Show your Indestro and Duro-Chrome tools

[LNKMK8]

I came across this little Indestro "General Riveting Set" at a sale last month... I thought it was neat and something a little different than most Indestro items I find.

 

[d42jeep]

A couple of Indestro sets I’m currently working on. They both need some 8 point sockets marked Chromium Vanadium.
Here are more of the same sockets in one of the green painted boxes from BK. I need another breaker for this set.

-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

I'm very pleased to report the Indestro 1/4" 2875 ratchet I got today came apart with no drama (it was freewheeling) as it was dry and had rust dust in it. A couple shots of Tri-flow, and some working/cleaning, and everything freed up! a little light lube was all it needed. Getting the snap ring back in was eventful, but I got it done! I was surprised that this appears to have a 56 tooth count? That's not bad, and with this style of handle, I'm a happy camper! The only other Indestro with this style handle I have is a 3/8" drive swivel head.

I suspect this may become my go to 1/4" ratchet!

 

[snotztnt]

Just one of some of the wide brands from my dad's toolbox.

 

[Macduf]

Tw

 

[d42jeep]

Here are some Duro marked wartime looking 3/8” drive universal socked that I spotted on eBay. I haven‘t run into any others. The U-joint is unmarked, unfortunately.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I added the universal sockets to the mixed Duro/D-I 3/8” drive set I made up.
-Don

 

[NoahG]

I use this little guy daily on the collet of my Milwaukee cordless router.

 

[d42jeep]

A few NOS sockets I found at a hardware store that is closing down today. The Indestro Super sockets will be heading to the Pacific Northwest.
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

My expanded Paddle type family (Got the bottom 2 for Xmas)

Not sure why Indestro saw fit to square off the breaker handles (3/8ths and 1/2 breakers I have seen are the same), when clearly the swivel head used the same handle as a breaker?

the Wizard is a "stand in" until/if I ever find a 2775 in Indestro with the round head and paddle handle. (Gear heads are easy, but also have the squared off handle)

 

[Cruzan80]

Outlaw, see post 2884. I found that while similar, the flex and the breakers do have a different "ear" length going on. May explain why the handles are slightly different as well.

 

[Outlawmws]

Thanks Cruz.

So to me its unclear why they made either end different, breaker to swivel head ratchet! Seems like a waste of tooling and manufacturing prep time. I get why the lengths might be different, as the ratchet heads might not take the extra leverage.

 

[four.cycle]

Indestro 213 5-inch slide handle tap wrench

 

[four.cycle]

Indestro 3578 10 inch adjustable wrench

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Indestro 3578 10 inch adjustable wrench

What is it that says Indestro?

 

[four.cycle]

oh... it's barely visible in that photo.
I've been fiddling with the exposure levels on shots to eliminate the glare from the sky reflected back from bare metal.
here's a cropped shot of the same wrench before cleaning. the stamping is barely discernable, but it says "3578 INDESTRO SUPER"
it's a plain steel finish model. the chromed model was the 3578A.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Okay. Now I see it. I was just thinking that there was something else that identified it. Thanks.

 

[four.cycle]

^ It's one of their "black finish" wrenches and the stamping was pretty light. my "re-blackening" technique made it less visible, I think. (at least in those photos.)

I might try to re-shoot it later but we really don't have much light this week. Like living in Mordor here right now.
(The natives get used to it. Others move away or commit suicide.)

 

[four.cycle]

following up on an OLD private message from @DAustin -

back in February, Mr. Austin discovered a little hardware store in Fremont, Ohio that had a mess of Indestro NOS stock hanging on display boards. I finally got around to placing an order with Eddie a few minutes ago.
attached are the photos @DAustin provided me back in February. contact info is in the photo images. BK

Eddie said he also still had some NOS S-K stock, but lacked the ability to provide any photo images.

 

[d42jeep]

These should be a good addition to those boards. They are currently sitting in your PO Box with a couple of Select sockets.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

Oh, I'm not buying the boards! I don't have any wall space in my garage! those are in a hardware store in Fremont, Ohio.
I sent them an order a couple hours ago for some oddball widgets and a mess of those chisels and punches. (Hopefully prices won't be sky high.)
@DAustin is the one who took the photos last February.
When I spoke with "Eddie" on the phone earlier, he said he DID have a smattering of NOS S-K, but had no idea what or how much, and said he was unable to provide photos.
@DAustin just P/M'd me and said he'd try to stop by there in a week or so and see if he can get more photos.
BK

 

[Shelbylex]

... Just googled one example - did no look through it, but scanned the pictures - it might give you an idea

Sorry to put it in the wrong place - was replying to other thread and accidentally hit back prior to answering (and obviously did not notice)
Will relocate to the right thread...

 

[CoogarXR]

following up on an OLD private message from @DAustin -

back in February, Mr. Austin discovered a little hardware store in Fremont, Ohio that had a mess of Indestro NOS stock hanging on display boards. I finally got around to placing an order with Eddie a few minutes ago.
attached are the photos @DAustin provided me back in February. contact info is in the photo images. BK

Eddie said he also still had some NOS S-K stock, but lacked the ability to provide any photo images.

He tipped me off to that store too! I went there to look at their Vaco stuff:

Let’s see that Vaco stuff!

I almost gave up on this rusty screw starter. Even after an evaporust soak and dowsing with penetrating oil repeatedly it showed no signs of movement. I decided to hit the outside of the sleeve with the 3M 220 polishing disc to heat up the sleeve and then clamped it in the wood vise while still...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[d42jeep]

Although these ratchets are getting more difficult to find, I made a successful offer on this one with a nice dark finish. I added it to this set that I’m now calling complete, although a little exterior paint and a crossbar would be improvements.
-Don

 

[Chrome Vanadium Cody]

Apologies in advance for a long winded post. I wanted to share photos of a strange Indestro wrench set I bought and then ask about a couple other Indestro/Duro wrench styles I learned about while trying to research it.


These are metric double open end wrenches from 12-19mm. The outside of the wrenches have been ground down to make them thinner but they were then chromed this way with no grind marks showing. @four.cycle has said he thinks they were previous owner’s custom work and I am inclined to agree- the wrench thickness left after grinding is irregular and on the wrenches with serial numbers still visible, it matches the serial number of the regular open end wrench of that size. If anyone has any alternate theories though… I’m all ears!

Before these arrived I was trying to research them by looking up “Indestro thin wrench” and learned about Duro and Indestro’s tappet style combination wrenches: http://alloy-artifacts.org/duro-indestro-p4.html#duro-combo

“By 1935 Duro had introduced the Duro-Chrome 020xx series of combination wrenches, and the initial design had a thin open end with a flat shank and a small round box end. This design was rather different from what other companies called "combination" wrenches, and was in effect a combination tappet wrench.”

The article goes on to say that Duro and Indestro switched to a more normal combination wrench style in the early 1940s but kept this original type available for some time as a “thin style.” Their history of changing serial number system is very confusing but the best I can make of it is for Duro these wrenches MAY be labeled 02xx or 22xx, but those numbers can refer to regular combo wrenches too depending on the era. For Indestro they may be labeled 77x. They were also available through some of Duro/Indestro’s sub brands or sub contracted labels.

Anyone here aware of/have some of these? I tried searching for them on GJ but didn’t come up with anything. Would love to hear if anyone has more details, especially if you know the serial number these had under any Duro/Indestro sub brands.

The other type of Duro/Indestro wrench I learned about is the offset flare nut wrenches. I haven’t seen any other company make this. Anyone have some of these?

Was fun taking a small dip into this company’s history. Now I’m putting them in the category with old school Blackhawk where I have to take a closer look whenever I run into them to see if there’s anything a little off kilter.

 

[d42jeep]

I may have found the prototype of the grinding project. It’s odd that they were replated.
They likely started out like these. They live in my metric wrench drawer.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

@Chrome Vanadium Cody -
It's kind of funny that of all the products Indestro made, you'd bring those up.
Those little metric open-ends were the first Indestro tools I owned. I worked on my Astra 10-speed with them. The heads were thin enough to get at the cone nuts on the axles.
What you have are those same Indestro open-ends that Don posted just above. Same as my old set (posted below.) Somebody spent a hell of a long time re-working and polishing them.

I don't know of any "thin" wrenches by Indestro. Some of the early "circle X" (actually a stylized "DC") open-ends that DURO CHROME made appear to be thinner, but I don't own any - I sent all mine to Don. I honestly can't speak to thickness on those.
The Duro-Chrome and Indestro TAPPET wrenches are way thin - skinny skinny - but they never really changed much from the 1930s through the 1990s as far as I know. My set dates from the early 1970s (below.) (T1 - T4)

They also made offset "obstruction" open-end wrenches which have fairly thin heads, but (as with the tappet wrenches) they were only manufactured in SAE sizes - Indestro didn't start stamping out any metric tools until the late 1950s - those open-ends (40607 - 42426) were introduced prior to their introduction of the metric combination wrenches (44009-44022)

Indestro did manufacture some odd deep-offset flare nut wrenches in SAE sizes. Not sure on part numbers. (381 ? 382 ? )
I see them on ebay now and then. I only have the three "standard" flare nut wrenches (posted below.)

re: "Duro-Chrome 020xx series of combination wrenches"
I just read that section on AA's site. I don't think Indestro made an equivalent to that one, and I've never seen any of those. Duro-Chrome did offer some items that were never available in the Indestro brand, even though both brands were stamped out in the same building.

 

[d42jeep]

I’ve been working on this set for years. I’ve gradually gathered the Duro-Chrome deep sockets to complete it. Lugz generously sent me an 11/16“ socket that completed it but that socket had been significantly abused and so I‘ve been watching for another. One arrived in an eBay lot of three Duro deep sockets. It wasn’t exactly pristine but at least it hadn’t been used as a drift.
I cleaned it up a bit but avoided using evaporust to save as much of the remaining black oxide finish as possible.
-Don

 

[shakenfake]

I only have one DuroChrome socket
1175 25/32" Shallow 6 pt. 1/2" drive Impact

Not sure if anyone knows anything about it. I’ll get a picture when I get home. It is MiUSA if I remember correctly.

One of the sockets I’m selling. Don’t need it and it is mismatched to everything else I own.

 

[Chrome Vanadium Cody]

Alloy Artifacts had a short section on Indestro’s version of the thin combination wrenches here:

Duro and Indestro: The Tools of Progress [Page 4]

Page 4 of an article on Duro Metal Products and Indestro Manufacturing.

alloy-artifacts.org

I’ll be keeping an eye out for these. I’m curious to see how they compare to the Stahlwille 13 series and other similar German thin pattern combination wrenches which are the only other thing like this I’ve heard of.

 

[four.cycle]

^ well... that's certainly interesting....

I honestly wish I had more time to spend perusing AA's site... he does come up with some funny stuff.


1971 Indestro Catalog No. 55 pp 32-33

Indestro "Super" SAE combination wrenches came in two styles: standard (long) length (771-783), and the shorter ("S" suffix) version (767S-777S)
As noted in the catalog, the model 775 is 1/32" thinner than its 775S counterpart, but they weren't marketed as a "thin" wrench -
that was just their "standard length" combo. They're not uncommon at all, but the short "S" series outsold the standard length models about ten to one (at least in this area) so they may be more difficult to find in the second-hand market?
I bought all short ones when I bought my tools because they fit into my box easier.

 

[Chrome Vanadium Cody]

That’s interesting about the short combo wrenches outselling the long ones so heavily. it reminds me of SK. Everyone thinks of SK as having short wrenches but really they do have nice long wrenches too, it’s just that everybody seems to buy the shorter ones. A store near me (Daly City Tool Mart) has a full display of SK long combos available. Walking in there was the first time I even knew they existed.

 

[four.cycle]

^ additionally, the short ("S" suffix) series were the combos they packaged in their sets, which would have a HUGE impact on what's available now in the second-hand market.

does Associated Buyers True Value in Fairmount, Ohio have any NOS stuff (standard-length combos) hanging on their board? (see post #2939)
NOPE... because... the standard length series combos were on a different display board
As we did in our stores, that True Value store only carried the stuff on the 5113A display board (see 1971 Indestro catalog page 78) which holds combination wrenches, double-end box wrenches, and open-end wrenches.
The standard-length combination wrenches were displayed on board 5110 (see 1971 Indestro catalog pp 78), which held only combination wrenches in both the standard length and the short ("S" suffix) wrenches.

That explains two things:
1. The standard length combination wrenches are going to be more scarce in the second-hand market today because fewer retail dealers would have hung up that bigger board that requires twice as much wall space and holds duplicates of those sizes.
2. The reason the 767S (1/4") and 768S (5/16") short-series combination wrenches are unicorns - they're not on the 5113A board.

<edit> I should perhaps add:
If you are looking for these things on ebay, sellers quite often confuse the "S" suffix with a "5" so you'll see listings for "7755" wrenches.

 

[RTM]

A store near me (Daly City Tool Mart) has a full display of SK long combos available. Walking in there was the first time I even knew they existed.

Bet you didn't know Anime & Monsters were tools, eh? I drove way past since I had trouble finding it..

 

[four.cycle]

^ The same is true with Thorsen. Not sure why this never occurred to me before. Thorsen also packaged their combos in sets using the shorter-length models. They also offered a longer "standard length" model, but we didn't carry them because..... they weren't on the boards we put in the stores!

(The reason that the longer, standard-length Indestros sat in the boxes on the shelves and collected dust in the warehouse was because the initial factory order (minimum $10K in 1970) was written by Guy Wheaton, the factory rep, who tried to put in every part number in the catalog, including the female drive "refrigeration ratchets".)(That's another story.)

 

[Chrome Vanadium Cody]

Bet you didn't know Anime & Monsters were tools, eh? I drove way past since I had trouble finding it..

Yes that part of the store is a little unnerving!

^ The same is true with Thorsen. Not sure why this never occurred to me before. Thorsen also packaged their combos in sets using the shorter-length models. They also offered a longer "standard length" model, but we didn't carry them because..... they weren't on the boards we put in the stores!

(The reason that the longer, standard-length Indestros sat in the boxes on the shelves and collected dust in the warehouse was because the factory order (minimum $10K in 1970) was written by Guy Wheaton, the factory rep, who tried to put in every part number in the catalog, including the female drive "refrigeration ratchets".)(That's another story.)

It’s so cool hearing about this stuff. That makes a lot of sense. Was Thorsen still made in Oakland when you stocked them or had they already moved to Texas?

 

[d42jeep]

It’s so cool hearing about this stuff. That makes a lot of sense. Was Thorsen still made in Oakland when you stocked them or had they already moved to Texas?

Please, Thorsen was actually made in Emeryville. Emeryville had such a bad reputation with gambling and houses of ill repute that Thorsen claimed that they were made in Oakland. Quite a reversal in modern times.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ I can't really answer that because my BIL was doing most of the buying at that point and I was rotating from store to store as needed.
I worked mostly on inventory control for the stores at that point. When we brought the first order in (in the early-to-mid-1980s, right after Indestro's fill rate dropped below 30%), it was the old "green" U.S. made Thorsen, but it wasn't long before they were filling orders with "TAT" (offshore-sourced "Thorsen Allied Tools") product. I don't recall whether the product came out of "Oakland" or Dallas - I had very little (if any) interaction with the factory, to be quite honest.

The timeline is fuzzy for me there because .... I was a bit fuzzy at that point. BIL left the company, I got all the buying dumped in my lap, and I dumped Thorsen as soon as the TAT stuff started showing up and switched it all over to Wilmar. (The people in our stores didn't want to sell the TAT stuff because it was just **** and it was NOT super cheap like Globemaster or Zomax or Wilmar.)

All I know for sure is that it was a complete fiasco. We sold all of the Indestro inventory to Thorsen by the pound (which turned out to be about 40 cents on the dollar), the U.S. made Thorsen didn't sell because it had ZERO brand recognition here (and wasn't much lower than Indestro on the price point,) and putting Taiwan-and-China-made Wilmar into the stores pissed off the old "traditional" customer base (who wouldn't have paid the price for the Indestro or Thorsen anyway, which is why I went with Wilmar.)
In retrospect, Don Hall (who sold us several lines) was right: we should have gone with the Japan-made Truecraft when we dumped Indestro. Hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[Debcrow]

The Duro-Chrome and Indestro TAPPET wrenches are way thin - skinny skinny - but they never really changed much from the 1930s through the 1990s as far as I know. My set dates from the early 1970s (below.) (T1 - T4)

The tappet wrenches are certainly THIN.
Here is a Duro Chrome D-2 (1/2 9/16). I am assuming war time since it seems to be plain steel. Very Skinny!

 

[four.cycle]

@Chrome Vanadium Cody -
you asked about "offset flare nut wrenches" a few days ago. one showed up on ebay - they made about half a dozen different SKUs of these:

Indestro 379 3/8" x 1/2" flare nut wrench (ebay 335229305784 01)