Post up your Thorsen tools!

[Private Lugnutz]

A few weeks ago I found a V-groove in horrible condition (See Pic 1), basically coated in rust. It was only a buck so I decided to try and save it. I let it soak in a bin of Evap-o-Rust for a week, which removed the rust, but left a lot of pitting and leopard spotting (See Pic 2). Hard to read (See Pic 3), but it's a 15/16 THORSEN U.S.A. 2030. If anyone who might need this for a collection wants to try to do more work on the pits and stains (bead blasting might work), PM me.

 

[DD T/A]

Some guy at the flea market had a green metal box of 1/2" drive, what looked to be never used, not once, the sockets(10 of them...?) appeared to be complete and perfectly clean, no scratches. And there were two breaker bars but no ratchet.

He wanted $30. Is that reasonable?

 

[disston]

Some guy at the flea market had a green metal box of 1/2" drive, what looked to be never used, not once, the sockets(10 of them...?) appeared to be complete and perfectly clean, no scratches. And there were two breaker bars but no ratchet.

He wanted $30. Is that reasonable?

That sounds like a good enough deal to me. If you need a 1/2" socket set, but who doesn't.

 

[bonneyman]

That sounds like a good enough deal to me. If you need a 1/2" socket set, but who doesn't.

Agreed! Ratchets are not too hard to find, so, completing that set wouldn't be too difficult.

 

[bonneyman]

...aaaannnnddd Another!!

Cruising the pages of GJ, I spied a picture of one of the VS series Snap-On wrenches - one of those oddball 4-angle DOE's. But something didn't look right.

I gotta say the V-G groove on an angle wrench really does make the tool "pop".

Maybe the sharp angle end with the angular look of the groove - I dunno.

 

[d42jeep]

I needed to incorporate the Thorsen that came in over the summer plus take some other pictures, so that’s how I spent my day. Sometimes being retired has its benefits. Here are the profile shots of the DBE wrenches plus a picture of the green box sets. The lower right set is one I made up with 3/8” drive metric sockets. I finished up by updating the combo wrenches.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here are the profile shots of the DBE wrenches

I think this was for me for comparison to the WARDS MQ I posted on the DBE thread, right? Thanks!

 

[d42jeep]

Yes, but since the offset was not very consistent over the years, so I’m not sure they were of much help. Still, Thorsen remains a possible manufacturer of your Wards wrenches.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Since I bought a large Thorsen lot at a local estate sale at the beginning of the month, I spent some time recently incorporating many of them into the collection.
-Don

 

[Username already in use]

...aaaannnnddd Another!!

That brings the known-to-me brand list to:

Action
Blue Grass
Caterpillar
Channellock
Dayton
KAL
Powr-Kraft
Snap-On
Thorsen
Westcraft
Wilde

Still searching for a Westcraft.

Not a Westcraft, but I did find this one marked HWI.

 

[four.cycle]

^ HWI = Hardware Wholesalers Inc. / Do it Best Corp. (after 1998), Ft. Wayne, Indiana

I have at least a couple items stamped "HWI" - all of them Thorsen made.

 

[Username already in use]

I needed to incorporate the Thorsen that came in over the summer ... plus a picture of the green box sets.

Don, All those green boxes look great! I see some 3/8" deep sockets being added to your collection in the very near future.

 

[Username already in use]

^ HWI = Hardware Wholesalers Inc. / Do it Best Corp. (after 1998), Ft. Wayne, Indiana

I have at least a couple items stamped "HWI" - all of them Thorsen made.

Thanks for the info. I live in what used to be 'Do it Best' land, so that makes sense.

 

[d42jeep]

Don, All those green boxes look great! I see some 3/8" deep sockets being added to your collection in the very near future.

That’s cool! Maybe a 3/8” deep could occupy that small open space.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Not a Westcraft, but I did find this one marked HWI.

Hang on to that wrench. I may have some Vee wrenches for you in the next box!
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

Thanks for the info. I live in what used to be 'Do it Best' land, so that makes sense.

let me know if you intend to start an "HWI" collection. I think I have an "HWI" 1/4" drive spinner and a....... (?) 1/4" drive ratchet (??) (not sure - they're out in the garage in the pile somewhere.)(both Thorsen made)

somebody just listed a set of those Thorsen 3/8" drive deep-wells yesterday on Ebay. cheap. lot of stuff is going for single bids lately:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/153278885399

 

[BFBOB]

Many thanks to Username for feeding my latest obsession. He kindly consented to sell me his VeeGee wrench wearing the new (to me, at least) HWI brand. He even took it swimming in Evaporust so it looks better than in his photos. Here 'tis:

 

[Username already in use]

Looks real nice. Glad I was able to help! I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for others.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Posting an updated photo of all my ACTION stuff stuffed unceremoniously in its generic tote home (See Pic 1) as an excuse to thank Don for his unexpected and early not-so-Secret Santa gift of a couple sockets and a decently partial set of combo wrenches (See Pic 2).

 

[d42jeep]

Glad they made it okay. The Post Office gets pretty sketchy this time of year. Merry Christmas! Thanks for all you do on this site.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

I didn't know anybody other than me was collecting Action. Did you happen to see these?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ACTION-3-8...7mm-14mm-13mm-12mm-11mm-10mm-8mm/173684996863

ends this morning at 07:55 PST

second time they've been listed with no takers yet.

 

[d42jeep]

I’m trying to keep my collection pretty much Thorsen, although I will substitute an Action tool as a placeholder for a missing Thorsen. Lugz has made some nice Action finds at his flea markets.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I didn't know anybody other than me was collecting Action. Did you happen to see these?...[ ]...second time they've been listed with no takers yet.

Lugz has made some nice Action finds at his flea markets.

I am purely an accidental ACTION collector. Found a near-complete 1/2-inch drive set in that removable tray, and filled it in with some other finds and gifts from Don since then. No plans to go metric other than maybe seeing if I can find any of the missing combos to fill in the gaps.

 

[four.cycle]

I don't blame you a bit. Searching for one missing socket from a set for over a year was just nutty. Crazy thing is I only paid about $12 bucks (incl. shipping) for the rest of the set and it was barely used. That was the only reason I bought it in the first place!

 

[Username already in use]

No plans to go metric other than maybe seeing if I can find any of the missing combos to fill in the gaps.

10mm combo is inbound. Merry Christmas!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Haha. Okay, thanks. I meant 'in the wild,' but who am I to look a gift 10mm combo wrench in the mouth?

 

[d42jeep]

I recently received some Thorsen partial sets from my tool collecting buddies. I was able to complete the early 3/8” drive deep set but will have to find a 19mm deep for the metric set. They gave me an excuse to take updated pictures of my various sets. While I had the Thorsen tools out, I took a picture of my wartime or earlier looking Thorsen tools.
-Don

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: i'm looking forward to reading more of this thread and maybe I can contribute a few pics of my finds too cause I never turn down a good buy with Thorsen name on the side of a socket or wrench or tool.



MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

 

[Mgdoug3]

I'll have to post a picture of a Thorsen beam style torque wrench I got last week. It's a 1/2" drive T-100 that is still accurate and I even used it to check my other torque wrenches.

 

[bonneyman]

Just recieved this old Thorsen board from a secret santa. Have about 1/3 of the items - now I have to find the rest of the tools. Darn!

 

[d42jeep]

I have quite a few duplicates. If you can make up a list of what you are missing from your boards, I’m sure I can help you out.
Merry Christmas.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

should be pretty easy to find those pieces.
only one that might be a challenge would be the 88JNR flex-head ratchet.

 

[Mgdoug3]

Here's the picture of the Thorsen T-100. I also bought a Craftsman 944443 torque wrench from the guy for $10. Best part is that they're both dead on.

 

[bonneyman]

I appreciate the offer guys but Thorsen sockets are not a high priority collection for me right now. Too many other things are screaming for my attention.

Though I am still lacking some of the middle period (marked with MFG in USA) Thorsen/Action combo wrenches in metric if anyone has spares.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I think you would be surprised at how ridiculously cheap you can buy Thorsen on ebay for if you wait for the right deal to come along. I own at least three 3/8" drive SAE socket sets (complete, in the original steel boxes) that were all less than $20 bucks each (including shipping.)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That reminds me!

Somewhere upthread we had a discussion about the uniqueness of the "MFD." mark being isolated to ALL Plomb Empire brands - plus Thorsen. And I noted a tenuous and somewhat anachronistic explanation of the practice possibly coming from P&C to Plomb Empire writ large vis-à-vis John Mortensen, the lead engineer who went back to P&C after bolting with Ned Boyd a decade or so earlier to Thorsen.

When 3bay recently revived his Flex-Head Speeder thread, I went through the whole thread again with nothing but joy and delight in mind, but noticed something I hadn't noticed the first time I went through it months ago. Thorsen made a one-handed flex-head speeder! You know the kind I mean - with no swing, just a sort of half-kink in the shank. See post #6 in his thread, linked here. I have never seen that or even a regular one-handed speeder in the Thorsen catalog or anywhere else.

Previously, I was only aware of the P&C version. I had admired its ingenuity for a long time, requiring only a little pressure and twist to get going. As far as I knew, it was unique to P&C. You can also see the P&C version on that thread, linked here.

If I had to guess, it's probably also a design from the Mortensen files!

 

[four.cycle]

never heard of it until now.... what is the significance of "MFD" on Thorsen/Giller?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nothing that I know of other than the fact that it was also and only (as far as I have been able to determine) used by Plomb/PTTI and all its brands and subsidiaries. Making "MFD." (not to be picayune, but there is a period) unique ONLY to Plomb/PTTI and all its brands and subsidiaries and Thorsen (Giller, Dayton, etc).

I have yet to see any other mfgr in the vintage era use that particular abbreviation for "Manufactured".

I have said that it might just be a West Coast 'thing', something else those enterprises have in common. The way plenty of other tics get picked up and become a regional trend (e.g., the hex throat on DOE wrenches used by Cornwell, Mac, and Wright in Ohio). After all, Boyd left P&C many years before Plomb bought it, and he left Thorsen, too! But I am starting to believe it's more than just regional coincidence or subconscious appropriation, and Mortensen, who went back to P&C, might be the key to the little tics that P&C (and Plomb) and Thorsen share.

 

[BFBOB]

Thanks to Lugnutz (and my overconfidence) I laid hands on this sad Thorsen 15/16 combo to see if I could save it. In a sense, it didn't need saving. Despite the overall horror of rust, the working surfaces were still in usable condition. The box end had only light rust, and the open end, while deeply pitted in a few areas, didn't have enough overall damage to throw it out of spec.

Lugz had already made a stab at derusting it, so who knows what it looked like before the before!*

* We do know - see post 521.

Here it is, as it arrived on my scene:

 

[BFBOB]

I immediately dunked it in the secret sauce and applied voltage. Three all-day stints interspersed with wire brush sessions brought it to a rust-free condition, but hardly esthetically appealing. The deep pitting all over resembled craters on the moon. I thought some rough handling might teach it a lesson, so I slapped it around with the ol' wire wheel. This shined it up some, and removed the last remaining 1% of the chrome plating, but I wasn't satisfied.