Show Your Vlchek Tools

[outofbounds]

Some recently excavated Vlchek items from a recent rusty garage exploit....

a few DBEs, a wooden handled ND-22 nut driver, and a nice tappet wrench

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Somebody used a little bit too much force on that ND-22! Should pull out with a little twisting action. If you ever find an ND-12 (3/16"), ND-28 (7/16") or ND-36 (9/16"), hit me up right quick!

 

[outofbounds]

Lugz,
I have been invited back to take a final walk through at the location where I found the ND-22 on Saturday for a last look prior to the property owners turning the keys over to the developers that are going to knock the place down. You can bet I'll have a sharp eye out for them!! My new mission in life is to sell something to Private Lugnutz!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's funny.

 

[bonneyman]

Here are some Wrenches I have been collecting and a 3/4 Ratchet.

Holy smokes that's a big open gear ratchet!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

So here's a VLCHEK bearing scraper. Some paint left but no handle. Overall good shape. Any thoughts on replacing the handle? This is not for resale just putting together a family collection. Not sure if I should track down a raw file handle and patina or if there are any other more knowledgeable suggestions!

First of all, I'm jealous, because I am a Vlchek collector (scroll through this thread...), and a Babbitt scraper collector (click on the GJ thread linked here), and I want one!

To answer your question, yes, find a large vintage tool and file handle at a flea market. A modern handle won't do that justice. And if you strike out, send that to me, I will re-handle it with one of my suitable orphan vintage tool and file handles, picked up at flea markets, and send it back to you.

 

[MikeDoesDiesels]

Found in my grandpas old tool box with some old craftsman V sockets, 1/2 inch.

 

[d42jeep]

First of all, I'm jealous, because I am a Vlchek collector (scroll through this thread...), and a Babbitt scraper collector (click on the GJ thread linked here), and I want one!

To answer your question, yes, find a large vintage tool and file handle at a flea market. A modern handle won't do that justice. And if you strike out, send that to me, I will re-handle it with one of my suitable orphan vintage tool and file handles, picked up at flea markets, and send it back to you.

Here is a WW2 toolset that included a bearing scraper and my version of that set. Any of the handles shown would be appropriate for your Vlchek scraper.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nice ratchet, Mike. Just so you know it, they are as rare as hen's teeth. Vlchek was late to break into socket drive tools and never did make much of a dent in the marketplace, consequently, there aren't many surviving specimens.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

jkoll42:

And if you're looking to find a handle that matches as closely as possible the handle that originally came with your family heirloom bearing scraper from the Vlchek factory, here is an excerpt I created from the 1936 catalog for you.

 

[MikeDoesDiesels]

Thanks! I had no idea they were that rare. Real good quality tool though, works better than some of my older craftsman.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

They work pretty smooth. Did vlchek actually make them? Seems odd they never made any before or after that. Here's my little vlchek collection, an nd 32, wssr10 and a wslr6 as well as a craftsman bt.

 

[jkoll42]

jkoll42:

And if you're looking to find a handle that matches as closely as possible the handle that originally came with your family heirloom bearing scraper from the Vlchek factory, here is an excerpt I created from the 1936 catalog for you.

Thank you sir - are there any sources for handles out there or do I need to pilfer another tool handle?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thank you sir - are there any sources for handles out there or do I need to pilfer another tool handle?

If you mean current production, of course. Nicholson still makes tool and file handles. As does General and others. But they wouldn't look right on that scraper if you're going for a restored period correct look. I have a stash of vintage handles. I may even have a black one in that general shape with a short ferrule. When I get home on Saturday I will check.

 

[jkoll42]

If you mean current production, of course. Nicholson still makes tool and file handles. As does General and others. But they wouldn't look right on that scraper if you're going for a restored period correct look. I have a stash of vintage handles. I may even have a black one in that general shape with a short ferrule. When I get home on Saturday I will check.

Thanks Lugz - safe travels

 

[bmwrd0]

I totally forgot to post this bad boy.

It does need to have the spring inside replaced, but other than that it is pretty cool.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

The selector is neat on those

 

[lardy1]

I know I'm a minor league player in a major league stadium. But I still like to play.




Still seeking the 1/2 X 9/16.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

jkoll42

I've made a couple of interesting discoveries, one of which I think you're going to really like!

So it started with me getting out all my orphan tool and file handles, as promised.

I was thinking the Disston No. 4 (smack dab in the middle with the coiled spring steel ferrule...) was about the right size, but not the right look for your Vlchek bearing scraper. Then I was thinking you might be able to do something with the two on the right. A little small (probably No. 3's), but a better look for a Vlchek handle, and the right color.

Then I got out all my bearing scrapers to do some comparisons on the size and the shape of the bore, and I looked at the 1936 Vlchek catalog page again. Which is when I realized that I probably own not one but two unmarked Vlchek bearing scrapers!

Check it out. The black handles!

Here's the catalog page again.

Note that the illustrations don't look like your "VLCHEK" CLEVE. O. marked bearing scraper. Your scraper has a flatter rectangular shank.

The flatter one in my collection is actually octagonal, but very similar to yours. They are both clearly earlier than 1936, which your marking also indicates to begin with.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Here are some more photos...

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I also removed the handle on the other one with the round shank and I tried it on the flatter octagonal shank. It fits. Not quite as snugly, but it will do.

So I am going to send you the handle. I am convinced it's coming off an unmarked Vlchek scraper. But even if it's not, you won't find a better replacement. And I am elated to now consider the scraper I am keeping intact an unmarked Vlchek.

PM me your address for your early Christmas present.

 

[Gear Wolf]

Oldtuleguy, Vlchek made these ratchets themselves.

I will share my WSSR10 that follows the same design philosophy of the WSRL6. It may be strange to say, but there are actually three variants of the WSSR10, where there was only the one WSRL6.

View media item 99334
View media item 99335
View media item 99336

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Thanks gw, I think I have one of those somewhere. What's the third version?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's both wssr10 ratchets along with a few sockets.

 

[Gear Wolf]

The one not yet depicted is like the WSSR10 that is the same as the Craftsman BT you have uploaded, except there is a difference in the forging. I will upload the photo, when I can.

 

[Username already in use]

This Vlchek 6in adjustable followed me home on Saturday. The Danielson date code looks to put it at 1952.

 

[wrenchguy]

A orphan Vlchek WBH 4042 from my DBE drawer. Other side reads, alloy steel
made in usa. Would this be from a military tool kit?

 

[GalaxyRat]

Here's a couple of wrenches I picked up this past weekend.

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

 

[damon18]

Found this lonely Vlchek with a bunch of other brands been sorting through.

Thought the model number was WBO1214 or WB01214 but after some WD-40 and harsh language it turned out to WBC1214 .

http://alloy-artifacts.org/vlchek-story-p2.html#vlchek-wbc1214-panel


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

 

[toolsandtees]

Here are a few random Vlchek wrenches from my stash...

WBE20 - 8 -5/8"
27C - 59 - 11/16" x 9/16"
W1820 - F - 5/8" x 9/16"
W1820 - 5/8" x 9/16"
WBE16 - W - G - 1/2"

Dave

 

[Gear Wolf]

Thanks gw, I think I have one of those somewhere. What's the third version?

So its been 1/2 a year! I'm still good for it!

View media item 104723
View media item 104724

The example without the "wings" near the selector (also shown to have an indent on the opposite side on the 2nd picture) was likely the very first iteration of what would be the shared Vlcek WSSR10 / Craftsman BT ratchet.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Thanks gw! Was curious about that.

 

[MR.X]

Oldtuleguy, Vlchek made these ratchets themselves.


Hi. I realize the post I quoted from is from a while ago but I'm just catching up on this thread now. I'm familiar with these ratchets and the sockets from that era as well. I see that you're saying that Vlchek made them. Do you have a source or is there a post that you could direct me to? Thanks.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I see that you're saying that Vlchek made them. Do you have a source or is there a post that you could direct me to? Thanks.

It is a very interesting question, X, and one that I have remarked on before here and on other threads as well.

Vlchek's entire line of interchangeable socket wrench drive tools is a conundrum to me. I have described it as a brief, failed foray for many reasons.

First of all, they don't appear in any early 30's trade mags or hardware store ads they I have been able to find. They seem to appear for the first (and only) time in the 1936 catalog, and the tools lucky enough to be found sparingly in dribs and drabs by collectors fit the images and description in that catalog.

They don't appear in the 1941 catalog, just 4 years later, implying they have been dropped from production, and that is consistent with WWII documentation and empirical evidence. There are NO wartime Vlchek drive tools.

They don't appear in the 1949, 1951, or 1955 catalogs. The first time Vlchek socket drive tools appear again is 1959 and they are nothing like the 30's tools.

I have to admit, their description in the "WHY Vlchek QUALI-T-BRAND socket wrenches are BETTER" write-up on page 7 of the 1936 sounds as if they designed and made them. It implies that they painstakingly made every design feature decision for a reason, and it even implies they selected the steel and heat treatments. Oddly, though, it doesn't actually directly say they made them.

Their presence in only one document (1936) and their extreme scarcity evidence a very brief production period.

They were an old venerable house known for making very high quality end wrenches, auto wrenches, pliers, ball-pein hammers, and chisels and punches, as well as the roll-up livery, "mechanician", motorist, and taxi kits they put all those tools in - with a seemingly unprecedented and quickly discontinued entry into the detachable, interchangeable socket wrench drive tools market.

The fact that Sears, Roebuck & Co turned to them as a supplier, then, only deepens the severity of the head scratch for me. They are handsome tools, that's for sure. But they certainly had no track record. (Unless their OEM did.)

In short, I have no firm position on this question except this: IF they actually made the Little Giant (WSL), Standard (WSS), and HD (WSH) drive tools themselves, it is the shortest production run of handsome, robust, high quality drive tools I have ever heard of, and with the most inexplicable stop. If they were selling why did they stop? Why would they stop?

 

[MR.X]

Hi Lugz. Here's a 34 ad I came across.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

My hunch is vlchek was interested in becoming more of a supplier of ratchets to sears. When that did not happen the drive tools just faded away.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Hi Lugz. Here's a 34 ad I came across.

Thanks. Cool ad. Puts at least two or so years to the production run.

My hunch is vlchek was interested in becoming more of a supplier of ratchets to sears. When that did not happen the drive tools just faded away.

Supplying to Sears, Roebuck, & Co would certainly be a good motivation for a foray and the justification for the expense of the completely new dies and tooling required for it. Curious why you constrain it to just ratchets, though. Is there any precedence for Sears, Roebuck & Co exclusively buying one type of drive tool (e.g., ratchets) from any OEM without the other drive tools and sockets?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Good point lugz. The sockets i have look like new britain stuff. Maybe it just never got that far.

 

[Gear Wolf]

Without going into a jag, as I really am short on time, there was a vacuum created between the falling out of Sears and Snap On.

Snap On supplied a variety of hand tools under the Craftsman name when the brand began offering what we think of as a traditional tool set today. The falling out had to do with Sears wanting Snap On to offer their better tool tech at price point Sears wanted. The same two guys that walked away from Blackhawk to start Snap On didn't seem to like to be told what they were going to do by anyone, even Sears and even during the Great Depression. The relationship lasted as long as the first contract.

SK, Hinsdale, Vlchek, and New Britain were vying for the same space pretty much at the same time. New Britain ended up getting the new contract, where the relationship was strong in the mid-1930s and was waning by the mid 1940s. In the meantime, Moore Drop Forge started making tools for Sears in the late 1930s approximately. Ultimately, what helped MDF win the dedicated long term contact to create and supply Craftsman tools for Sears had to do with a dedicated plant MDF created in Springfield. At that time, no one else had offered to do that for Sears, whereas other tool manufacturers made tools for Craftsman as a "side gig".

MDF ticked all of the boxes that Sears was looking for:
- Comprehensive hand tool sets
- Consistent supply / better price
- Tools that could be easily self serviced

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Kinda what I thought. Thanks gw your craftsman expertise is always appreciated.