SK Year Ranges

[shoggoth80]

Hey all. He's a couple oddities out of my personal box. SAE is the smallest selection of items, as there isn't much I own that requires it. I was reading a little on Alloy Artifacts about SK. Trying to figure out a year range on these for funsies. I know the SK-Wayne is mid to late 60s based on the website. The diamond logo is old fashioned, but the wrench looks much newer than that. Anyway, just sharing to see if anyone has any info.

 

[d42jeep]

S-K Wayne marked tools from 1964 to 1969, according to AA. S-K Tools began during the Dresser era which started in 1969.
-Don

 

[bonneyman]

I did some research some years back before S-K got sold to the Chinese. These were the numbers I came up with

S-K Wayne 1962 - 1969
Dresser Industries 1969 - 1985
FACOM 1985 - 2005
S-K Independent again 2005 - 2010
Ideal 2010 - 2021
Sold overseas 2021

Thus my S-K socket set I bought in 1981 is a Dresser set.
The tool and box logos varied somewhat but establishing exact years for those is difficult to nail down. Hope this helps.

 

[d42jeep]

That’s good information. Even though Wayne owned S-K from ‘62 to ‘69, it took two years for the transition from tools marked S-K to S-K Wayne. The top wrench with the diamond logo is a price line wrench that I know very little about. If I see them at sales I generally leave them behind.
-Don

 

[shoggoth80]

I think I paid about $2 for that diamond logo 3/4 a few years ago. Couldn't say no to that.

 

[thehorse13]

SK re-introduced the diamond logo post 2010. Your dead give away is the embossed 3/4 stamp along with the size and slight design variation in the modern era diamond logo.

 

[bonneyman]

That’s good information. Even though Wayne owned S-K from ‘62 to ‘69, it took two years for the transition from tools marked S-K to S-K Wayne. The top wrench with the diamond logo is a price line wrench that I know very little about. If I see them at sales I generally leave them behind.
-Don

I was thinking it was disposing of the NOS on hand before the new stamping came on-line. But that's just a guess.

Just sad to see what happened to S-K tools. They were good, solid tools. Mine have never given me any trouble, save for a couple of sockets with peeling chrome. Heard they fixed that after a few years.
Pulled out my old set recently to do a small repair on my bicycle. Those 40+ year old tools didn't miss a beat!

 

[shoggoth80]

I've warrantied a fair bit of SK stuff for work. But we also have a lot of SK kicking around the shop, some were tools that were issued to me when I was a tech . Some of it pretty hard used at that. Of the SK stuff in my personal cart... No issues. Lol.

 

[Jgaz]

Agree with @bonneyman

I started buying SK in about 71’ when I started in the gas station.
i was at least 25 miles from a Sears store and our local auto parts was an SK dealer.
The discount he gave me on SK tools sealed the deal.

I still have and use some of my original tools even after 40+ years as a mechanic.
Sad to see a good solid brand destroyed by corporate greed.