in Mexico, marketing tools not only in Mexico but also in the US which are remarkably similar to the Proto brand including even the same part numbers but bearing the URREA brand."

http://www.urreaprofessionaltools.com/public/prod4855.aspx
This Urrea 3/4" ratchet; looks pretty much the same as a Proto; I wonder if they had some sort of agreement or licensing program with Proto, after Urrea bought out the remaining partnership from Proto? Damn, that ratchet is priced at $110; so much for a cheaper price from mexico!

http://www.urreaprofessionaltools.com/public/pag1.aspx

Urrea USA
Urrea Professional Tools
1391 N. Brazos Street
San Antonio, TX 78207 Phone: (210) 734-8703
Toll-Free: (800) 366-6911
Fax: (210) 734-8715

Turns out they have a video about their 100 year history here:
http://www.urreaprofessionaltools.com/images/home_video.wmv

The video says they produce screwdrivers for Mayhew and Witte.

 

[48548]

It might help save a few dollars, also proto is pretty good about sending out kits, but one of my 5449 kits is defective, I am not sure if they will replace it or not. I am going to try. Proto made a big stink when they sent them out for free. Like I said when I get the kits I will pass the site on, but don't want people to risk the money, it has been a few weeks and no update on my order, so I might be out 75.00 for 15 kits for various ratchets. Look up the kits and the specs are the same 24tooth gear and pawls/lever.

 

[Bolster]

I'm eagerly awaiting your report on the Urrea parts. (Too bad about the name...I'm sure it is a good tool company nonetheless. A quick search on fleaBay found not a single tool under that name...)