Plomb tool picture thread - show your stuff!

[Squez]

Pick up the lot out of classifieds from kpl70sx just got it today

Added them into my box so this is the update on my collection

 

[d42jeep]

Wow! Quite a haul.
This 1941 3/8” drive 5249 ratchet arrived in the mail today. It’s a very smooth working ratchet.
-Don

 

[rustyzman]

What's interesting to me is how the dimples reveal what I believe to be their manual placement with a punch. I've looked at all the early 4875's on this thread that I could find and they're all in slightly different positions. Some are higher up. Some, like that one, are so close to the edge it barely made it.

Perhaps a bit of proof you could be correct. The specific tool certainly exists.

W. A. Whitney Hand Tools : Catalog HT-66 : W. A. Whitney Manufacturing Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

40 p., illus., 27.9 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

Model 4D, Indenting Hand Punch on page 3.

 

[Mark Stansbury]

WWII training film produced by Plomb, CARE AND USE OF HAND TOOLS PART II PLIERS AND SCREWDRIVERS. This showed up on the Internet Archive 2/23/24 and is 14 min long.

 

[Squez]

picked these 2 today a plomb punch and wf 23 speeder

 

[Mark Stansbury]

Here's part 1, wrenches, of the Plomb-produced WWII training film. I could not find it on Archive.org so added it.
https://archive.org/details/care-and-use-of-hand-tools-part-1

 

[d42jeep]

Recent Plomb arrivals.

My slowly growing dual marked PR∇T∇/PL∇MB T∇∇L C∇ collection.
-Don

 

[Squez]

8 inch adjustable and another drill chisel thing

 

[woodkill]

My little Plomb collection

 

[d42jeep]

8 inch adjustable and another drill chisel thing

Nice Utica supplied 8” adjustable wrench. Those are kind of hard to find.
I used the tools posted above to get this set ready to add to the others in the basement.
-Don

 

[Provincial]

8 inch adjustable and another drill chisel thing

The "drill chisel thing" is a star drill for making holes in concrete, or rock if you are a glutton for punishment.

 

[MR.X]

My little Plomb collection

Like that old wrecking bar.

 

[genog]

The only Plomb that I've found lately
An empty case....

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Yes but it's metric!

 

[d42jeep]

The only Plomb that I've found lately
An empty case....

Nice box. I had one in rough shape and found a much nicer one to replace it. It now lives in the Plomb tower with these postwar tools in it.
Postwar 3/8” drive set and wartime set.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

A big shout out to Stillgottimefor1 for sending me this very cool Plomb pickle fork.
-Don

I am now the proud owner of two of these fairly rare pickle forks. I can’t find the pebble one listed except in the dual marked catalog. The red paint had to go!
-Don

 

[Smokeshow69]

Recent Plomb arrivals.

My slowly growing dual marked PR∇T∇/PL∇MB T∇∇L C∇ collection.
-Don

I haven’t forgotten about the dual mark 3/4 I have for you

 

[Squez]

Finds today
5420 plomb Los angles
And 3040 pebble

 

[Squez]

Seen this posted by Don and thought that socket looked familiar

 

[Smokeshow69]

Seen this posted by Don and thought that socket looked familiar

Is it cracked? It’s almost never found without a crack

 

[Squez]

 

[d42jeep]

I try to look really carefully at the Ford V8 rod nut sockets before bidding on them. I’ve seen a couple of
S-K ones that were cracked. The 6 point sockets are a little more durable than the 12 point ones.
S-K version
Duro version
Cracked S-K 12 pointer.
Edit****A Thorsen version I spotted in with the Thorsen sockets today.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The old "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," saying was in play when I found this teeny tiny feeler gauge No. 000D at the flea market yesterday.




Some of you may recall that I had found and posted a #000K a few years ago, linked here, and couldn't find them in any early, pre-1934, "PLOMB" (with an "O") LA era catalogs. Enlightened by @Provincial, they are not early, but later, despite the "O". As I opined at the time, almost certainly because of a supplier/OEM not as diligent as they were about their branding. With the "LOS ANGELES" marking, that inconceivably late "O" makes these seem even more deceptively early, of course.

Here they are now together.



There aren't too many of these model number 000-x series gauges on the thread. A search on the model numbers (000A through 000K) reveals one posted way back in 2012 by our OP...

Feeler gauges. Both #000D. Proto on the top, Plomb on the bottom...

...who was just as honestly misled by the branding as I was...

...with round 'O' which would seem to indicate pre-1934 manufacture.

A more general search on "feeler" led me to this unidentified reference...

...early feeler gauges...

...that on closer inspection of the photo, is, I believe, another 000D.

So far, unless I am mistaken, his, the OP's, and mine are the only 000D's posted. Maybe @mustangSR70 will kindly confirm that. In fact, I'm interested in seeing if it's marked "No. 000D" or "#000D." The "No." style marking seems to be earlier than the "#" style marking.

The only other 000-x series gauge I can find (identified explicitly by model number or as a "feeler" in the text, which is the only way the search engine will ever pick it up) belongs to @Ricky Joe, who has a PLOMB "No. 000E", posted earlier this year, here.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

These first show up during the late war to late 40's in Catalog 19-R series (FIRST through FOURTH PRINTINGS, and REPRINT). But only model numbers 000A to 000E.



They added the 000K (bent wire type) sometime before 1948, in Catalog No. 4820.

 

[Smokeshow69]

My plomb pickups from the swap meet today. I found a historically low (for me) amount of plomb this year but what I missed in plomb, I made up for in Proto. See that thread for more on that! But I'm stoked on what I found ( and have yet to find)....

Paschall 1308! Definetly my favorite find
1210 smooth wrench
nice 3/8 long chrome extension
cad plated wobble
deep 1/2 socket....really rough and cant see the size yet
war finish 3/4 socket and 2 small wrenches

While I was walking around I found and bought 2 proto mfd tool boards. While talking to the seller and his wife, he asked me, do you like tool boards. He might as well of asked if the sky was blue . I told him I'm only interested in plomb or proto tool boards. He said he is getting to the point of selling his collection. He told me a number of years ago in the 90's he bought 4 plomb tool boards for $5 each and that he was going to be selling them in the next year. I told him to please keep my phone number and call me when he gets close to selling. Can't wait to see what sort of goodies this old timer has rat holed. He is an old Ford guy so he probably has an insanely cool garage!

 

[genog]

I haven't run across much Plomb lately
But....
I found a couple pieces this weekend
A Big Ole dbe and a flare nut wrench

 

[Smokeshow69]

I haven't run across much Plomb lately
But....
I found a couple pieces this weekend
A Big Ole dbe and a flare nut wrench

What’s with the dbe? Super weird 1/2 pebble only on the ends? Is it a dual mark? It looks exactly like a Proto la dbe

 

[genog]

The worth?
Well, I paid 8 bucks...

It's not dual marked and you're right, with partial pebbles, it does look like Proto LA

 

[Smokeshow69]

The worth?
Well, I paid 8 bucks...

It's not dual marked and you're right, with partial pebbles, it does look like Proto LA

Fixed it. I was asking what was up with it since it looked so odd ? Haven’t seen that pebble style before on a plomb

 

[z28lsc]

The worth?
Well, I paid 8 bucks...

It's not dual marked and you're right, with partial pebbles, it does look like Proto LA

nice score on that wrench. I have 1 that is similar. I could not find much info on it but it is a rare one for sure.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I could not find much info on it but it is a rare one for sure.

We've seen a few examples and talked about the rare PLVMB pebble field wrenches before (and if you search this thread on "pebble field", you will find them) without much definitive headway.

It's not only the pebble fields that are befuddling about these wrenches. It's easy enough to imagine a sequence from PLVMB full pebble panel to PLVMB pebble size fields only to Dual-Marked PLVMB-PRVTV pebble size fields only to PRVTV pebble size fields only. In such a sequence, your wrenches would be very late PLVMB pebble size fields, perhaps just before January 1949, when Plomb Tool Company started dual-marking tools. But your wrenches are MADE IN USA. Consensus is they made that switch in early 1947 and we have plenty of PLMVB full pebble panel wrenches that are already marked MFD. IN USA.

These PLVMB wrenches are real curve balls, seemingly much later (late 1948-ish) - with the pebble size fields, and yet earlier (1946-ish) - with the MADE IN USA marking!

Here's another layer of analysis...

Notice that neither of them has the tell-tale electroplating rack burn marks that @z28lsc 's 3031 DOE dual-ie is conveniently showing in his photo. The earliest we can possibly see those burn marks on PLVMB wrenches (and there will be a third mark dead center between those two on the flip side) is when the Plomb Tool Co applied for the patent for the rack, which was December 1947. Note, significantly, that we have seen the notorious marks on plenty of PLVMB full pebble panel MFD IN USA wrenches. Nothing escaped "the rack" after it was introduced. (If this is new to you, click here for more.)

That means your wrenches were almost assuredly made before December 1947. And because of the MADE marking, very plausibly in 1946.

One theory (and I can't remember who to attribute it to..., but I don't recall it being mine...) is that Plomb was experimenting with pebbling before they went full panel.

This is a first cup of coffee post and I reserve the right for second, third, and fourth cup updates.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

@z28lsc Is that skeezy plating chrome or cadmium?

 

[mritchie77]

I am now the proud owner of two of these fairly rare pickle forks. I can’t find the pebble one listed except in the dual marked catalog. The red paint had to go!
-Don

Don, those look great! I missed out on one a couple of years ago and wish I would have picked it up. Don't see them often at all.

The old "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," saying was in play when I found this teeny tiny feeler gauge No. 000D at the flea market yesterday.




Some of you may recall that I had found and posted a #000K a few years ago, linked here, and couldn't find them in any early, pre-1934, "PLOMB" (with an "O") LA era catalogs. Enlightened by @Provincial, they are not early, but later, despite the "O". As I opined at the time, almost certainly because of a supplier/OEM not as diligent as they were about their branding. With the "LOS ANGELES" marking, that inconceivably late "O" makes these seem even more deceptively early, of course.

Here they are now together.



There aren't too many of these model number 000-x series gauges on the thread. A search on the model numbers (000A through 000K) reveals one posted way back in 2012 by our OP...

...who was just as honestly misled by the branding as I was...

A more general search on "feeler" led me to this unidentified reference...

...that on closer inspection of the photo, is, I believe, another 000D.

So far, unless I am mistaken, his, the OP's, and mine are the only 000D's posted. Maybe @mustangSR70 will kindly confirm that. In fact, I'm interested in seeing if it's marked "No. 000D" or "#000D." The "No." style marking seems to be earlier than the "#" style marking.

The only other 000-x series gauge I can find (identified explicitly by model number or as a "feeler" in the text, which is the only way the search engine will ever pick it up) belongs to @Ricky Joe, who has a PLOMB "No. 000E", posted earlier this year, here.

You worry me. 000A is one of the last items needed to complete my '47 Veterans set, and they've so far appeared to be unobtanium. Only one has come up for sale online in the last two years and it was a 000D model. Eventually, I'll convince someone to sell me theirs! LOL

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Eventually, I'll convince someone to sell me theirs!

I have never seen a No. 000A "in the steel", so to speak, or even in a photo, only the rendering in the catalogs. If I ever find one, it's yours, FREE of charge or trade, for the yeoman's work you did on the wartime newsletters!

 

[mritchie77]

I have never seen a No. 000A "in the steel", so to speak, or even in a photo, only the rendering in the catalogs. If I ever find one, it's yours, FREE of charge or trade, for the yeoman's work you did on the wartime newsletters!

Thanks! What I'll probably "settle" for is any set in a 000C holder. (see reasoning below)

Just to add some information since I don't think it's been put in this thread.

The Plomb 000A feeler gauges (along with the 000AA, B, and BB) used the 000C holder, which I don't believe was generally marked 000C because it was used for all those sets (or could be purchased separately if you were buying individual blades for a custom set).

The above quote was pulled from a Facebook post I made in 2022 asking for a survey of Plomb feeler gauge owners. The reasoning was that one holder was used for multiple different sets with different blade counts with a single default holder.

000A - 9 piece single size
000AA - complete 25 piece single size
000B - 4 step cut pieces
000BB - complete 8 step cut pieces

 

[mritchie77]

Additinonally, here are some photos from the above referenced Facebook post.

Credit to Steve F.


Credit to (I believe here) @RagTopTA

 

[Outlawmws]

Whats would be interesting is some careful comparisons between the different pebble variants, and the actual structure of the wrench + other markings,

I don't believe all the wrenches were necessarily made in the same plant, and thereby different tool makers making the dies. Different plants may have been given some latitude, for what to do, for what they did, or possibly even direction (many were different companies before Plomb acquisitions). why a "directed option? So they could tell if they had production issues one to another.

All during the war it was "Crank stuff out and get it out the door" I think it would take time, even years, for that attitude to shift to "OMG! plant one has a tiny difference for the same tool from Plant 2!"

 

[z28lsc]

We've seen a few examples and talked about the rare PLVMB pebble field wrenches before (and if you search this thread on "pebble field", you will find them) without much definitive headway.

It's not only the pebble fields that are befuddling about these wrenches. It's easy enough to imagine a sequence from PLVMB full pebble panel to PLVMB pebble size fields only to Dual-Marked PLVMB-PRVTV pebble size fields only to PRVTV pebble size fields only. In such a sequence, your wrenches would be very late PLVMB pebble size fields, perhaps just before January 1949, when Plomb Tool Company started dual-marking tools. But your wrenches are MADE IN USA. Consensus is they made that switch in early 1947 and we have plenty of PLMVB full pebble panel wrenches that are already marked MFD. IN USA.

These PLVMB wrenches are real curve balls, seemingly much later (late 1948-ish) - with the pebble size fields, and yet earlier (1946-ish) - with the MADE IN USA marking!

Here's another layer of analysis...

Notice that neither of them has the tell-tale electroplating rack burn marks that @z28lsc 's 3031 DOE dual-ie is conveniently showing in his photo. The earliest we can possibly see those burn marks on PLVMB wrenches (and there will be a third mark dead center between those two on the flip side) is when the Plomb Tool Co applied for the patent for the rack, which was December 1947. Note, significantly, that we have seen the notorious marks on plenty of PLVMB full pebble panel MFD IN USA wrenches. Nothing escaped "the rack" after it was introduced. (If this is new to you, click here for more.)

That means your wrenches were almost assuredly made before December 1947. And because of the MADE marking, very plausibly in 1946.

One theory (and I can't remember who to attribute it to..., but I don't recall it being mine...) is that Plomb was experimenting with pebbling before they went full panel.

This is a first cup of coffee post and I reserve the right for second, third, and fourth cup updates.

Thank you for the info. This wrench had me scratching my head for a while And about the the plating I don't think is cadmium. I been wanting to polish it a bit since the plating is almost gone.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Some battery pliers

 

[d42jeep]

Found at an estate sale today.
-Don
Chrome wrenches with two letter codes for the survey.
-Don