Plomb tool picture thread - show your stuff!

[JjKk40]

Greased up the big Bertha after noticing it was a bit sticky. The old grease had dried out.

Is that big 'ol mamma-luke 1" or 3/4" drive?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That's the 1". Here it is back in its box. Came in a E date code Snap On set.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Is that a 1939 date code? Looks never used. I have a 1935 3/4” drive set. It came without the drive tools except the head of the sliding t bar. I found a 1935 t bar on eBay that fit right in, and am still seeking the ratchet and breaker. There is a 1936 ratchet on eBay right now with a few sockets for $100. So far I have managed to hold out and not compromise, bolstered by the four or five other ones I have, but sometimes feel weak. I could reasonably and happily accept pre1935; we shall see if the devil wins this one!

 

[MR.X]

Does that say 4150 under the selection lever?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I think it's a 0 (the stamp is suprisingly small) , so 40? but it's in the 39 to 42 range.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Looks like 4150

 

[MR.X]

Looks like 4150

Steel comp?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That's what the number possibly refers to

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Steel comp?

That's what the number possibly refers to

Interesting. Without making an assessment one way or another, here are some data points to consider that come to my mind, anyway....

AISI/SAE 4150 is a chro-moly and all of 41XX was banned by WPB Materials Order M-21-a after 1 January 1942. Except for Priority A-1-K, which was usually weapons related.

Are there any other examples of Plomb stamping a steel comp on a tool?

What else would it be, though?

Hence, why it's interesting.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I suspect that is what the stamp is. Not something I have thought much about, but why even mark it as such if it was before the restriction?

 

[Old Radar]

Maybe there were as many steel alloy composition geeks back then as there seem to be now!! (Hey Gomer, wanna see my new 4150 alloy ratchet? It's the latest thing!)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

why even mark it as such if it was before the restriction?

Indeed. It's a very interesting ratchet.

 

[c1504]

This just showed up in the mail today. I know they are not super rare but I was still pretty thrilled to get it

 

[Smokeshow69]

This just showed up in the mail today. I know they are not super rare but I was still pretty thrilled to get it

That’s pretty nice! Even though it’s not super rare it is cardboard and that doesn’t survive like a metal stamped tool. Plus this is a consumable so probably didn’t survive at the same rate as metal tools. I’d call it a cool find!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I know it has come up before, but I've actually lost the bead on it. This Cragin (in Seattle) was or was not related to Cragin (nee Bog) in Chicago that Plomb bought out?

 

[MR.X]

Not related.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks. Strange koinkydink.

 

[RagTopTA]

In case you really mess up....

I also have a couple of different Plomb match book covers. Those are neat, wonder how many designs there were.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Sweet extractor

 

[RagTopTA]

Sweet extractor

It's the biggest one in the catalogs. I have a box of smaller ones also : }

 

[c1504]

I know it has come up before, but I've actually lost the bead on it. This Cragin (in Seattle) was or was not related to Cragin (nee Bog) in Chicago that Plomb bought out?

I had to research what you are talking about. I knew Plomb bought Bog but I had never heard of Cragin before and didn’t know any of the details. Super interesting stuff. During my research on this topic I also found that there was a hardware store in Chicago until 2018 called Cragin Hardware and Industrial Supply. I am curious if there was any relation to either of the other two Cragins

 

[Arne73]

In case you really mess up....

I also have a couple of different Plomb match book covers. Those are neat, wonder how many designs there were.

*** Root beer is awesome...

 

[RagTopTA]

*** Root beer is awesome...

yes sir! I actually got to go to the last Triple *** drive-in, in Seattle a while back! Had a huge frosted mug with my meal!

 

[Old Radar]

A favorite hangout at Purdue U. in W. Lafayette Indiana in the late 70's and still there.

 

[RagTopTA]

heres a few pics of the *** in Seattle. Huge frosted mugs, and Buddy Hollys tour bus parked out front!

 

[Smokeshow69]

Question- anyone have access to one of these signs or know their dimensions by chance? It appears to be about twice as wide as the 9990? In the 39’ catalog the 9990 is listed as 31” long so according to that this sign is 62” wide so it is 5’2” wide .

 

[bmwrd0]

yes sir! I actually got to go to the last Triple *** drive-in, in Seattle a while back! Had a huge frosted mug with my meal!

I think I dated a woman who was a projectionist there.

Oh, wait...

 

[drivesitfar]

BMW: yep my mind was going there too if I hadn’t seen pics of *** drive in and mugs mentioned instead of jugs.

C10504: I think your Craigins matchbook has address of their business that is now TMobike field where the Seattle Mariners play their home games. My dad used to go the the big Sears store about a mile south of that almost every week so Craftsman was his favorite brand. I almost bet Boeing workers got a coupon in their paychecks for Sears as much as he and mom went there.

 

[bmwrd0]

Full disclosure; while I did date a woman who was a projectionist in Seattle, it was at the Seven Gables Cinema, not some skin flik place.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

True story. A drive-in movie theater in Walnutport, PA called Becky's actually showed X-rated movies when I was a kid in the 70's. It was one town over from my hometown and everyone would try to sneak into the woods. It is still operating and apparently quite famous now, though they dropped the nudies a long time ago.

 

[c1504]

C10504: I think your Craigins matchbook has address of their business that is now TMobike field where the Seattle Mariners play their home games. My dad used to go the the big Sears store about a mile south of that almost every week so Craftsman was his favorite brand. I almost bet Boeing workers got a coupon in their paychecks for Sears as much as he and mom went there.

That is awesome! I have never been to Seattle before so I am not familiar with where anything is and I didn’t even think to look the address up

 

[drivesitfar]

C1504: I took a guess on the address and just googled and I was a few hundred feet off cause the address on the matchbook is probably a pay parking lot in front of the Seattle Seahawks stadium. In any case it looks like the old building is no longer there.

All: I picked up another decent Plvmb toolbox that needs a new latch hook and a bit of surface derusting. I do like how clean the level is and of course I like this style box too.

 

[four.cycle]

^ The location is about one block west of the ballpark, actually. That section of Seattle is referred to as "SoDo" even though the "dome" went bye-bye decades ago. I used to work about half a mile south of there, just past Lander Street.
That entire area was originally salt marsh and swamp until they filled it all in around the turn of the 20th century.
Seven Gables theatre was an art house. You didn't see "The Dirty Dozen" or "Terminator" there - it was Ingmar Bergman or Akira Kurosawa
at least three nights a week, I think. Great place.
The "***" root beer place up in Des Moines got turned into a Thai joint. Last time I was in there I had fried pomfret - fabulous stuff.

 

[drivesitfar]

The old *** root beer on pac highway (SeaTac) became a Thai joint I’m guessing about 40 years ago and it’s now gone bulldozed (maybe 15 years ago) and is part of SeaTac airport’s rental car garage. Man those mugs of cold root beer at *** and A&W’s are making me thirsty and I quit drinking pop except for the occasional one about 20 years ago.

I don’t recall a *** theater in Sodo so you must be an old guy cause I think the only *** film I paid to see was Deep … and in a theater downtown.

I need a cold mug of root beer (I do have cold A&W mugs in my freezer for ice tea) but can or bottle root beer never tasted as good as ***’s or A&W drive in’s.

 

[Smokeshow69]

C1504: I took a guess on the address and just googled and I was a few hundred feet off cause the address on the matchbook is probably a pay parking lot in front of the Seattle Seahawks stadium. In any case it looks like the old building is no longer there.

All: I picked up another decent Plvmb toolbox that needs a new latch hook and a bit of surface derusting. I do like how clean the level is and of course I like this style box too.

Drives- that 9989 is too cool! It has the old Boeing logo sticker on it! So cool!

 

[bmwrd0]

Wow, good memory 4C!

 

[four.cycle]

^ I have a pretty good memory. I'm not surprised that old *** was demolished. That had to have been in the mid-1990s when I ate there.
I remember that vividly because my boss had a fit when he got the bill for the dinner - I managed to coerce four different district managers and several store managers from (what was then) Schuck's Auto Supply into having dinner after a sales presentation. Boss didn't quite grasp the fact that I scooped them all up out of a meeting, got them all together in one place, and artfully performed the "soft sell massage" - all he saw were the numbers on the bottom of the credit card receipt - too short-sighted to think about the sales numbers for the following several months.
A few years before that I was working just south of First and Lander for about a year - slinging tailpipes and mufflers in a 100,000 sq. ft. warehouse operation. UGH!

 

[Smokeshow69]

Picked up this uncommon weirdo off the reject pile. Anyone notice anything amiss? Never plated or finished so probably plucked off the line.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Friday afternoon production run.
We used to see stuff like that every now and then .... now and then Mr. QC is asleep at the switch.

 

[3baygarage]

Cool find.