Plomb tool picture thread - show your stuff!

[mustangSR70]

Today's Long Beach swap meet was fruitful, even though I have most all these in duplicates, triplicates, and so on. The entire box, plus contents ran me $32 bucks from a guy that mainly sells just Snap On stuff. All this Plomb was in it, along with some Barcalo, Mac, and Vlchek.
Neat piece is an A. Plomb pre California Tool, combo wrench.

 

[d42jeep]

That looks familiar.
-Don

 

[r_olson_06]

A little bit of Plomb at an estate sale today. All USA.

1210 5/16 combo
4769 spinner
4710 5/16 6 pt.
3/8 drive sockets:
5214 (7/16), 5218 (9/16), 5220 (5/8), 5222 (11/16), Deep sockets 5018 and 5020 (9/16 and 5/8)

Today's Long Beach swap meet was fruitful, even though I have most all these in duplicates, triplicates, and so on. The entire box, plus contents ran me $32 bucks from a guy that mainly sells just Snap On stuff. All this Plomb was in it, askingy with some Barcalo, Mac, and Vlchek.
Neat piece is an A. Plomb pre California Tool, combo wrench.

Well done you guys. I have still yet to see a 3/8" drive box in the wild yet

Sent from my XT1710-02 using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Provincial]

Like this?

 

[r_olson_06]

Like this?

I have a fleet metric box that looks the same as that one. I have yet to see the Plomb version with weird hoop tray.

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[Provincial]

I think this may be a postwar repack. The tools are mostly Plomb, with some D-I, Snap On, and Wright.

Or maybe a WWII "Liberated" set that came home with a mechanic.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I think the first time the socket boxes had rounded corners was 1949.

 

[DD T/A]

Theres a guy at the swap who comes 3/5 days and paints all of his tools in Diesel because he claims "nobody wants to buy dirty tools". Gotta be the second most ridiculous thing to his swap meet prices. Had a mid-grade Pebble 1150 and wanted $20.
He looks like a collector that simply never sells anything.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

DD,
Did you see my reply to the Fleet box you posted in the 'Toolboxes' thread? PM if there's anything you can do.

 

[c1504]

My small but growing Plomb collection. 5467 breaker bar, 5422 11/16 socket, 1216 1/2 combination wrench, WF-83 box end, A. Plomb 13/16 and 7/8 box end, and a 9989 box. I have been using the box as a step for my vintage travel trailer at car shows.

 

[c1504]

Pictures didn't attach

 

[EngineerNate]

Proto 1308 and 1316 hammers. Going to refinish or remake the handles. I've got a 1324 coming and I'd like to grab the 12oz to round out the set.

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[disston]

The nicest old hammers are the ones with original handles.

 

[Outlawmws]

The nicest old hammers are the ones with original handles.

Quoted for the truth!

 

[r_olson_06]

A few more wall additions.
A 1-3/8" water pump pliers that is NPN and appears to be 1940s era. Might have to big for this one. It could be a chop job.
3 adapters including a 58XX series big Bertha a first for me.
A WF special 3/8" ratchet with Crank. Did these come with a plug or were they a machine crank?
15/16" x 3/4" low band

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[DD T/A]

The nicest old hammers are the ones with original handles.

Damn strait.

Although.....I'm still dumbfounded of my hammer that has an original green Plomb handle but it has a different forged piece, like someone reused a perfectly good original plomb handle ......a bit of a headscratcher.

 

[RubiconJK]

A few more wall additions.
A 1-3/8" water pump pliers that is NPN and appears to be 1940s era. Might have to big for this one. It could be a chop job.
3 adapters including a 58XX series big Bertha a first for me.
A WF special 3/8" ratchet with Crank. Did these come with a plug or were they a machine crank?
15/16" x 3/4" low band

Roy,
I can't quite read the number on your ratchet, but I'm assuming it is WF-21S. If so, here is a link to a couple previous posts related to at least one application where this ratchet was used as a crank device for a cable cutter on aircraft carriers. I have a couple of these ratchets and all the examples I've seen are female drive.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7850169&postcount=6376
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7850173&postcount=6377

 

[EngineerNate]

The nicest old hammers are the ones with original handles.

Are you saying don't clean them up at all or just don't replace them?

The short 16oz (second from left) looks like maybe it was cut down. Not sure it's structurally sound either. The other three look to be usable with a little TLC.

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[r_olson_06]

Roy,
I can't quite read the number on your ratchet, but I'm assuming it is WF-21S. If so, here is a link to a couple previous posts related to at least one application where this ratchet was used as a crank device for a cable cutter on aircraft carriers. I have a couple of these ratchets and all the examples I've seen are female drive.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7850169&postcount=6376
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7850173&postcount=6377

Thanks for the link. That cable cutter is huge.

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[r_olson_06]

Thanks to some amazing GJ members I have added some more to the wall.
First set came from LesserSon including a 6501
An LA Battery Pliers first reported on the garage sale thread and he was kind enough to go back for it for me.
A 2 arm puller set.
A set of punches and possibly my first square stock Plomb punch.

Second SSDave for offering up 2 5 Bands to nearly complete my non LA 5 band set. I will have to post a group shot. Also a DD 21/32 rope braid socket.

Thank you both. This puts the unique Plomb count to 850 mark. Closing in on that 1k!

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[Rileysan]

And just like R_Olsen, I found a nice Plomb 2 arm puller, with a few extra legs to boot.

Brian

 

[r_olson_06]

And just like R_Olsen, I found a nice Plomb 2 arm puller, with a few extra legs to boot.

Brian

That does look like a twin.

Looking for a Plomb 3061 Pebble Open End.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice puller stuff guys. Great when you find them with the original legs.

 

[r_olson_06]

A 1936 Plomb LA 1134.

Looking for a Plomb 3061 Pebble Open End.

 

[r_olson_06]

A very rare one unless you guys have better luck than I do. A WF-108 1-1/8" flare nut/water pump wrench. It also carries a very faint engraving of USAC maybe for "United States Air Corps"? Anyone else have anyone of these elusive wrenches?

Looking for a Plomb 3061 Pebble Open End.

 

[DD T/A]

tbh those things are about as useless as it gets and normally up to this point I wouldn't even have given one a second thought before walking on it. However I guess now I'll buy one if I see one and post it up here. The "WF" factored in will probably make finding one pretty tough.

Are the normal Plomb units desirable?

 

[r_olson_06]

That is probably why they are rare. The normal Plomb units didn't go that large unless you count the 36XX series which was just an open end vs a 12pt flare. If you see any WF versions I would pick them up. I will make it worth your time as would a couple other WF collectors. I think there is still a few sizes that have not even surfaced yet as there is still a couple gaps in the WF list in this part number range. The last unknown WF (WF-3) brought stupid money.

Looking for a Plomb 3061 Pebble Open End.

 

[RubiconJK]

A very rare one unless you guys have better luck than I do. A WF-108 1-1/8" flare nut/water pump wrench. It also carries a very faint engraving of USAC maybe for "United States Air Corps"? Anyone else have anyone of these elusive wrenches?

I don't have WF-108, but I do have these. 107, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115. Awesome find Roy.
Dewayne

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I don't have WF-108, but I do have these. 107, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115. Awesome find Roy.

Wow. That is one bragworthy set of wrenches right there, Roob.

 

[r_olson_06]

I don't have WF-108, but I do have these. 107, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115. Awesome find Roy.
Dewayne

I have 2 questions.
1. Did you get them all in 1 spot? Or what is the story behind them?
2. Are any engraves USAC?

Looking for a Plomb 3061 Pebble Open End.

 

[RubiconJK]

Wow. That is one bragworthy set of wrenches right there, Roob.

I have 2 questions.
1. Did you get them all in 1 spot? Or what is the story behind them?
2. Are any engraves USAC?

Thanks. I don't remember any USAC marks, but will double check. All but one of these came to me at the same time. If I remember correctly, the single was a BIN I happened to find online. The majority came from another collector who was liquidating. Over the last couple years I've missed at least 2 other WF line wrenches from leads I've received after finding that someone else got there before me. I have seen a picture of a complete collection of these from a collector who I believe may be the only person I know who has a complete collection of all known (and a few of the previously unknown) WF tools. As far as I know he isn't on GJ.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It also carries a very faint engraving of USAC maybe for "United States Air Corps"?

I missed this earlier, Roy. Technically, there was no such organization. The U.S. Army Air Corps existed from 1926 through 1947. It was subsumed by the U.S. Army Air Forces - a new thinly-staffed shell command created specifically to subordinate the U.S. Army Air Corps underneath it, due to infighting about strategic bombing at the highest levels of military power at the onset of the war, in 1941, through 1947. The most common abbreviations seen on wartime objects are either USAAF, USAAC, or AAF or AC. Having said all that, even though it wouldn't be a literal abbreviation for an official organization, given the wrench (Wright Field), the maker (Air Corps contract supplier), and the time period, I think your conclusion is highly likely.

 

[MR.X]

I have 2 questions.
1. Did you get them all in 1 spot? Or what is the story behind them?
2. Are any engraves USAC?

Looking for a Plomb 3061 Pebble Open End.

I have seen usac marked on those style of wrenches more than once, always an amateur scrawl job, not stamped.

 

[RubiconJK]

Here is another recent addition for me and I've not been able to find it in any of the catalogs I have access to. This is 6522, a 1/2" drive 7/16" 6 pt socket that I assume is a connecting rod socket similar to the shorter 6523 9/16" connecting rod socket. Don had shown a picture of one of these in his 1/2" drive set last year and Roy mentioned that he thought it might be a special Cadillac socket. This socket is also marked "NR" which I assume is not returnable similar to other such thin wall sockets. Edit: I did later find 6522 in the 1948 Proto/Plomb crossover catalog 4820 and added a snip of that page in the pics. The primary difference is that this catalog shows the length of 6522 at 1 5/8", but my socket is 3 1/4" long.

 

[tin medic]

My first slugging wrenches.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

My first slugging wrenches.

Nice! Congrats. And with those milled openings (in parentheses), those are some hefty wrenches.

 

[r_olson_06]

Thanks. I don't remember any USAC marks, but will double check. All but one of these came to me at the same time. If I remember correctly, the single was a BIN I happened to find online. The majority came from another collector who was liquidating. Over the last couple years I've missed at least 2 other WF line wrenches from leads I've received after finding that someone else got there before me. I have seen a picture of a complete collection of these from a collector who I believe may be the only person I know who has a complete collection of all known (and a few of the previously unknown) WF tools. As far as I know he isn't on GJ.

Does he have the unknowns from Ed's original list? I would love to fill in the blanks from my catalog.

I missed this earlier, Roy. Technically, there was no such organization. The U.S. Army Air Corps existed from 1926 through 1947. It was subsumed by the U.S. Army Air Forces - a new thinly-staffed shell command created specifically to subordinate the U.S. Army Air Corps underneath it, due to infighting about strategic bombing at the highest levels of military power at the onset of the war, in 1941, through 1947. The most common abbreviations seen on wartime objects are either USAAF, USAAC, or AAF or AC. Having said all that, even though it wouldn't be a literal abbreviation for an official organization, given the wrench (Wright Field), the maker (Air Corps contract supplier), and the time period, I think your conclusion is highly likely.

Thanks for the information. I still haven't got a grasp for all organizations and contract productions from WWII.

I have seen usac marked on those style of wrenches more than once, always an amateur scrawl job, not stamped.

That is the way mine is. Scratched into the side of the hex opening and very faint.

Here is another recent addition for me and I've not been able to find it in any of the catalogs I have access to. This is 6522, a 1/2" drive 7/16" 6 pt socket that I assume is a connecting rod socket similar to the shorter 6523 9/16" connecting rod socket. Don had shown a picture of one of these in his 1/2" drive set last year and Roy mentioned that he thought it might be a special Cadillac socket. This socket is also marked "NR" which I assume in not returnable similar to other such thin wall sockets. Edit: I did later find 6522 in the 1948 Proto/Plomb crossover catalog 4820 and added a snip of that page in the pics. The primary difference is that this catalog shows the length of 6522 at 1 5/8", but my socket is 3 1/4" long.

Very nice. Glad to see some movement on the board here. It has been kind of slow lately.

Looking for a Plomb 3061 Pebble Open End.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I have seen usac marked on those style of wrenches more than once, always an amateur scrawl job, not stamped.

That is the way mine is. Scratched into the side of the hex opening and very faint.

That is very helpful and consistent with it being done by a single supply office or similar unit, not by Plomb or US Army Air Corps HQ, etc.

This has nothing to do with Plomb, but there are a pair of postwar jeep screwdrivers out there with an anachronistic crudely scrawled "USAAF" marking that I have argued was applied after the US Air Force was created from a sense of organizational pride. Probably the same type of thing at work with a "USAC" marking. Air Corps esprit de corps and pride was quite high.

 

[MR.X]

That is very helpful and consistent with it being done by a single supply office or similar unit, not by Plomb or US Army Air Corps HQ, etc.

This has nothing to do with Plomb, but there are a pair of postwar jeep screwdrivers out there with an anachronistic crudely scrawled "USAAF" marking that I have argued was applied after the US Air Force was created from a sense of organizational pride. Probably the same type of thing at work with a "USAC" marking. Air Corps esprit de corps and pride was quite high.

 

[RubiconJK]

Does he have the unknowns from Ed's original list? I would love to fill in the blanks from my catalog.Thanks for the information.

Nothing more than the two that I'm aware of being found in the last few years. You mentioned the WF-3 1/2"F X 3/4"M adapter that we all went gaga about last year and the only other unknown I'm aware of is WF-91 3/8 X 5/16 DOE which I found and posted about early in 2018 here.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=6989794&postcount=3207
Interestingly enough, I wound up finding a second WF-91 which I have since traded away.