Post up your Thorsen tools!

[d42jeep]

Thorsen tools are pretty common in the Bay Area. I found these on Friday.
-Don

 

[RTM]

Well, I found another empty Thorsen box......
I keep wondering, what happened to the darn tools?

Some guy put them in his giant master tech box with socket rails, and tossed the box aside.

Or his kids lost every one of them, one piece at a time, fixing his bike in the field with the jumps.

 

[Old Radar]

^^^ Or the classic micro-thin Thorsen chrome plating flaked off and the tools rusted back to their pre-forged elements...

 

[d42jeep]

One of the items I received in the Fred Knox care package was this partial metric set in a plastic box. First I went through the ammo box of spares and found a couple of sockets and a rust free ratchet to add. Today I went through the main Thorsen boxes and found the rest of the correct vintage missing pieces. I need to find room in the Thorsen section of the basement to display it. Thanks again, Fred!
-Don

 

[RTM]

Price tag from Brinton's, a hardware store from Carmel that closed over 10 years ago. Another reminder of the times.

(And no, I did not know of them. But price stickers always intrigue me.)

 

[d42jeep]

So it’s not that much of an odd coincidence that the set was mailed to me from Carmel. I guess it never got too far from home until now.
-Don

 

[chris142]

I needed a 5/8 wrench back in the 80's. I bought a USA made thorson @ chief auto parts.

 

[ecotec]

I noticed one of the usual suspects in the garage/estate sale thread found a bunch of Action wrenches in the last week or so.

 

[LNKMK8]

Picked up this clean Action set last month at a sale, only missing the 3/8" socket which I had a Fleet one in my extras to fill it out.

 

[ecotec]

Picked up this clean Action set last month at a sale, only missing the 3/8" socket which I had a Fleet one in my extras to fill it out.

That set is just beautiful.

 

[d42jeep]

A rainy afternoon project today was to get the red box Thorsen sets together. The Yankee Doodle Special set donated by Username is on the upper right.
Additional tools in the Redbox Thorsen collection.

-Don

 

[MR.X]

Thorsen top row

 

[RTM]

Picked up two Thorsen wrenches, one each of the last weekends hauls. The first was a 51177 made in Taiwan, grabbed from the Branch 15 swap meet. The first I found that day seemed to have a busted internal piece, so I left it. In the bright light I did not see that this was a Taiwan Mfgd. Must be part of the TAT Thorsen Allied Tools movement. A nice heavy ratchet..

The second is from a local GS, a 77J, with the open head selector switch, that I hoped would fit into a 3810 set I have partially completed, it it calls for a 77JC, closed head. Oh well.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Got this partial set of Action wrenches a few weeks back, only missing 7/16 & 5/8.

 

[bonneyman]

I like those middle period (1950-1970) Thorsens and clones. Solid tools.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Got this empty box for $2.50

Also got these not so good screwdrivers for 10¢ apiece.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Old Thorsen socket 3/8” drive 3/4” plain steel. Not sure why it has a “J” in the part number.

 

[d42jeep]

Another red box set arrived in the mail yesterday. This one is 1/2“ drive. I added a socket and extension.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

Got this empty box for $2.50

You ****! $2 wouldn't even cover the packing material for you to send it to me!

With all the thieving some of you guys get away with I think you need to try some banks.

 

[d42jeep]

I did some cleaning on my new 1/2” drive red box set. Unfortunately, I can’t find a ’60s catalog showing the set to verify exactly what tools it should contain.
-Don

 

[genog]

I found a seller who had a box of these metric Thorsens
He had these sizes only and he had at least a couple of each size



It's too bad he didn't have an 8mm in that box of his
I've been using my 8mm's lately...

 

[BFBOB]

It's been quite a while since I've added to my VeeGee collection. I came across this 17mm HWI branded combo on EvilBay and though I already had one HWI, it's an SAE. This metric looked pretty nice so I pulled the trigger. I'm glad I did because the dang thing looks new. Just a few scuffs that could easily be shelf wear, and that's it.

Woo hoo!

 

[d42jeep]

I found several Thorsen pieces at a Carson City , NV estate sale yesterday.
-Don

 

[Mark Stansbury]

Here's the link to a Medalist Tools catalog, possibly 1982, "Designed & imported by Thorsen Tool Company."
https://archive.org/details/medalist-tools-catalog-mdc-829/mode/2up

Newspaper advertising begins in 1979 and goes into the 1990s. Anyone know anything more?

 

[four.cycle]

^ only thing I can make of it is that "Medalist" was yet another episode of the tragic saga of Thorsen Tool Company.

Medalist / Medalist Tools, 2527 Willowbrook Rd. (PO BOX 20678), Dallas, TX 75220 / all imported / see also Thorsen Tool Co., Giller Tool Co. /
Giller / Giller Tool Co., 2527 Willowbrook Road, Dallas, TX 75220 / see also Thorsen / est. 1952 (?) / https://wrenchwiki.com/giller-tool-company/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...-chicago-stamped-1967-anyone-have-one.494167/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/giller-socket-set-box.490292/ /

Thorsen / Thorsen Tool Co., Oakland, CA / later Dallas, TX / http://alloy-artifacts.org/thorsen-manufacturing.html / http://alloy-artifacts.org/thorsen-manufacturing.html#history /

 

[d42jeep]

I found a 1/4” drive Giller ratchet at a yard sale on Saturday. I checked my red box Giller set and it had a Thorsen placeholder. Out came the Thorsen and in went the Giller.
-Don
Thorsen and Giller cousins.
Giller ratchet added to the Giller set.

 

[genog]

The bottom four wrenches were last week's Estate Sale finds

Sometimes I wonder why I buy stuff like this
But after I hear what some people rack up in Bar Tabs.....

A buck a piece for those four Thorsens doesn't amount to much nowadays

 

[LNKMK8]

Here is what appears to be a Automotive Tool Kit with all Thorsen tools. I'm not sure what it is missing or what doesn't belong. The wrench has no markings on it. Did Thorsen ever provide these for one of the auto manufacturers?

 

[d42jeep]

Found some Thorsen at today’s Berkeley estate sale. A mostly complete Emeryville made 3/8” drive set missing the ratchet and some miscellaneous 1/2” drive pieces.
-Don
Cleaned up the 3/8” drive tools.

 

[d42jeep]

I added a ratchet to the set that I had in my spares and decided that it was ready to move to the Thorsen display in the basement. I found another there that I had that I had added deep sockets to. I checked it out on Internet Archives and discovered that the deep sockets didn’t belong. I suppose that a previous owner could have conceivably added the deep sockets from open stock.
The exterior paint is better than the interior
Comparing the two sets.
Checked the set part number
Checked the catalog
Added it to the Thorsen display.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I found this Thorsen torque wrench at a sale. The area where the missing set screw holding the indicator rod was cracked. I had an old torque wrench converted to a breaker bar stored in my late brother’s old toolbox. My plan was to repair the new torque wrench with pieces from the old. Major fail! I ended up just adding the set screw to the cracked housing. I imagine that the housing cracked during or shortly after the manufacturing process since the press fit was so tight. I was certainly unable to get it to move.
-Don

 

[esben57]

13/16" plug socket 3/8" sq drive.

 

[d42jeep]

Good Thorsen haul at an Oakland hardware store in the process of closing up. All pieces are NOS. Thanks to Chrome Vanadium Cody for the lead.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

Great snag, Don. Sad to hear the store is closing, though.

 

[d42jeep]

Here are the NOS Vee DOE wrenches cleaned up.
-Don

 

[Old Radar]

Nice work saving the stickers!

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks. Nothing says NOS like a price tag.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

Thanks. Nothing says NOS like a price tag.
-Don

I thought it was the hang tags that were all the rage?

 

[d42jeep]

Added the NOS wrenches and took pictures of all the Vee wrenches while I had them out.
-Don
Fractional DOE wrenches
Fractional Vee Combos
Metric DOE wrenches
Metric combos
Thanks to Fred Knox for the upgraded 13/16” combo.

 

[d42jeep]

I found this Thorsen torque wrench at a sale. The area where the missing set screw holding the indicator rod was cracked. I had an old torque wrench converted to a breaker bar stored in my late brother’s old toolbox. My plan was to repair the new torque wrench with pieces from the old. Major fail! I ended up just adding the set screw to the cracked housing. I imagine that the housing cracked during or shortly after the manufacturing process since the press fit was so tight. I was certainly unable to get it to move.
-Don

The crack in the torque wrench offended me and I spotted this nice looking one on eBay at a reasonable price. It arrived today.
When I went through my Vee combos the 3/8” was missing. I know I just misplaced it somewhere but I ordered in a replacement just in case.
-Don