Show your Indestro and Duro-Chrome tools

[Oldtuleguy]

This one too

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Open gear in this one

 

[mritchie77]

Open gear in this one

Thanks for the examples! I'm really leaning toward 1) the ratchet being correct for the box and 2) the catalog being incorrect with their lithography. On both catalogs, just going a couple of further pages along gets you to the 3/8" ratchets which show the newer style handle (like mine and your examples) and do NOT show a round handled like the one in the litho of the whole set. I think the image was used from an older catalog and not updated.

 

[cowades206]

I’ll second that. The Thorsen ratchets are quite common and extremely strong and reliable although occasionally missing the cover. The missing covers don’t really affect the operation.
-Don

These look beefier than the Indestro. I wonder if they don't twist so much. I eventually acquired a 1/2 inch drive ratchet so I wouldn't be using the 3/8 where I shouldn't have been. It was my only 3/8 ratchet for more than a decade though, and it worked great.

 

[Old Radar]

When you're pulling really hard, the head twists . Once I was pulling hard enough the cover for the ratchet teeth popped off. I have since lost that cover. About that time it started skipping a bit,

(When you're pulling really hard) + (the head twists) = About that time it started skipping a bit.
2 + 2 = 4

It's not really rocket science, but it is physics...

 

[cowades206]

(When you're pulling really hard) + (the head twists) = About that time it started skipping a bit.
2 + 2 = 4

It's not really rocket science, but it is physics...

That occurred to me, but I didn't correlate the events at the time. I thought I used it a while without the cover and it worked fine. But that was about 1985 and I could make myself believe an incorrect memory. Life was very busy for me then.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

"I think the image was used from an older catalog and not updated. "



That was common back then

 

[four.cycle]

The 7600 and 7601 sets didn't contain the ratchet - just sockets and spinner. earlier versions were in plastic boxes. later metal boxes.
contents changed between the 1952 and the 1962 catalogs: early sets contained the "pressed flange" 2889 ratchet (not the 6070 or 2839 "open gear" ratchet)
The 1961 Indestro Select catalog shows a 1/4" drive set (#6102) which contains an open-gear model 6070 ratchet, but other than that "Select" set, I don't believe they included that model in their sets.
The patent for the round-head-fine-tooth model 2875 (patent 2686582) was applied for March 1952, issued August 1954 - the 2875 is going to be "period correct" for pretty much any red-box Indestro Super 1/4" drive set.

OTG's model 80005 set above (post #2522) is a promotional set (as were all of those 80000-series sets) and you won't find it in any catalogs, so there's no way to make a call on those in respect to what's "correct" and what's not.

 

[LNKMK8]

I picked up this ratchet earlier this week. It has the common Duro patent number on it, but the handle and drive adapter were a bit different than I have seen on others. Some research on AA shows that this was from a Riverside socket set.

 

[four.cycle]

^ yes. that funny handle was a "Riverside" thing..

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's an old indestro set. Kinda liked the patina on this one so just cleaned it an gave it a clear coat

 

[bmwrd0]

Huh, I have only seen that style in Hinsdale. I have two, and wouldn't mind finding one of those.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Hinsdale had a similar set, dividers are configured the same as well

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Here is my PITIFUL Indestro collection.
-Tommy

 

[mritchie77]

Picked up this Indestro clutch-head screwdriver for $1.50 at a local indoor flea market. Just about the only time I've found a tool there. Also the first clutch-head screwdriver I've ever seen.

 

[four.cycle]

^ they show up on ebay now and then - onesie-twosies. I managed to score a complete kit a while back... photos of it are here

 

[mwoj]

Here’s my little Indestro set (and one of my helpers)

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Got this clunker in a lot of tools. Soaked it in atf for a few days and works like new!

 

[matthew]

Here’s my little Indestro set (and one of my helpers)

Shouldn’t you be featuring Duro Chrome tools with the dog???

 

[bmwrd0]

Picked this up yesterday:

I had enough of the correct sockets to fill that portion of it back up, but I need to find a breaker bar, and at some point I would also like to find the correct spinner for it.

 

[four.cycle]

^.. those are a dull finish, but not quite BLACK, right?

I'm not really fully awake yet, but I believe your "blue box" set is 1940s vintage...

 

[d42jeep]

I was never sure what I should put in mine so I did some guessing. The amber handle Indestro spinners are quite rare. I have an ongoing eBay search going with no results. Here is an eBay picture.
Here are my sets. They likely don’t have the pieces that came in the boxes but I don’t really know. Are most of the sockets in your box D-I?
-Don

 

[bmwrd0]

I have a set of Duro flex handle nutdrivers, and I would love to have a spinner like that, which they at least catalog.

 

[four.cycle]

RE: post #2542, second and third photos:

Note the "two-tone" "Chromium Vanadium" sockets which appear to be plated and polished on one end, but have a dull finish on the top end.
Note the dull-finish (grayish) 3/16" six-point way over on the right.
Note the blackish 3/16" six-point over on the right.

^ This is why I asked bmwrd0 about the finish on those sockets. I wonder if his are stamped "Chromium Vanadium" as well?

So...

.... again, I'm not really fully awake yet, but by my rough math, it would appear there were no fewer than FIVE different iterations of Indestro 1/4" drive sockets made between about 1932 and 1960. (And I'm not even thinking about "Select", which didn't make an appearance until the following year.)

@bmwrd0 -

Post a pic of the SIDE of those sockets so I know what I'm looking for.

 

[d42jeep]

At first glance they look D-I to me.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ yeah... dark grayish... not quite black (like the black Waldens from the same era.)

too many different flavors!

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a recent addition. It’s a special 1/2” drive thin wall 9/16” socket for use on Ford connecting rod nuts. I have some Plomb ones as well. It isn’t uncommon for them to be cracked.
-Don

 

[bmwrd0]

D-I marked, as suspected.

 

[d42jeep]

I believe that those would have come in that box. I have a wartime 1/2” drive D-I set with that same logo. It has the Indestro style ratchet.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ yes, yes, and yes. 'zacktly.
beemer lemme see what I can dig up probably won't be able to even look for a couple days. the breaker will NOT be marked "D-I" - only the sockets. are your sockets marked "chromIUM vanadium" ??

@d42jeep - that Ford con rod socket was a 618X Indestro. didn't sell worth a damn by the time we brought Indestro into the stores in 1970.
ended up stuck with a few dozen of them. all sold to Thorsen by the pound.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

These are all marked chromium vanadium

 

[d42jeep]

That is a nice set. The box and decal look great. Are there any markings on the flex handle?
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Just chromium vanadium

 

[d42jeep]

It seems like the Indestro 1/4” drive numbering system starts with 2xxx and the Duro starts with 4xxx.
It seems like during WW2 Duro Indestro wasn‘t too concerned about which of their brands went into sets.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Some super that's been sitting on my bookshelf for a while

 

[four.cycle]

@d42jeep -

RE: 28** vs 4*** - I've never been able to really figure it out. The part numbering systems between Duro-Chrome and Indestro are kinda-sorta on a "parallel" track, but it's not as simple as switching the first digit. Sometimes I wish I knew the Duro system a bit better.
Only one I can keep in my head is that 1/4" breaker: 2850 Indestro = 4550 Duro-Chrome.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Hers an odd box

 

[bonneyman]

Here's an odd box

Perhaps for holding 64ths" sockets??? I'd imagine there'd be alot of those in a set - unless they skipped sizes like we do.

 

[four.cycle]

^ that does look a bit odd there.... early 1940s ??

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I'm not sure. Hoping someone here knows!