EXCEPT for the top pair!
-Don
To be honest, I’ve never really paid attention to the differences in font. I primarily look for cad, dark or plain finishes. In looking at WW2 photos, it‘s really impossible to see that much detail.
@d42jeep
After looking carefully at your examples, and assuming they are WWII-era, would you judge both the yellow-boxed and the red-boxed pliers correct, or only the red-boxed ones? The difference I see (disregarding the finish) is in the typeface design: the “C” in the red-boxed pliers is circular, while the corresponding “C” in the yellow box has slightly flattened sides.
Here are the rest of the pliers in the household tool drawer. Hopefully some a little more exotic.
Here are the rest of the pliers in the household tool drawer. Hopefully some a little more exotic.
-Don
Top to bottom.
The previously mentioned Cee Tee and Danielson, Utica, Crescent, Herbrand, Kraeuter, Channellock, Diamalloy, Lakeside and Harrold.
Don, you've really got 10 pairs of pliers in the kitchen drawer?
First, congratulations, you clearly have a very tolerant wife.
Second, I think this means we're slowly closing in on the answer to "How many is too many?"
Channellock pliers
I have a friend who is a doctor, but a blacksmith on the side, and a damn good one. He told me that box joint pliers are a challenge to make, and that he made ten to get one. He is very discriminating. Yours may very well be a blacksmith reject.I don't either!
Electrolysis is my go-to rust removal method. In this case, it'd fizz the paint off too; but I suspect I'd be left with a fairly deeply pitted surface, once all the cRust was removed. When that happens, it can be fun to use files and abrasives to smooth it back out, like I did on the pair of Kraeuter pliers off to the right.
That's not the best example, but I had the photo handy. I recently got a "who made these side cutters?" email from my cousin, who was admiring some Kraeuter cutters he'd inherited. He said, "I've admired this tool that I have here. And it's in really good shape. Almost looks unused. It's still sitting on the table in front of me. Quality is amazing. The tolerances kinda blow mind." I find myself wanting to nurture his appreciation and send some more tools his way.
Speaking of tired old pliers, I pulled this pair out of the scrap bin thirty seconds after they'd been tossed in. (Along with a nice little pair of Craftsman "Channellocks" that I set out on the shelf for someone to buy). At first I thought it was weird that they'd used a tubular rivet in the pivot, but then I realized the pin was just missing. Box jointed pliers always seem special and this pair definitely has a hand-forged appearance. It will be fun to replace the pin and forge them back into shape. Poor little pliers.
I haven’t seen definitive proof that the Vlchek pliers that resemble the Cee Tee pliers are GMTK correct although I don’t why they wouldn’t be. The gullwing pliers have appeared in WW2 literature so I don‘t know how anyone could dispute them.
Don, you posted one pair of these with a bunch of gullwings back in post#8. Are both designs considered GMTK-correct?
For a short time, I was fooled by the grip pattern into thinking they were actually Crescent-production, but despite a resemblance, there are no dots in the grid, they feel heavier, and they have the distinctive “made in USA” forged along the grips.
Hard to tell the OEM.
Those are cool. But patents were issued on Tuesdays, and January 16, 1899 - although they don't look quite that old, was a Monday. January 16, 1999 - although they don't look quite that new, was a Saturday.
If we're talking about the same Wilkinson (made in England), I own a pair, needle nose with cutters, posted here. I agree, they are very well made.
Fill in the top leading edges of the 33 they become 99? Poor writing of Jun becomes Jan? Can't guess on 16 v 27.
That hasn't been my experience at all. Just the opposite. I do leave behind plenty of the ubiquitous unbranded Vlchek from the 30's car kits, and plenty of unbranded Harrold, but 9 out of 10 vintage slip-joints I see are branded with a name or logo. I posted a few here.
Could be all those old ones you found are from Stanley tools kits.
I checked out 50 or so pairs with no branding (or words at all). I admit that this isn't much of a nationwide survey of thrift store.
But… haven’t you generally been seeking slipjoints bearing brands for which there is documention of government purchase? How deep a mental impression do you really form of tools lacking those brands? I think we both remarked about seeing and dismissing many examples of Harrold slipjoints as probable imports prior to positively connecting the dots to the US manufacturer. NOW when I see their characteristic construction I recognize them, whether they bear the telltale “H” or not, and I tend to remember seeing them. I think there’s a psychological bias to memory that favors things we recognize over things that we do not. When I’m focusing on a single brand, I barely register whether a tool is unbranded or just doesn’t bear the brand I’m seeking. After I walk away, it practically ceases to exist for me unless I see someone else posting about something like it shortly thereafter. The whole “tools turn up in threes” thing seems to me to be driven by similar psychological forces of recognition.
So, let’s explore other alternates too. Let’s find the history of the Super Grip Tool Co Iowa. If they didn’t exist before 1920 ish, I’m really gonna have doubts about the stamping of the patent date, as the 17 year rule says if it was post 1917, it should not have the patent info.
