Picked Up An Old Toolbox Today
- Thread starter 55chevy
- Start date
Flying Mustang
Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2021
- Messages
- 11
The gate hasp and tin work are unique and full of character too. I’m a toolbox collector too. Nice choice.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Nice save, 55chevy!
I'm curious about some of the tools.
Who made the valve lifter? K-D?
At the top and to the far right are two pressfit offset (L-shaped) socket wrenches. Same make. From a set. Different sizes. Are they marked?
Just to the right of the Vlchek auto wrench, in the middle of the photo, there is a pair of straight fixed socket wrenches. Look like these...
Are they marked?
How is the Ford hub cap wrench marked?
I'm curious about some of the tools.
Who made the valve lifter? K-D?
At the top and to the far right are two pressfit offset (L-shaped) socket wrenches. Same make. From a set. Different sizes. Are they marked?
Just to the right of the Vlchek auto wrench, in the middle of the photo, there is a pair of straight fixed socket wrenches. Look like these...
Are they marked?
How is the Ford hub cap wrench marked?
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If the valve lifter is what I think it is, marked Indestro.
The L shaped socket wrenches are different sizes. There are only two wrenches. Were probably part of a set. Marked Wakefield made in Worcester. Pat. Dec 31 1918.
The straight sockets are unmarked
The hub wrench is unmarked
I've attached better pictures
Hope I've answered your questions, thanks
The L shaped socket wrenches are different sizes. There are only two wrenches. Were probably part of a set. Marked Wakefield made in Worcester. Pat. Dec 31 1918.
The straight sockets are unmarked
The hub wrench is unmarked
I've attached better pictures
Hope I've answered your questions, thanks
Attachments
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Thanks, 55. Very interesting! Just to make sure, though, the L-shaped socket wrenches I was asking about are circled in red, and the valve spring lifter is circled in yellow. FYI, both would be rare/uncommon.
Wakefield is sort of obscure. I have several of their tools and was not even aware they made offset socket wrenches. We have a decent thread on that manufacturer and no fixed socket wrenches of any kind on it.
Indestro (and their sister company, Duro Metal Products) tools are very popular with vintage collectors here on GJ, mainly wrenches, socket wrenches, and drive tools. They made valve related tools (hand crank type lappers, and lapper attachments), but I have never seen a lifter. I don't recall seeing a lifter before. Is the marking a fancy script? Or block letters in descending height?
Wakefield is sort of obscure. I have several of their tools and was not even aware they made offset socket wrenches. We have a decent thread on that manufacturer and no fixed socket wrenches of any kind on it.
Indestro (and their sister company, Duro Metal Products) tools are very popular with vintage collectors here on GJ, mainly wrenches, socket wrenches, and drive tools. They made valve related tools (hand crank type lappers, and lapper attachments), but I have never seen a lifter. I don't recall seeing a lifter before. Is the marking a fancy script? Or block letters in descending height?
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
For sure! Love the mailbox/lunchbox shape. And besides the more common Model A/T tools, you got some rare ones to boot. 
EDIT: If it's not too much trouble, please post some photos of just the lifter and the wrenches, including the markings, from closer up. As I said, I've never seen either tool in the wild, or on GJ, Alloy Artifacts, or elsewhere. It would be helpful to collectors.
EDIT: If it's not too much trouble, please post some photos of just the lifter and the wrenches, including the markings, from closer up. As I said, I've never seen either tool in the wild, or on GJ, Alloy Artifacts, or elsewhere. It would be helpful to collectors.
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Thanks for the extra pics. It's the Indestro logo.
Ricky Joe
Well-known member
That is an Indestro valve tool, but not uncommon, and not particularly desirable to a user because it is a pia to use. The ratcheting or screw type are much preferable because they hold position. I have two complete Wakefield L handle socket sets. Somewhere!
Ricky Joe
Well-known member
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Now that you have apparently figured out how to post photos, RJ, you should post photos of your Indestro valve lifter and Wakefield fixed socket wrench sets in the Indestro and Wakefield threads. They would be invaluable additions. As I alluded to, they would be the first of their kind posted on GJ.
As for an assessment of the availability of antique tools, in my opinion it shouldn't be an eye of the beholder thing. There are no early Indestro valve spring lifters on AA or here on GJ, and my WorthPoint query reports three sold in the last 5 years. That seems uncommon to me. Maybe you've seen them more often. Just because I happen to have two Vlchek valve lifters (see pic) doesn't make them common. But that's just a matter of opinion, and not worth arguing over.
On preference/usability, you are comparing 1920 lifters to a design no younger than 1938, when Ira Clark patented it (2,119,128).
Everything that followed the first Clark-Feather screw type lifter (CF-12) was either a licensed copy or a variant knock-off.
Snap-on, Herbrand, Lisle, NB, Cornwell, later Indestro, Blackhawk, Wilde, Duro-Chrome, Bonney and Cal-Van ALL got their lifters from Clark-Feather or licensed the design.
Zim, Sunnen, and K-D pursued their own patents in 1943, 1945, and 1950, respectively, with minor variations (e.g., more fingers on the knob, removable lower jack fork, left hand threads) but they followed the basic Clark-Feather design and modified it.
You're right, though, the Sunnen and those later K-D lifters grow on trees.
As for an assessment of the availability of antique tools, in my opinion it shouldn't be an eye of the beholder thing. There are no early Indestro valve spring lifters on AA or here on GJ, and my WorthPoint query reports three sold in the last 5 years. That seems uncommon to me. Maybe you've seen them more often. Just because I happen to have two Vlchek valve lifters (see pic) doesn't make them common. But that's just a matter of opinion, and not worth arguing over.
On preference/usability, you are comparing 1920 lifters to a design no younger than 1938, when Ira Clark patented it (2,119,128).
Everything that followed the first Clark-Feather screw type lifter (CF-12) was either a licensed copy or a variant knock-off.
Snap-on, Herbrand, Lisle, NB, Cornwell, later Indestro, Blackhawk, Wilde, Duro-Chrome, Bonney and Cal-Van ALL got their lifters from Clark-Feather or licensed the design.
Zim, Sunnen, and K-D pursued their own patents in 1943, 1945, and 1950, respectively, with minor variations (e.g., more fingers on the knob, removable lower jack fork, left hand threads) but they followed the basic Clark-Feather design and modified it.
You're right, though, the Sunnen and those later K-D lifters grow on trees.
Attachments
Ricky Joe
Well-known member
I don’t
Below is the Indestro socket set. All previously referenced sets are 1920s-1930s.
I don’t own the Indestro. I have been a user more than a collector. I may have owned some in the past, but if so they have either gotten away from me or are in a box I haven’t gotten to yet. Specializing in antique cars, I have found it very profitable to check out auctions for tools. I sometimes wind up with unnecessary tools to get the ones I want. So, though I have seen several of those, I don’t own any. The Wakefield sockets I am actually actively looking for as we speak. I have a partial Billings, partial Hinsdale, partial Sherman-Klove, and partial Indestro that I am bundling together to sell. I’ll post pictures of them when I find them. Also, it is nice to be able to post pictures. I had to wait for technology to come to me on that one!
Below is the Indestro socket set. All previously referenced sets are 1920s-1930s.
