Pre-WWII S-K quarter-inch socket-set

[gben]

From a local garage-sale a few weeks ago, I used it to work on my motor-bike this morning, still works great:


https://scontent-ort2-1.**.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/13731928_1064448730312673_359554124764539056_o.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=2&_nc_sid=825194&_nc_ohc=xs1yI1qk7lUAX8F1eF-&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.**&oh=0ec1ff00f76cdd86b3d9e1bf410ead66&oe=60320C9E

 

[Makattak81]

Is it metric? I can't find S-K metric 1/4 sockets at the sales around here. What does the top of the box look like?

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[gben]

Is it metric? I can't find S-K metric 1/4 sockets at the sales around here. What does the top of the box look like?

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I don't think hardly any metric tools were sold in the USA before the 1980s, probably no more than British Whitworth sets....

The top of the box looks just like the rest of it, a sort of hammered green paint, very plain. I imagine it used to have a decal on the inside of the lid, but at this late date it is lucky to be intact at all I would say.

 

[Makattak81]

I don't think hardly any metric tools were sold in the USA before the 1980s, probably no more than British Whitworth sets....

The top of the box looks just like the rest of it, a sort of hammered green paint, very plain. I imagine it used to have a decal on the inside of the lid, but at this late date it is lucky to be intact at all I would say.

I've found Craftsman v series 1/4 metric socket sets, S-K metrics are few and far between.

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[gben]

Craftsman has probably sold as many socket sets since WWII as all other manufacturers combined, maybe more. Quality socket sets from other big names I agree are much, much harder to come by, especially intact, and once you get back to WWII or earlier even more rare. That said I do not mind finding old Craftsman sets at all if they are cheap. I need more tools like I need another hole in my posterior, but I paid a dollar for this little S-K set so it is hard to leave anything behind for those prices....

 

[Rileysan]

Craftsman has probably sold as many socket sets since WWII as all other manufacturers combined, maybe more. Quality socket sets from other big names I agree are much, much harder to come by, especially intact, and once you get back to WWII or earlier even more rare. That said I do not mind finding old Craftsman sets at all if they are cheap. I need more tools like I need another hole in my posterior, but I paid a dollar for this little S-K set so it is hard to leave anything behind for those prices....

WOW! Great find for a buck! Grats!

Brian

 

[Makattak81]

Craftsman has probably sold as many socket sets since WWII as all other manufacturers combined, maybe more. Quality socket sets from other big names I agree are much, much harder to come by, especially intact, and once you get back to WWII or earlier even more rare. That said I do not mind finding old Craftsman sets at all if they are cheap. I need more tools like I need another hole in my posterior, but I paid a dollar for this little S-K set so it is hard to leave anything behind for those prices....

I'd have snapped that up too for a buck, couldn't get my money out fast enough. I'm a S-K fan, their sockets are A+.

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[extropic]

Great find.

It makes me ponder the probability of staying complete and un-abused for at least 75 years. Only to be sold at a garage sale for one 2016 dollar. It might have gone to some bubblehead that would trash the contents and use the box to carry other paraphernalia. At least it's with a tool guy.

PS: Mid-late fifties, an S-K, 1/4" drive ratchet w/ 7/16 S-K socket was the very first tool I procured for myself. They were in excellent used condition and they were all mine. I'm still partial to the S-K stuff.

 

[gben]

It makes me ponder the probability of staying complete and un-abused for at least 75 years. Only to be sold at a garage sale for one 2016 dollar. It might have gone to some bubblehead that would trash the contents and use the box to carry other paraphernalia. At least it's with a tool guy..

Older generations, baby-boomers on back took care of things because they had that great-depression mentality. My father is 80-years old and he was always a mechanic/handyman and he has every tool he ever bought still. When we were kids if we did not clean his tools and put them back where we got them we were in trouble. He would lock his tools up or even lock the garage if we did not do right by the tools. Later generations grew up in a more throw-away society, and probably did not do as well by tools unless they were actually pro mechanics whose livelihood depended on them. Each year there are less old 40s-60s mechanics out there giving up their tools on their way to that garage in the sky.

 

[davethorik]

Love those SK 1/4 ratchets, that's a nice find. Is that the breaker cross bar hiding in bottom?

 

[gben]

Love those SK 1/4 ratchets, that's a nice find. Is that the breaker cross bar hiding in bottom?

Yes, there is the little breaker bar, and a "tommy" bar that goes through the handle so it works like a T-wrench.

 

[str8axle55]

Very nice set you have there.

 

[CNGsaves]

Holy crapola OP . . . . you snagged that for $1 . . . . . Holy Sheepshit !!!

Most deserving of . . . YOU **** !!!! . . . .

 

[2oolhound]

A buck seems to be the going rate. That's what this partial set cost me. The box is a double decker. The ratchet is 60 tooth.




When I got home I compared it to the other one I had, an Artisan which is identical and I'm sure was also made by SK.

 

[Makattak81]

Looks like you could combine the sets to have one complete set

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[gben]

A buck seems to be the going rate. That's what this partial set cost me. The box is a double decker. The ratchet is 60 tooth.

What is the script on the sockets and the patent date on the ratchet?

 

[bonneyman]

Those 8 point sockets are great on square bolts. great score!

 

[Farmall 1066]

The little T handle bar is damn near always missing.
Nice score! Definitely **** worthy!

 

[gben]

The little T handle bar is damn near always missing.Nice score! Definitely **** worthy!

This came from the estate of an old blacksmith, craftsmen usually take pretty good care of tools. It was funny I bought it one weekend and noticed it has a missing socket, so they had another sale the next weekend and I sifted through a box of junk that was there and found the missing socket! Worth the gas and time for sure.

I did not know how special this set was until I looked on the Alloy Artifacts website and saw that it was pre-WWII, and how little pre-WWII stuff AA had, also doing a search on Ebay for present and past sales of pre-WWII S-K socket sets did not turn anything up.

The ratchet having the first S-K patent number, along with the sockets having the "chrome" script and the type of latch on the case are all features of the pre-WWII S-K sets, so this has probably all been together for almost 80 years, and that is amazing.....!

 

[RM209]

Yes, there is the little breaker bar, and a "tommy" bar that goes through the handle so it works like a T-wrench.

Very cool--even the end of the cross-bar is knurled. A great find.

RM209

 

[2oolhound]

What is the script on the sockets and the patent date on the ratchet?

The ratchet looks the same but my sockets are clearly different. On mine the "SK" is on the same line whereas glen's is above the word chrome. Here's some pics:





Even after combining these I'm a few pieces short. Oh well for a buck I'm not complaining.

 

[gben]

Thanks for your trouble 2oolhound. Those are the later sockets that came out during the mid-40s according to Alloy Artifacts.

 

[twertsy]

I'd place those in the 50s.

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[jd_1138]

The internal machining on those is awesome. Looks like those sockets can really bite into a fastener nicely.

Wow, a buck. You ****. For perspective, that set probably cost a mechanic back then at least 3 or 4 days wages. I wonder if SK had tool trucks back then visiting shops? I am sure they had independent distributors. Probably didn't even need a huge truck to sell tools back then -- a Ford or Plymouth "business man's" coupe with a huge trunk or one of those panel vans would've sufficed.

 

[Alchymist]

Years ago I inherited my father's 3/8" SK socket set in a box similar to the OP's. Father was born in 1897, and I remember as a kid him having the set, so he had to have bought it prior to the 50s, how much prior I couldn't guess. Passed it on to my son some years ago.

 

[danstead]

Great PICS!!
Love those older S-K tools

 

[gben]

I fixed the link so the photo is back at the start of this thread.

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks for replacing the picture. I believe that the ratchet was added to the set later since they weren’t originally included.
-Don

 

[gben]

Thanks for replacing the picture. I believe that the ratchet was added to the set later since they weren’t originally included.
-Don

According to Alloy-Artifacts website they have a 1939 S-K catalog for reference among others, and for that date the 1/2" socket set was offered with or without a ratchet under two different part numbers. If you have better reference material than that to back up your belief put it up.

 

[d42jeep]

The prewar 1/4” drive sets that included ratchets came in a larger box and included additional tools. I believe that your set is a little earlier than mine since it has more 12 point sockets and the very early Chrome Vanadium marking on one of the sockets.
-Don

 

[gben]

Well maybe someone wanted the ratchet and bought it and threw it in the box, it is the correct ratchet for before WWII, or maybe they did not use the bigger box every year. Unless someone has the catalogs for every year before WWII all we have are educated guesses. Thanks for the efforts..........