Post up your Thorsen tools!

[Oldtuleguy]

Amazing collection. There were so many brand they sold those under.

 

[four.cycle]

BFBOB - perseverance finally paid off!

Did you get one of the Thorsen-branded 5/16" combos in that style?

 

[BFBOB]

Yes, in fact I have two Thorsen branded 5/16" - one is the combo, and the other is a 3/8 x 5/16 DOE.

Of course, the search will continue since I don't know for sure that only the 16 brands I know of exist. I have an HWI, so shouldn't there also be TruValue? And there is a Caterpillar, so why not Case or John Deere? It could happen . . .

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Makes sense. I have a couple only because I collect western auto stuff.

 

[four.cycle]

errrr.... HWI was a separate retail chain from TruValue, I believe...

HWI / Hardware Wholesalers Inc. / Do it Best Corp. (after 1998), Ft. Wayne, IN / (some manufactured by Thorsen) /

Tru-Test / (True Value Hardware private label) /


(I don't have anything on who the OEM was for "Tru-Test")

 

[Provincial]

True Value is a brand of Cotter and Company, a private corporation that is the largest distributor of hardware in the world. It is a member-owned corporation, and the customers (many small family-owned businesses) are the owners. This has kept costs down for the customers, and helped them survive against the big-box stores.

I know that Indestro supplied wrenches to Cotter and Company in the 1960's, and perhaps earlier. I don't know when Thorsen started supplying tools.

 

[d42jeep]

Yes, in fact I have two Thorsen branded 5/16" - one is the combo, and the other is a 3/8 x 5/16 DOE.

Of course, the search will continue since I don't know for sure that only the 16 brands I know of exist. I have an HWI, so shouldn't there also be TruValue? And there is a Caterpillar, so why not Case or John Deere? It could happen . . .

It looks as if I am missing a 5/16” combo should anyone run across an extra. I jump from 1/4” to 3/8”.
I found this oldie on Saturday.
-Don

 

[Old Radar]

I GOT IT!!
At long last, I have acquired the one missing brand of the VeeGee Thorsens! Call 'em V groove, Streamline or raised+lowered panel, their distictive styling captured me. After a several-year search, I finally laid my hands on a 1" combo in pretty darn good condition. As you can see, it has some rust, but its mostly superficial. It's sitting in the tub of EvapoRust right now, and I expect a gentle kiss of the wire wheel after it's out will restore its beauty.
So, I now have at least one example of everyone of the 16 brands of the VG pattern ever made!!
(until another brand surfaces, anyway)

I wouldn't go near a wire wheel with that minor amount of rust. A hand held toothbrush-type wire brush will swiftly and safely deal with anything the EvapoRust leaves behind.

 

[four.cycle]

"...wouldn't go near a wire wheel..."

I wouldn't put ANY Thorsen wrench on a wire wheel, particularly any of those "V-groove" models, because I've seen so many Thorsen wrenches with peeling chrome.
(Maybe I'm just the lucky one.)

 

[BFBOB]

Thanks for all the kind comments- and here it is after overnight in EvapoRust and light wirebrushing, mostly by hand. Woo hoo!
I agree about avoiding the wire wheel, but in this case, it was indicated in some areas where all the chrome was already gone - like the flat of the open end on the bottom. Sheer luck it wasn't lying the other way in whatever damp environment it was, or the logo stampings would be toast.

 

[d42jeep]

Sometimes when I get a wrench where the plating is almost totally gone, after evaporust I use my 3M 220 wheel and soak it in Fluid Film to prevent future rust. Here is a Vlchek example.
-Don

 

[BFBOB]

Just because... I've only seen two of these long pattern 3/4" Troy Bilt branded combos in my whole life, I just had to have them both. The latest isn't in as good condition as the first, but it's still pretty nice. A regular 3/4" is included just to show how much longer the Long is- 13" vs 9.5".

 

[BFBOB]

ePay comes through again!! Four years it took me to lay hands on my first Westcraft branded VeeGee - and here just a few days later is another! A listing on eBay had a fairly large collection of Thorsen VG's, with a few other brands included. He was nice enought to cull out these three and sell them separately. I only had two Actions and one Westcraft, so it's a nice addition. The Actions are in particularly good shape, showing no rust and very little wear. Persistance pays off!

 

[RTM]

Lugz just posted a set of deep sockets in the GS thread, which reminded me of this monster which was en route to the Simple Green soak. This is a 1-5/16" socket, 3/4" drive, with a monstrous logo on the side of the socket. Sounds like this is post WWII, so nothing terribly exciting, but so much more than one stamped with just a name and number.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That's a cool logo!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The aforementioned find. Set No. 1210DP. Nine sockets No. 618 (9/16") through No. 636 (1-1/8"). I am guessing the 10th piece (of the "10 PIECE 1/2" DRIVE DEEP SOCKET WRENCH SET" referred to on the label inside the lid) is the cross-bar, which is missing, although it's not specifically mentioned in the contents list. Kind of odd to advertise a 10-pc set and not include it in the contents list. Unless they mean the box. I know there are a few other sets floating around, Beemer for one, and I am guessing Don. See attachments for additional shots.

 

[d42jeep]

Nice set and one I don’t have. I have never seen a Thorsen crossbar. This is an earlier listing of a similar set.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's strange. They're all cross-drilled for it. As for the 10th piece, they must mean the box then, huh?

EDIT: I could've sworn you had a deep socket set so I just started scrolling back. Haha, okay, you have a set with 8 sockets in it instead of 9!

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a 3/8” drive set of about the same vintage.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

With an impeccable label.

 

[RTM]

I've always assumed deep sockets were always an adder, never a free standing usable kit, so it doesn't surprise me much to see it without a ratchet or crossbar. Guess I've not looked hard enough to see any with a ratchet or crossbar, so there is that deficiency.

Edit: Geez, I was just in the SK thread, and someone has deep sets with the Ell bar in them. Powers of observation are sucking these days.

 

[81CJ-7]

errrr.... HWI was a separate retail chain from TruValue, I believe...

HWI / Hardware Wholesalers Inc. / Do it Best Corp. (after 1998), Ft. Wayne, IN / (some manufactured by Thorsen) /

Tru-Test / (True Value Hardware private label) /


(I don't have anything on who the OEM was for "Tru-Test")

I know Proto has produced some wrenches for Tru-Test

 

[d42jeep]

Here are a couple more 1/2” drive sets with deep sockets.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

Great sets, guys! I've got a LONG way to go to catch up with you all!

If I was stranded on a deserted island and could take one thing it'd be that Thorsen socket set with an open gear ratchet. You could use those thick-walled sockets to hold up your pot to boil water and the open gear rat could crack coconuts and fend off wild animals. And I'd bet that speed handle could start fires!

 

[d42jeep]

I spotted this partial 3/8” drive set at a Tahoe garage sale today. All of the sockets and the extension were present plus a few extra sockets. I borrowed the missing pieces from another set for the second picture. Looks like they counted the box as the 11th piece.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

A bargain for 13.05 $

 

[four.cycle]

classy.
yeah... the box counted as one piece - depending upon the manufacturer. I've seen some where the box was not counted as a "piece".
gotta love the "verified value" pitch there.

 

[555]

Not a tool, just the box. I also posted these on the Bell thread.

 

[Username already in use]

@BFBOB I found this 3/4" ACTION combo at the flea on Sunday. Let me know if you're interested.

 

[BFBOB]

@BFBOB I found this 3/4" ACTION combo at the flea on Sunday. Let me know if you're interested.

Thanks, User; that's a very nice example, but I have several nice Actions and that's enough -- not trying to get a complete set of all 16 brands; that would be too much like an obsession!

 

[OilyRascal]

early 89J model maybe?
two black prongs that stick out on the drive side when you push the selector knob?
...but yours doesn't have the thumbwheel.

(* catalog 1008-8 is the 1988 Thorsen catalog - announcing the 89J model as "New" when it was in fact being produced in the early 1970s.)
(patent 3815451 Jun 11 1974 John Penner)

I have at least three or four of those, but all of mine have the thumbwheel.
You got an early-production oddball there re-branded Dayton?

(the inclusion of the 15mm socket adds a bit of weirdness too.. look at the label on Don's set above... )

It's the "Socket Shooter" - This is how it would have been packaged for Retail sale.

 

[OilyRascal]

Thorsen carbon removal tools.

 

[OilyRascal]

Thorsen 3/4" drive ratchets

 

[OilyRascal]

Thorsen open gear ratchets - 3/4" drive through 1/4" drive.

 

[OilyRascal]

Thorsen sales display

 

[four.cycle]

^ that "Roto-Pick / Roto-Scraper" gizmo is a hoot!

 

[OilyRascal]

1/2 drive ratchet marked only "Thorsen Tools Oak.Calif."

 

[bonneyman]

Nice! I didn't know the V-groove Thorsen's went to 1".

 

[d42jeep]

I have V wrenches up to 1-1/4” but according to the catalog list they went up to 2”
-Don
Edit*** Thanks to some updated information these wrenches were shown in 1978. In Catalog 1008-10, the wrenches over 1-1/4” were shown with an asterisk. I have never personally seen one larger than 1-1/4”.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Ohhhhh... not that screwy Thorsen catalog again! GAH!!! Didn't we have a discussion about the date on that thing over at papaws?
I'd be really surprised to find out that any of those larger sizes ever went into production - by the time that catalog went to print (.... err.... what year was that again?) they were outsourcing most of their line out of Taiwan and Spain.