Show your Indestro and Duro-Chrome tools

[d42jeep]

I couldn’t find any other examples of that box, in Duro or Indestro catalogs.
These D-I and Duro sockets arrived today from S-K Tool Fanatic. They will help to fill out some sets Thanks!
-Don

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Glad they went to a good cause!
-Tommy

 

[mritchie77]

Found these two at an estate sale on Friday. Duro-Chrome 6pt wrench and what I THINK is an Indestro DBE. The manufacturer is not listed on this side (just Made in USA), but the other side says "chrome vanadium steel".

 

[four.cycle]

Indestro 135TK 3-piece "Treasure Kit" set of miniature screwdrivers


Indestro 135TK 3-pc screwdriver set

Indestro 135TK 3-pc screwdriver set

Indestro 135TK 3-pc screwdriver set

Indestro 135TK 135DM 1959 Indesto catalog No. 22 pp 45

 

[four.cycle]

Indestro can opener

Indestro can opener

This can opener does not appear in the 1935 catalog. I think it's reasonable to assume it was manufactured prior to that date.

 

[bmwrd0]

Just as I suspected, my Treasure Kit is missing a driver. The hunt continues.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Do not mess with momma when she's got the can opener out lads.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That thing does look like a kgb torture device

 

[four.cycle]

Just as I suspected, my Treasure Kit is missing a driver. The hunt continues.

I have another one of those 135TK kits around here somewhere. They are fairly uncommon.

Do not mess with momma when she's got the can opener out lads.

That thing does look like a kgb torture device

For the moment, let me just say that the earliest attempts at "can opener" in some cases do somewhat resemble devices we would ordinarily expect to see during the torture scenes in old "B" movies.
I have been digging into the subject recently, and discovered that it is indeed that proverbial "can of worms" - I estimate there to have been an equal number of attempts at "can opener" made between about 1860 and 1950 as there were "adjustable wrenches".
More on this later.... I'm still collating notes.

 

[swokie]

I found this hex drive Indestro ratchet at an estate sale yesterday. Unfortunately one side has quite a bit of rust damage.
-Don

This set is unbranded, but looks like a Duro. Nice complete set, however, the hex ratchet is locked up. Is there a best practice to free it up?

 

[d42jeep]

I tend to use WD40 or 3 in 1 oil because they are handy. Others suggest soaking in ATF. Just get plenty of lubrication on it and see if you can get it to free up, a little at a time.
-Don

 

[RTM]

Here is a set of wrenches my wife grabbed for me. Unfortunately, the price sticker pulled off some paint. Bummer

Indestro Bracket 0930-5W and 5 Select Steel Wrenches 5/16 - 3/4".
The holder is design patent D174919, granted June 7, 1955. Not in DATAMP. These look to be a Set no 0930-5W, "same as above except heads unpolished". 5 piece open end wrench set, containing P720, P723, P725B, P27, and P729.

Found them in the 1959 catalog, you can carry them, or wall mount the bracket to hang the wrenches individually, instead of ganged together.

Indestro Tools : Catalog No. 22 : Indestro Manufacturing Corp. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

100 p., illus., 26.9 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

I thought I had another set of these, but don't see them posted in the Indestro thread, guess I gotta go digging for them before I post these there.

 

[four.cycle]

Hello swokie and welcome to the site.
Your green-painted set is an Indestro 1452 "Handy" 19-pc set. (Duro-Chrome used the same part number and they were branded "Indestro" per the 1953 Duro-Chrome price list.) see Private Lugnutz's example with catalog snips here and the following two posts in another thread for more information on that set.
As Don has suggested, try a bit of penetrating oil on the business end of the ratchet and work it around and around and see if you can get it freed up.

@RTM -

I have that same 5-piece SAE open-end set in the "plated and polished" version, 930-5W. (The "0" prefix in front of the part numbers on those sets designates the non-plated variants. Indestro was the Baskin-Robbins of wrench sets - flavors for everybody.)
The wall-bracket-hanger-thingie is genius - worth the price of admission.
No idea what the schumtz on these might be.... guess I need to get out my can of metal polish?

 

[RTM]

I have that same 5-piece SAE open-end set in the "plated and polished" version, 930-5W. (The "0" prefix in front of the part numbers on those sets designates the non-plated variants. Indestro was the Baskin-Robbins of wrench sets - flavors for everybody.)
The wall-bracket-hanger-thingie is genius - worth the price of admission.
No idea what the schumtz on these might be.... guess I need to get out my can of metal polish?

Yours doesn’t have the select steel in the panel. Older or newer than mine? The 59 catalog makes them look blank, guess I need to poke harder into ITCL.

 

[four.cycle]

"FORGED IN U.S.A." on one side, blank on the other on mine.
Probably roughly the same vintage - they stamped out gazillions of those sets.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Here is my PITIFUL Indestro collection.
-Tommy

That ratchet is a very good one, easily comparable to Snap-on. They weren’t made long.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Something must be wrong with mine because it feels awful.
-Tommy

 

[four.cycle]

^ they get gummed up with old hardened grease. that's a 24-tooth mechanism in that unit. just open it up, clean it good, and put some oil in there. it'll be fine. that model is fairly indestructible.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

^ they get gummed up with old hardened grease. that's a 24-tooth mechanism in that unit. just open it up, clean it good, and put some oil in there. it'll be fine. that model is fairly indestructible.

I did that, seems like the pawl doesn’t engage enough.

 

[four.cycle]

???
been a while since I opened one of those up, but they're a pretty simple set up... not really a lot that can go haywire...
I'd be inclined to think something's stuck... that ball that's under the pawl, maybe? (it's a spring-loaded detent ball.)
almost every one of those I've ever opened up has had hardened grease in it ... like wax ... like in the photo:

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

I think something is actually fubared inside, The handle was bent when I got it.
-Tommy

 

[four.cycle]

^ THAT is generally not a good sign.

I try to steer clear of anything that looks tweaked or has excessive hammer marks on the handle - generally indicators of a difficult previous life.

 

[four.cycle]

It looks like you’ve found a fairly rare chrome plated D-I socket. There is only conjecture about why those exist. I‘ve found some over the years but not often.

I’ve posted in the past that my guess is that they had tons of the plain finish D-I marked sockets left when the war ended. They may well have chrome plated them and put them in special sets. If that was the case they would likely have come with one of these ratchets in either Indestro (pictured) or similar Duro Chrome.

^ Because we don't know for sure, I cannot disagree with any of that, all of which makes perfect sense.

@3baygarage -

^ The 3201 was the ratchet they were putting in the sets then, if I'm not mistaken. The 1948 catalog shows blue boxes. The red boxes appear in the 1952 catalog (Catalog No. 20). I think this one of mine is LATE 1950s. It's got a 5-digit part number on it - and ALL of those sets with 5-digit numbers were promotional sets - none of them show up in the regular catalogs.
Sorry for the crappy photo - this was a rush job.

@d42jeep - did I read somewhere that felt marker can be removed with rubbing alcohol?


Indestro 80009 1/2" drive SAE socket set (originally supplied with model 3201 pressed-flange ratchet patent 1902878)

 

[d42jeep]

I usually try Fantastic or Formula 409 first so as not to damage the paint but if those are ineffective I spray a little brake cleaner on a paper towel a try to just lightly wipe where the markings are. They usually come right off with the brake cleaner.
I checked the chrome D-I sockets today and it seems that a few more had joined the others since the earlier picture was taken. I don’t have a plan for them, I just grab them because I don’t see them that often.
-Don
Here is a smaller Duro Chrome 1/4” drive set with chrome plated Duro marked sockets.

 

[four.cycle]

^ dang! a few more of those chromed D-I sockets and you'll have a complete set!

thanks for posting those - helps to dispel the myth about "all D-I is wartime".

 

[Jim C.]

Is this socket from a set? Are there more of these in different sizes? Thanks.

Jim C.

 

[mritchie77]

I don't have a picture just yet, and don't want to go to the garage but did any Duro-Chrome wartime ratchets get an OD green paint job? I picked one up this weekend and it doesn't look like a "bubba" spray paint like most of the painted tools I come across. Looks factory.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Is this socket from a set? Are there more of these in different sizes? Thanks.

Jim C.

I had a very extensive set from the 1930s that had several of these in it.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

These 2 little guys where in an S-K Wayne socket set I got from and auction.
-Tommy

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Is this socket from a set? Are there more of these in different sizes? Thanks.

Jim C.

Might be a drain plug socket. Can't remember if I have seen them in indestro sets but I have a couple herbrands

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Is this socket from a set? Are there more of these in different sizes? Thanks.

Yes and yes. They're in the catalogs, Jim. Check 1940 and 1951. EDIT: Maybe and maybe. There's at least one. There are two different sets separated by many pages. Neither is identified as square or hex. One is clearly square. I though the other was hex, but could also be square and a bad image. Asterisks and footnotes indicate at least one is hex.

What's more unusual is the marking on yours. The full "DURO - INDESTRO" name is uncommon in my experience.

 

[d42jeep]

According to AA the two entities were formally merged in the 70s and in my experience the quality of the tools deteriorated dramatically.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ the decline in overall product quality is most noticeable on those open-end wrenches, from what I've seen. I have a set of the newer Duro-Indestro combos, and they're not that much different than the earlier "Super" from the 1970s, but the fit and finish does seem to have really gone to hell in their last days. just my lousy opinion there.

that's odd to see both names on that drain plug socket unless it's a newer item.

 

[d42jeep]

I’ve only seen the two names combined on the newer products.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Note that Jim's drain plug socket is "DURO - INDESTRO." Hyphen, not a slash. I could be wrong, but I don't think tools with "DURO - INDESTRO" markings and tools with "DURO/INDESTRO" markings are from the same era. I've seen the latter. There is a really shiny set of DBE's on this thread somewhere. I was referring to the former in my reply to Jim. I've always thought they were like a fuller form of the hyphenated "D-I" from either just before or just after the war. I have one somewhere, I think, but I can't even remember what type of tool it is. I'll have to search around, physically, and searching the thread on these terms is nigh impossible.

 

[bmwrd0]

Hmm... I have a set of Hinsdale drain plug sockets, and they are all square, not hex. Who had a hex drain plug?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Oldsmobile for one

 

[d42jeep]

VW had them as well although they were metric. I vaguely remember others back in the day.
-Don

 

[Provincial]

Caterpillar had female hex drain plugs, and female square ones, too!

Don't forget that the male hex sockets could drive hex-drive sockets, if they were matching sizes.

 

[MR.X]

OK Duro experts what's the time frame on this ratchet? Thanks.