Show your Indestro and Duro-Chrome tools

[Private Lugnutz]

Going back to the dapper blue collar era, check out this Snappy-looking mechanic...

 

[RTM]

Hey gang
I've seen a few references to "plain double band" as being Indestro tools, but never a picture. Are these Indestro? The socket is actually a Square Square, both apparently the same size, looks like a coupler. Don't have any square sockets, do have 8 pt.

(Ignore the little screw, stopping it from rolling off the keyboard tray.)

Thanks

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Looks like maybe walden

 

[four.cycle]

definitely looks way more like Walden than Duro/Indestro.

 

[r_olson_06]

Hey gang
I've seen a few references to "plain double band" as being Indestro tools, but never a picture. Are these Indestro? The socket is actually a Square Square, both apparently the same size, looks like a coupler. Don't have any square sockets, do have 8 pt.

(Ignore the little screw, stopping it from rolling off the keyboard tray.)

Thanks

The socket is definitely Walden more specific SW generation. The extension looks more early SK to me.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

 

[Private Lugnutz]

As first reported on the 2020 Garage Sale thread, I found a convertible L-T handle sheath for a Duro-Indestro L-T bar at Kent's used tools store in Tucson (thread on my pseudo-monthly trips there linked here) yesterday. (I honestly don't think they knew what it was because it was in a bin with a bunch of odds and ends. As most of us know, it pays to snoop around and keep digging, even through the most unlikely looking stuff!)

As discussed before, I have previously found two L-T bars without the sheath and have been hoping to run into one eventually, so I was excited.

These can be found on L-T bars with square shanks, hex shanks, and round shanks and with various markings, (e.g., Duro No. 660, Indestro No. 1301) or inside the No. LTX316 socket sets. This one is not branded (perhaps contract production), but it has the Peterson (Duro-Indestro) patent number (1,744,413 - 1930) stamped on it...,

...my L-T bars are marked...

...and it fits them like a glove!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

This is going to sound funny about a tool as simple and as innocuous as a carbon scraper, but I also found what might be my best find of the year so far in 2020 at the same place.

These tools were part of the pre-war and very early war (No 1938 to Nov 1942) Motor Vehicle Mechanics Tool-Set. They were used to clean piston, cylinder heads, valves, and other related parts that tend to build up carbon. They were dropped after that, but could still be found in the Master Mechanics Tool-Set, which was kept in the sidebox on the back of a Dodge light wrecker.

The ends of the wires are chamfered on the end and as you might know or suspect intuitively from the design, they conform to any shape, and can be made more rigid or more flexible with that little sliding band.

They are not exactly rare, as a category, and I've found many over the years for my GMTK's, including Blue-Point (their model number ws cited as a spec in ORD 5 SNL J-4, 4 March 1945), Wilde, and Plomb, as well as a bunch of unbranded examples. My theory is they were all made by one company (probably Decker).

But, I've never even seen a Duro-Indestro and didn't really know they existed. On top of that, even though we tend to refer to Duro-Chrome and Indestro as "Duro-Indestro", and the conjunction is further implied by the "-D-I-" markings suspected to indicate such a conjunction, it is the only tool I have ever seen let alone found that was explicitly marked as such. If someone knows of another, please disabuse me of this notion.

 

[Old Radar]

Lugz--Is it just me or are the photos in the above post missing?

Glad you found your L-T handle sheath!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I see em

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It wasn't just you! Some kind of glitch or something. I fixed it (I hope). Thanks!

 

[d42jeep]

They used Duro-Indestro towards the end of their existence. I have a wrench somewhere. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Oh, no worries, I didn't think it was wartime, Don. That's the '51 catalog I excerpted.

 

[four.cycle]

My theory is they were all made by one company (probably Decker).

The Indestro branded unit was a model 825, shown here:



(* This model was actually a fairly good-selling item. As d42jeep notes, they didn't use the "Duro-Indestro" moniker until late in the game - 1980s at the earliest. *)

I absolutely agree with you about them all coming off the same production line.
As near as i can tell, it looks to me like this is the original patent:



http://www.datamp.org/patents/search/advance.php?pn=1177333

 

[d42jeep]

I could be wrong but Duro was careful to keep Indestro separate, right down to each brands catalogs. I would expect the scraper in your catalog listing to be marked Duro Chrome. It will be interesting to see if BK has any take on the marking. Here is my wrench made towards the end. It’s virtually unused yet has peeling chrome. Kind of a sad end to such a high quality tool line.
-Don
Oops... cross post with BK for a change!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Don't forget Wright tools. Still made in the usa!

 

[outofbounds]

Picked this off of FB Marketplace this evening. I couldn't resist the fact that it came in a matching Indestro tool box. Picking it up tomorrow. Hoping it looks as good as the pictures, which seem to to indicate a pretty good condition overall. It was cheap enough to take a flyer on......

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Great snag with the box!

 

[d42jeep]

Looks like it comes with an extra ratchet plug too. Those don’t grow on trees! Looking forward to seeing more pictures.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

^ not an Indestro plug though... theirs had the knurled mushroom head. but he won't need it with that 3201 ratchet.
great find there on the box!

 

[outofbounds]

^ not an Indestro plug though... theirs had the knurled mushroom head. but he won't need it with that 3201 ratchet.
great find there on the box!

Always appreciate your expertise, 4C! If at any convenient moment you have a pic to share that illuminates what you are referring to, I'd find it helpful as I have a small box of plugs to root through and hope for a lucky pluck.

Tom

 

[four.cycle]

The 3202 Indestro 1/2" square female drive pressed-flange ratchet (patent 1902878) originally used the model 3215 ratchet adapter plug.
Inexplicably, a graphic of the 3215 is not shown in the 1935 catalog.
The 1948 catalog No. 16 does show a drawing of the 3215, but it's still difficult to make out exactly what it looked like.
There were a number of other adapters made by Indestro: a 1/2" x 1/2", a 3/8" x 3/8", and a 1/4" x 1/4", as well as adapters that allowed a ratchet to be used with different drive size sockets.
All of these were discontinued by Indestro years ago, so unless you can find them at swap meets or garage sales (or occasionally on Ebay), they're essentially non-existent.

New replacement units are available in WIHA from KCTool out of Kansas City. As I recall, I paid about $10 bucks each for them, including shipping.

Hazet makes the oddball step-up/step-down adapters, but the last time I checked, they had to be special-ordered from an outfit in Florida. (see following post.)

 

[four.cycle]

Here's the 1/4" x 1/4" ratchet adapter plug (aka "drive coupler") made by WIHA.
Note these are chromed and polished, so they're not going to match your vintage ratchet, but they will make it functional

Also here's those oddball Hazet adapters I mentioned just above:

 

[d42jeep]

Last time I checked, KC Tool was out of the 1/4” adapters and I got one online through Walmart. Here are some Indestro and Duro ratchets. Some have the removable plugs and others are fixed in place. The last shot is the Wiha (Heyco)1/4” plug.
-Don

 

[outofbounds]

A closer look at a recent Indestro Super set I picked up locally. I'm pretty pleased with the condition and the value. I would welcome any comments as to what else I might need to locate to call this complete. I'll suppose for starters a universal adaptor.

 

[four.cycle]

^ the 3217 (universal joint) would be about the only piece you're shy there, other than maybe the 3213 drag link socket, and I don't believe either of those came in any of the "socket sets" Indestro offered, other than maybe the big full-blown sets that came with the cabinets.

 

[CRTDI]

A closer look at a recent Indestro Super set I picked up locally. I'm pretty pleased with the condition and the value. I would welcome any comments as to what else I might need to locate to call this complete. I'll suppose for starters a universal adaptor.

Can't tell you what goes in it, but it sure is purty...

 

[lardy1]

I don't have much for this thread but I think this torque wrench is awesome. I use it to test against my torque indicator and check my click wrenches to that. So, indirectly, this thing is involved in about anything I use a torque wrench on.

 

[outofbounds]

I don't have much for this thread but I think this torque wrench is awesome. I use it to test against my torque indicator and check my click wrenches to that. So, indirectly, this thing is involved in about anything I use a torque wrench on.
]

That is cool Lardy!

 

[GalaxyRat]

Here's an orphan Indestro* female gear ratchet, 1/2" drive. I found it with the male plug. It cleaned up easily and looks great!

Sent from my SM-G973U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[d42jeep]

Here's an orphan Duro female gear ratchet, 1/2" drive. I found it with the male plug. It cleaned up easily and looks great!

Sent from my SM-G973U using The Garage Journal mobile app

Nice find with the plug. It is actually an Indestro ratchet.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was thrilled to find this at the flea market this morning.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It was in a toolbox with a bunch of other Duro-Indestro stuff, older Geometric-D stuff and a newer ratchet and speeder.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice. I have a newer version somewhere. Works great on stuck zerk fittings.

 

[GalaxyRat]

It was in a toolbox with a bunch of other Duro-Indestro stuff, older Geometric-D stuff and a newer ratchet and speeder.

That's cool, and definitely cool to find it among a collection like that.

Sent from my SM-G973U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[four.cycle]

^ That is a very cool little gizmo, Private Lugnutz. Does the business end fit properly onto a current-era zerk fitting?

 

[Outlawmws]

Very cook Grease "gun" Lugz! Not often I see something I've not seen before, and when Its something I want immediately its even better!

 

[d42jeep]

Here are today’s estate sale finds that seem to fit the thread.
-Don

 

[wrenchguy]

^ That is a very cool little gizmo, Private Lugnutz. Does the business end fit properly onto a current-era zerk fitting?

May i inject,
I believe its this style (top right), not snapping on.
From my 1926 Alemite catalog.

 

[d42jeep]

^ That is a very cool little gizmo, Private Lugnutz. Does the business end fit properly onto a current-era zerk fitting?

What you refer to as “current-era” zerk fittings were in common use in WW2. Here are some pages from a 1944 Alemite catalog. Since Lugz found the tool in a 1941 catalog, I would assume that it worked on both styles.
-Don

 

[Provincial]

Indestro Super #4664 #4 Phillips screwdriver I found at an estate sale today.

At the top of the group photo and also a close-up of the markings.