JonahBrown
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 5, 2025
- Messages
- 104
Thanks! Anyone else have this BE set?Welcome to the madness!
Nice start!
Thanks! Anyone else have this BE set?Welcome to the madness!
Nice start!
I’m upset that I can’t find a yard sale like thatSometimes you just get lucky...found these at a yard sale the other day. All circle H.
Half inch - 10 inch ratchet, speed handle, 14 3/4 inch breaker, 10 and 5 inch extensions, 8 1/2 inch tee, a wobble and 12 sockets
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3/8 inch - 6 1/2 inch ratchet, speed handle, 10 inch breaker, and 6 (in spite of what the first picture shows) sockets.
1/4 inch - 5 inch ratchet, 5 1/2 breaker, 6 and 3 inch extensions, and a 4 1/2 inch tee. No sockets. All quarter inch stuff came in this neat little 6 1/2 x 2 1/2 SK box. Also this 4 inch amber and blue Long C screwdriver.
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All in all I paid less than a dollar a piece. Like I said, lucky!
Yeah he has a “nice” start. Did you see the ratchets on the bottom of the one picture?Welcome to the madness!
Nice start!
The ratchet below plus this one he posted are pretty uncommon ratchetsThe last pic? I missed the extras mot posted in line, and I'm not families with those particular ratchets...SO? I see "Kenosha"
I would say it depends on your perspective/ preferences. By sheet numbers known in the collecting community, I would say the vanadium sets are much more uncommon and therefore are more of a “unicorn “ to most collectors. Regardless they are both great setsI thought the vanadium sets were the holy grail. I’m still torn between this box and my 1932 c-series box as my favorite.
The vanadium sets that are hinsdale made are much more uncommon than the amber handle sets. But I like em both and certainly wouldn’t turn either of them down if I found one in the wild at a good deal!The amber grips are super rare, - came out just before the US came into WWII and production ended immediate for the war effort. It was never restarted.
The 18” BE and Circle H breaker bars had female openings in the handle. I have both. This is the BE version with the 1/2” BT ratchet.Smoke, I'm not sure you followed my drift - I was talking about the breaker, and some mfg's put a female opening in the grip end, so the breaker could be used as an extension.
They stopped doing that as people would stick an extension in there and use it as a cheater, and break the grip, then turn it in for the warranty...
The double end male extension Wolf mentioned was another thing entirely, for the older design ratchets that needed a driver to use (and reverse)
I’m showing the end of the 18” BE breaker bar with the Circle H one on the floor in the background.The 18” BE and Circle H breaker bars had female openings in the handle. I have both. This is the BE version with the 1/2” BT ratchet.
Poor box.Here is a pretty rough Craftsman oak machinist chest made by Union. Ted's site shows it as a 43'-44' chest. I picked it up at a local swap meet this morning. I may have a drawer that will fit and a front cover but even if it's just a parts box it was worth a $5 bill. Ed.
I saw the water damage! It's pretty rough. It may be savable or it may just be a parts box. Either way it's a good pickup. Parts boxes give up their parts so that other boxes may live. I would have paid $5 in a heartbeat for that.Yes that box took some neglect over the years and spent a good deal of time exposed to damp or outright wet conditions Smoke. Between the drawer handles, the leather handle, the hasps, and the badge there is quite a bit of salvage there though. Not sure if I'll fix it up yet or not. I also grabbed a 3/4" socket set this morning with quite a few circle k sockets but not a complete set. The other sockets and ratchet were mostly Plomb. Ed.
Very nice set Jonah!Rest of pics with the correct 3/8” ratchet in the last pic.
Thanks very much! I have several more sets to take pictures of!I saw the water damage! It's pretty rough. It may be savable or it may just be a parts box. Either way it's a good pickup. Parts boxes give up their parts so that other boxes may live. I would have paid $5 in a heartbeat for that.
Very nice set Jonah!
Someone obviously played a prank on their dad in 1944.
The first 3 drawer posted a few days ago is the full size large one. BMW’s is the smaller 2 drawer version. Both are good finds! Now if someone can just find a long c roller!Wow, that's two recently who will come up with #3?
Well done both of you!
Any long c roller isn’t very common… perhaps if you live in Chicago or on the east coast where they are on every street corner but on the west coast, not so muchI have a long C roller but that was not a recent find. Many years back (but local)
Yeah that’s a nice one! Fairly minty as well. He’s getting buried with that thingI found a long C roller about 10 years ago. Rileysan has it now.
worthy posts on this page. 








Glad I re-looked this post as I had overlooked the CI wrench, thanks again.The subject of the "N" codes hasn't come up in quite some time, but if memory serves, it was never resolved definitively. It's not an OEM code, though. The "CI" on your wrench is thought to be the OEM code, for Billings.