Post up your Thorsen tools!

[Provincial]

Yay!!!!!

 

[4lug39]

I have seen these a million times but never thought much about them. They were in my best friends dad's shop when we were growing up I just got him started going through his stuff so He just put them up in his new shop. Now he's stared filling them in with tools, His dad had most of them he's just got dig them out of his conex box.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The project to duplicate my Red Box Special from my 15th Christmas is now officially complete.

Just about the coolest thing I've ever seen done on GJ with old photos and tools!

 

[d42jeep]

Just about the coolest thing I've ever seen done on GJ with old photos and tools!

Thanks, Lugz. My sister in law came down from her cabin to have a bite to eat and watch the Giants game so it was a perfect opportunity for my wife to get a few pictures.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

One of the great items I received from Username in a recent care package was this lightly used 1/2” drive socket set. I initially thought that it might have been a military set but there are no traces of a NSN on the label.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Some kind of third party (retailer?) involved, though, with a stock number and that OEM misspelling on the sticker.

 

[four.cycle]

^ yes. That's "TTC" stuff from Thorsen's later days. The "stock number" is somebody else's number - not Thorsen's.
I run searches now and then on "Thorson ratchet" or "Thorson socket" or "Thorson wrench" and exclude "Thorsen" from the search - turns up some interesting stuff now and then. (Same with "Industro".) (Amazing what's listed on ebay under misspelled brand names.)

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Got a good deal one or twice that way!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Among the most common hand tool OEM malaprops, I've always found "Industro" to be one of the more interesting cases.

The Plomb/Plumb juxtaposition is perhaps the most understandable, yet often susceptible to the most severe consequences for sellers.

"Cornwall" just makes me think of England.

Vlchek, with its implicit foreignness, its seemingly missing vowel, its blend, and its second-syllable resemblance to another common word, spawns the most variants, some of them misguidedly encouraged by the pronunciation guide embedded in the company's own 1940's marketing! I have seen "Velcheck", "Velchek", "Vlcheck", and, creatively (as if the first syllable is a prefix like a Von or a Van), "VelChek", and even, for some reason, "VLChek".

"Industro," for me, is the mistake that ironically makes the most sense. I might even go so far to say that it is perhaps more fitting and more appropriate than the actual name. It invokes "Industry." And I suspect that is the reason it's so prevalent. It looks right.

 

[four.cycle]

^ For almost every brand name of vintage tool, there's a rabbit hole of misspelled variants. Some of my favorites are:
Thorson
Thoreson
Thoresen
Thornson
Thornsen

I've seen "Indestro" mangled in various ways, including:
Industro
industreo
indestero
Indestreo
Industreo

... and yes, Vlchek is a great one to experiment with on ebay searches.

 

[Mintgrun]

I picked up this Thorsin set yesterday. In part, because it was so complete and also because it makes the third box I have with their name embossed in the lid. (I have one more like the large one that does not have the name stamped in and there's another of the little ones at the store that isn't stamped either, but based on the stickers on the underside of the lids, I'm pretty sure they're Thorsen also). Here is an "as found" photo of the lid, before using an acid wash to remove some rust stains.





It was tempting to use a little rubbing compound to clean it up, but that'd leave it shiny. Here's the product I used.



Here are the contents, which are all marked USA, except the ratchet, which says ALLIED SPAIN. Does this help to date this set? The grey is a little greener than the other two, which may be another clue?

 

[four.cycle]

^ The "Thorsen Allied" line (TAT as it was branded) came into being in the very late 1970s or early 1980s, the product they outsourced from Spain being some of the earliest.

 

[d42jeep]

Although I can’t help with the dating, my silver boxes seem to have sets made for the military based on the stickers inside. My guess is that your ratchet is a replacement. Generally my Thorsen sets haven’t come with offshore tools mixed in.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

Thanks for the input. I have one other Thorsen 1/4" ratchet to compare and it's head is a bit clunkier, with a smaller handle. I prefer the design of the roundier Spanish wrench, which resembles the one in Don's set above.

 

[genog]

Set of Thorsen deep sockets

It looks like the 13/16 was cleverly replaced with a Thorsen spark plug socket

One might say that the nut or the bolt won't know the difference...

 

[bonneyman]

I "palm" most of ratchets during use. Easier on the wrist that way, and I've done it so long it's become quite natural. With 1/4" rats the chunkier and rough the better, as that small I need the added texture for grip. But 3/8" rats can be rounder and smoother, as they're easier to hold on to being larger. Just my personal preference.

 

[MR.X]

ratchet progression.

 

[Mintgrun]

In a moment of weakness, I brought the unbranded (Thorsen?) box home yesterday after seeing it sit in the store for a week. I'm sort of surprised nobody picked it up for $4. It was senior discount day, (55 years +) so I got 20% off of that. There was a nice Husky spinner and a few sockets to go with it, plus a few Giller sockets (possibly original?) and the rest were nameless.



It turns out I have a handle for the tiny tips.



I put my homeless set of Thorsen sockets in the box, plus a few eight pointers and an adaptor to fill the slot. Now it seems a little silly to have waited to buy it... but I can't buy everything, where would I put it?



It's actually a little sturdier than the other box, with tabs folded/welded in the corners.

Tom

 

[d42jeep]

Here is my set with the same NSN but in a plastic box. I hadn’t yet added the short extension. I added extra 8 pointers and adapter to mine as well, just to fill it out.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ Mintgrun's set is quite possibly a Giller set made for the military. Thorsen/Giller must have made millions of those sets.... they're everywhere! I think I have at least two or three of them. Sold to the Army as a "small arms tool kit".

 

[d42jeep]

I had been missing this wrench in my Thorsen Vee metric combos. This one arrived yesterday from an eBay seller.
-Don

 

[3baygarage]

ratchet progression.

Dang, I missed your last couple posts! That General ratchet is really something! One I've never even seen. Just when I think I've seen 'em all. Need more photos.

And here I just checked in because I thought there had been some discussion on 1/4 speeders. Found one today, will post it later.

 

[3baygarage]

62M 1/4” speeder
14” long

marked on the shank

 

[RinNO]

I also posted this in the years-long ongoing Giller Tool thread, but thought I also post it here:

I bought a pretty cool small 6-drawer Giller Tool toolbox at an estate sale of a retired USN CPO. Our area has a lot of USN and mil retirees (US Gulf Coast) so it makes sense that it was originally a mil box. It looks just like a typical Snap-On, etc. front-panel style top box, but it is only about 18" x 12" x 12". Clearly, it is a benchtop or carryaround box and not a top to a rolling chest. The front panel slides under the bottom drawer and when in place over the drawers it locks just like a larger Snap-Ons or Kennedy box, except with a hasp style lock on the top rather than a key lock in the front panel. It even has hinged/hasp side handles just like a larger box but also has a fold down top handle that a fullsized box wouldn't have. It has decent rail-style slides on the drawers and is heavy and well-built. It could be an early version of a GMTK type military box. 4 of the 6 drawers have easily removable/movable dividers that are secured with friction-fit "W"-shaped metal holders (they simply flex against the drawer sides and the dividers slide into them) but I don't know if it is missing any dividers, which are plainly original to the box and not a homebrew addition. The only marking is "Giller Tool Co." stamped (raised) directly under the handle on the top panel of the box.

I'll add a couple of pics soon.

 

[yatg]

Stopped at a yard sale this morning and there were some Thorsen combo wrenches made in Taiwan. Didn't pick them up, should I have?

 

[d42jeep]

I wouldn’t have either.
-Don

 

[RinNO]

Stopped at a yard sale this morning and there were some Thorsen combo wrenches made in Taiwan. Didn't pick them up, should I have?

Do you run a trotline and need some weights? Do you regularly need a throwdown blackjack? If so, you probably should have if they were cheap enough...

Actually, now that I think about it, a buddy couldn't help himself in such a situation and welded up a pretty cool seat and backrest for a shop stool whose cloth seat and backrest were more in the nature of threads than actual cloth.

 

[yatg]

Wasn't a total Thorsen bust. Got a nice 12mm combo, #1012, and a beat but beefy 1/2drive x 12cm extension.

 

[four.cycle]

The Taiwan-made Thorsen stuff was pretty sketchy. You would be wise to spend your money elsewhere.

 

[d42jeep]

Recently I occasionally have been throwing low offers at items listed on eBay. Occasionally sellers accept, much to my surprise. This set was one of those. It’s missing one 8 point socket and the 5/16” hex socket is cracked. Otherwise it’s complete and in pretty good condition. Here it is after some cleanup.
-Don

 

[Username already in use]

@d42jeep thats nice! Did you offer $12.40?

 

[d42jeep]

Slightly more. I had to adjust for inflation.
-Don

 

[MR.X]

Uh Oh.. Round head, 24 tooth No.77 ratchet ca. 1933.

Courtesy GJ member bmwrd0 thanks brother.

 

[d42jeep]

I found these two Thorsen wrenches at a Tahoe moving sale this morning.
-Don

 

[yatg]

Rescued this Thorsen set from an auction, but most of the pieces aren't labeled Thorsen. The 4 newer looking sockets, 3 regular and 13/16 spark plug, are labeled. The 4 sockets with knurling match the drive pieces, but the 13/16 has finer knurling. The odd socket out is an indestro super. The box is nice, green crinkle paint. The drive tools are well worn and only the shorty bar locks in. Is it all Thorsen or something else?

 

[d42jeep]

The drive tools and shallow sockets that I can see look to be early S-K.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

wow. you've got a good portion of an early early Sherman-Klove 1/2" female drive set.
dots on each side of the size stamp - signature give-away
the photos are from an ebay listing from a few years ago. seller had NO idea what he had. took a couple years, but eventually it was all identified as early S-K.

 

[yatg]

Thanks! That was unexpected.

 

[d42jeep]

The box might have come with a set like this.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Other than the box layout, I don’t think I can come much closer to my original. I even added a spark plug socket with the original sticker. Most all of the markings on the tools are much more consistent now. I have one missing socket on order. This has been a fun and rewarding project. I texted pictures of the project to my sister in law who is shown sitting next to me in the pictures.
-Dont

My ongoing quest to duplicate my original Thorsen Red Box Special may have finally been completed. Thanks to an alert from Username, I bought this matching set with many of the original tools included. The layout of the box seems identical to the set I got in 1964. Today I cleaned it up and added the missing spinner. I substituted a 7/16” shallow socket from the original set since I still had it. At this point I’m not planning to restore the box.
-Don
As it arrived from the eBay seller
Cleaned up and added the spinner.
The two sets together. I’m happy to finally have found a box with the original configuration.