Plomb tool picture thread - show your stuff!

[d42jeep]

Nailhead nice pics and finds!!

All: just curious what paint (if any left on shelves) you guys use for Plvmb green toolboxes or army green cabinets?

Welcome to the vintage tool discussion. Great Plomb box collection. I use VHT wrinkle paint on really warm days over coated with this paint from Midwest Military. Here is an S-K box I did.
-Don

 

[Ricky Joe]

I like the Crosley! I’ve done a few nail heads, also straight eights. I like Buicks! Welcome!

 

[d42jeep]

VHT wrinkle red is a bit brighter than Plomb red but it’s wrinkle and it’s red. Here is a box I did for my Chrome Alloy set followed by an original Plomb box.
-Don

 

[RTM]

I use VHT wrinkle paint on really warm days over coated with this paint from Midwest Military. Here is an S-K box I did.

So damn jealous of the uniformity you got.

 

[nailheadmatt]

Jim's new 30s decal I talked h into making. They are available as well as other plomb box decals on ebay

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Very nice

 

[four.cycle]

ooo yeah... very nice.

I have several examples of Jim's work around here somewhere...

 

[d42jeep]

Here is another of Jim’s decals.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I spotted this NAF 1/4” drive 8 point socket on eBay. I am aware that they are quite rare so I grabbed it.

I’ll add it to the NAF set populated mostly with conventional Plomb tools. I recently received this NAF spark plug socket from Roy.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is the 4746 unicorn I received in the Plomb 1/4” drive set from Todd. Now I’m only missing one piece from a complete set. The 4742 is proving to be difficult to find.
-Don

 

[saukit]

Here are a few DOEs that I just pulled out of the Evaporust. I really like the two bigger ones, they're thinner than any other Plomb wrench I have including other 34xx series.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

...they're thinner than any other Plomb wrench I have including other 34xx series.

It's not unusual for them to be thinner than any other Plomb wrenches you have. Tappet wrenches are always thinner than other wrenches. But I'm curious about them being thinner than your other Plomb 34xx tappet wrenches. Are the others the same style? Or different?

EDIT: I think you should mic them, take some photos of them together, and meet us down on my new thread.

 

[saukit]

Good idea Lugz, I will do just that when I get a chance. I have a couple more of these same Plomb tappet DOE wrenches and when I put these two away I thought I had a pretty good start on a set until I held them all together.

They are all about the same length but these two are quite a bit thinner than the other two. I assume it has to do with date/place of manufacture but maybe there’s another reason.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I assume it has to do with date/place of manufacture but maybe there’s another reason.

Very well could be! But let's get them down on the Tappet Wrench Bench and see what we can find out.

These are so numerous to be old hat and hardly worth posting here by now, but I actually don't see too many PLOMB LA screwdrivers over here on the right coast. Plenty of wrenches and whatnot, but not too many drivers. Found at the flea just this morning.

 

[MisterEd]

Thanks to Username already in use and d42Jeep I now know this is a Right and Left Calker dating to pre-1930 something given that the "O" is not a"V".

 

[d42jeep]

Here are the rest of my pebble flare nut wrenches. I still need a 5/8” and 11/16” example. I have my eye on some on eBay.
-Don

Added the missing 5/8” wrench yesterday.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

While I was going through my recent arrivals, I updated and completed some 1/4” drive sets. Unfortunately, in order to complete sets I often end up buying incomplete sets that come with boxes. The Catch-22 is that then I need to complete those as well. The top two pictures are sets completed to my satisfaction.
-Don

Incomplete sets

Spare pieces

1/4“ drive ratchets not in sets.

 

[saukit]

Jeez Don, way to make a guy feel inferior! Wow!

 

[d42jeep]

Sorry. I admit to a fascination with 1/4” drive tools. The problem with Walden and S-K may even be worse.
Here are a pair of NAF 1” spark plug sockets with the same number but some differences in design and finish.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ got any leads on where a guy might find repair parts for a Plomb-made Firestone 1/4" ratchet?

 

[d42jeep]

What parts do you need? I have a few Proto pieces left.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I think any plompire 1/4 inch racetrack ratchet parts should work

 

[four.cycle]

oh man.. NO idea... it's one of my two Firestone 1/4" kits... got one with a wonky ratchet. I'd have to go on safari in the garage to find it.
memory is vague... but I think it engaged fine one way but was total slip-slop the other way.
somebody here posted photo images of ratchet repair parts they scored somewhere, but that was before I needed them.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Maybe take it apart. Might just need a spring.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Added the missing 5/8” wrench yesterday.
-Don

I’ve got the Proto pebble 11/16” if that helps. It is the only Plomb/Proto line wrench I have, I believe.

 

[d42jeep]

i certainly appreciate your offer but I already have the Proto 11/16” version covered.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I got these yesterday in trade from LS.



The pipe wrenches are 1947 Danielson's. The stubby - hard to see the Plomb branding, but it's there, is a No. 9651.



I'm sure someone has remarked on this before, and apologies to whomever that is, and everyone else who has commented, but the stubby is downright puny. I have never seen one before in person and I have to say, I was shocked. The tip of the blade has been shortened, but not much, and that's not even the most punyfying aspect (although 1" blade length factory spec, per the catalog) is really short for stubbies.



The handle is really small. Not just length, but width. You guys have seen me extoll the virtues of Plomb long enough to give me space for criticism, and here it is: these are too small, in my opinion. The handle is not a good and comfortable grip in the palm of the hand, forcing you to just use fingers instead, which could be an issue on a tough screw, and the blade length and tip seem insubstantial, or at least significantly smaller than peers, to me.

Left to right for comparison, are Vlchek Phillips, Vlchek slot, Riverside, Bonney, Bonney, and the Plomb.

 

[d42jeep]

They are pretty short but longer than the shorty spinner. They may both use the same size handle.
-Don

 

[Lesserstore]

I received this in the mail today from eBay. A WF-8 9/32 ratchet. Do the up and down plumb bobs signify anything?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Seems like they are usually both down, but I have not been keeping track

 

[Provincial]

Plomb intended the stubby screwdriver to be used in tight locations. That is why the handle is so small. If you want to see a small-handled stubby, Snap-On SD11A and SDP12 are pretty small:

By the 1970's they made even smaller ones:

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Plomb intended the stubby screwdriver to be used in tight locations.

I'm well aware of the purpose of "stubby" screwdrivers, Jock, and that purpose was certainly not exclusive to Plomb. That was the intent for all of them. Their original technical name in trade mags and many catalogs was "Close quarter" screwdriver. GMTK specs for a Close quarter screwdriver in 1942 was 1-3/4" blade length and 4" OAL. The 1942 Fed spec (GGG-S-121a) specified a handle diameter of 1-1/4". Plomb's offering does not meet any of those specs. Not even with the tolerances applied!

I suppose you could say their intent was a stubbier stubby, if you will, against the norm, but it was the only one they made.

I'm not picking on it randomly. Again, this was the first time I have ever handled one in person, after handling dozens of GMTK-spec close quarter screwdrivers for years - and it is noticeably much smaller.

 

[d42jeep]

I need a few of these extensions but one arrived from an eBay seller today

This 3/8” drive 7/16” deep socket arrived today as well. It will be added to the red box 3/8 drive set


-Don

 

[LesserSon]

Not that it’s pertinent to the points under discussion, but here’s a story of that stubbier stubby:
It was one of my first visits to Blue Ridge flea market (near Saylorsburg PA). I was so jazzed, I fairly bailed out of our vehicle, abandoning MrsLS and my father, who was visiting. That stubby was on the first table I stopped at. Its smallness is what drew me to pick it up. I noted the reground tip, and was setting it down when I discerned the brand hidden in crud. I still walked away, telling myself to think it over.
One flea crawl later, I return to take another look, and the stubby is gone. Oh well. I move on.
MrsLS finds me. “I bought you a present,” she says, and hands it to me. “Isn’t it cute?”
Yes, sure is.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

They may both use the same size handle.

Interesting observation. I don't have one to compare. When you get a chance to verify, please do. If so, it would demonstrate that they were either being efficient (no new engineering, same source, etc), committed to their design goals for close quarter work, or both. There's nothing wrong with bucking the norm and standard, per se. But it did disqualify their close quarter screwdriver from federal acquisition. And that seems to bear out empirically. It's not the only GMTK tool they didn't provide, but I didn't recognize why with this one until now.

"Isn’t it cute?”

As cute as the story!

 

[d42jeep]

My stubby screwdriver is snowed in for the next 6 or 7 months. I’ll get the dimensions of the short spinner and you can compare the handle size to your screwdriver.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks.

 

[LesserSon]

Jeez, Don. MrsLS and I recurrently promise each other we will move “out west” (disagreeing on which state) when we retire. But between our June/July travels(couple years ago), when some of the passes had just opened “last week,” and the horrors of wildfire, torrential rain, mudslides, and “snowed in for the next 6 or 7 months,” the choice of my gggrandmother to return to cozy PA from IA, instead of pushing on in 1862 seems sound. I often wonder how their lives would have differed, had my gggrandfather not succumbed to the rampant disease sweeping through barracks. (Obviously, my life wouldn’t have happened at all!)

 

[d42jeep]

Don’t forget, Hawaii is “out west“ too, and looking pretty good at the moment. When Username was there, he threatened not to come back.
-Don

 

[bmwrd0]

Yes, stay back east, there is nothing for you out here. It is a complete hellscape of weather and terrain disasters. No one comes here anymore, it's too crowded.

The food is terrible, and the portions are so small.