Proto Long Pattern Wrenches

[NC Fabricator25]

Thought the community might enjoy seeing these, a set of NOS Proto pattern SAE wrenches. Years ago (in the late ‘90’s) I was a frequent flier on Grainger’s in-house auction site (think poor man’s eBay copy) that was used to liquidate returns, discontinued items, etc. I was able to purchase a set of Proto long pattern metric wrenches, though I didn’t realize at the time there was a long pattern version. Since then I have wanted a set of the SAE’s to match and after looking for a very long time I now have a set to match!

These have the normal Proto wrench numbering followed by an “L”. In this set they’re all long patterns except the smallest 5/16”. They seem to be about 3”-4” longer than normal Proto wrenches, took some comparison pics of the 1” at 17” long with my normal length Proto 500’s, Challenger (my very first wrench set!), and my knock-around Allens. Love the leverage that these have and they feel very nice in the hand, I like the satin finish better than polished, but the 500’s are nice too!

Thought this might be of interest to the GJ community since Proto hasn’t made these in years and apparently didn’t produce very many based on how long it took me to find them. Anybody else have the Proto long patterns?

 

[The Fall]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know these existed.

 

[wiens80]

Long pattern and 500’s, I’m jealous!


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[crane_guy]

Those are nice!

 

[ChrisLS8]

You ****

 

[Wamsutta]

I didn't know these existed.

I didn't either!

 

[Flash21]

Very nice - How is the beam width on those? Love the satin finish, beautiful set.

 

[Fedwrench]

I have those type in 20-24 mm. I haven't been able to find other sizes.

They are really nice

 

[CR888]

Beautiful wrenches with a cool story to match. They are pure candy to the GJ wrench enthusiast.

 

[ssdave]

Nice set. I'd love to have those.

I've got most of a set, but mine also is missing the 5/16". I have the 1/4 and the 3/8 marked L, but no marked 1210L. However, I have a 5/16 marked 1210 that is long pattern, matches perfectly for length between the 1/4 and 3/8, but no L.

I'm a bit different in my preferences, I much prefer my Proto 500 to the satin finish ones. I have SAE and Metric sets in both, and prefer the 500 smooth polish greatly over the satin finish ones.

 

[ssdave]

Got me curious, so went and dug around in my spares. Found two more 5/16":

 

[SuperCat]

Excellent! You appear to be ready for anything now - go forth and kick ***!
And post some pix when you do....
(I haven't seen those Proto long pattern wrenches before, but if I ever come across some, it might hurt my wallet.)

 

[davethorik]

Funny I just got the same set. 5/16" is just 1210, rest have the L. Mine had been stored in a tool box in a garage and there was some sort of varnish on the wrenches that I thought was rust at first...but it cleaned right off! The roll has definitely seen better days though, lots of small punctures and some seam separation.

The box end of the 1/2 wrench was used once on something incredibly dirty and rusty. It mostly cleaned up. The rest are unused.

The 1210 is 5.5" long, the 3/8 is 7"... 7/16 is 8"...1/2 is 9" etc, goes up 1" in length per size, topping out on the 1-1/4 no. 1240L that is 20" long.

I was fortunate to snag these, they are well made!

 

[bwringer]

Nice!

I loooooove that matte finish. Slick shiny chrome just plain ***** out loud for working on dirty oily machinery in the real world.

 

[eschoendorff]

Nice! Kinda jealous lol

 

[Professional Tool User]

Nice. The markings look very similar to the old Proto wrenches I bought at an estate sale.

 

[NC Fabricator25]

Thought I’d post an update to this thread since it re-surfaced recently. My original post referenced the metric set of long patterns that I acquired first, somewhat accidentally from Grainger’s auction site. So I thought I should post a picture of the metric set, which I failed to do in the original post.

So here we go, with a comparison pic of the length between 19mm wrenches by Challenger (essentially the same as std length Proto) and Allen. Also, as noted by other posters, the smallest 9mm wrench is standard length. The 10mm is denoted by the “L” following the wrench number.

I have standard and metrics in these long patterns which are a great compliment to the standard length Challengers (my first wrench sets). I’m a fan of the satin finish, and the Proto’s have a nice feel to them. Too bad they ceased manufacture.

**working to upload the pics, but not working....will continue trying

 

[Irish Mike]

I like Proto and the older Plomb....

 

[dapekema]

I'm working on completing a set of 15 and am wondering if anyone has any of the following they'd be willing to sell or trade for something: 1214L, 1218L, 1236L

The wrenches I have are all numbered 12XXL without a dash between the number and L.

Thanks!

 

[Pen & Wrench]

Those look really nice. If I didn't already have too many wrenches already I'd be interested in those for sure.

 

[Pen & Wrench]

Oops, I should have said if I didn't already have "enough" wrenches. You can never have too many.