Spreading the Bonney affliction!

[twertsy]

Got my boards hung up.

 

[bonneyman]

Got my boards hung up.

Nice vintage boards!

 

[jakemac]

Found this one hiding in the bottom of a junk drawer in my grandfather's shop. It's and odd little DOE.
#HI8 13/32-15/32.

Here it is after cleaning it up.

 

[paulm12]

found this Bonney 4095 universal going through my garage sale bucket. Anybody here interested? Send me a PM.

 

[zakmartin]

I needed a 15/32 wrench to remove the receiving ball on my 350Z's rear hatch struts and found the Bonney (Zenel miniature electrical 15/32 and 13/32 wrench) that's a few posts up on Ebay. I was a bit dubious when I first pulled it out of the envelope. I cleaned it up a bit and the thing looked brand new. It fit PERFECTLY and I couldn't have been happier. It was like this wrench was MADE to fit this application. Even the angles were dead-on. Bonney knew how to make a good wrench back in the day. I'm going to keep my eye out for more of them.

 

[otis66]

I still have a few Bonney wrenches that I use. Bonney tools are nice.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

I recently did a work bench swap, and due to that I needed to unbolt a bunch of old wrenches.. and reattach them to the front of the new workbench. I was astonished to find (since I had not moved these wrenches from the original bench since ~ 1992 or so) to find this wrench that says Bonney with what appears to be the Bonney logo between the n's... Is this really a Bonney wrench of the fame that makes this thread? The wrenches I have are all oldies mostly farm implement and old car (Studebaker, Oliver, etc.) that I obtained from an urban renewal area garage in South Bend..

Any thoughts or help on this one is appreciated..

Dennis

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[twertsy]

I recently did a work bench swap, and due to that I needed to unbolt a bunch of old wrenches.. and reattach them to the front of the new workbench. I was astonished to find (since I had not moved these wrenches from the original bench since ~ 1992 or so) to find this wrench that says Bonney with what appears to be the Bonney logo between the n's... Is this really a Bonney wrench of the fame that makes this thread? The wrenches I have are all oldies mostly farm implement and old car (Studebaker, Oliver, etc.) that I obtained from an urban renewal area garage in South Bend..

Any thoughts or help on this one is appreciated..

Dennis

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Yup, that's a Bonney!

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Yup, that's a Bonney!

Certainly must have been a "special wrench" for an oem or ??

 

[wafrederick]

I have some Bonney tools and they were good wrenches.I understand they did make Matco's wrenches starting with WCL on the part number for Matco.

 

[twertsy]

Certainly must have been a "special wrench" for an oem or ??

It should have a model number somewhere. I don't believe I've ever seen one that didnt. Certainly looks specialty. On my site are tons of Bonney cats to look through. I'd try around 1932ish......

Sent from my SM-P905V using Tapatalk

 

[bonneyman]

I have some Bonney tools and they were good wrenches.I understand they did make Matco's wrenches starting with WCL on the part number for Matco.

Yep....and some John Deere wrenches as well.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

It should have a model number somewhere. I don't believe I've ever seen one that didnt. Certainly looks specialty. On my site are tons of Bonney cats to look through. I'd try around 1932ish......

Sent from my SM-P905V using Tapatalk

I'll pull it off the board tomorrow and check it out.. Neat stuff...

It also has a forged delta at the "bottom" of the handle...

 

[carcajou]

Here are a few i recently acquired.

 

[bonneyman]

This is the first wrench set I bought back in the early to mid 70's. At the time the Cornwell guy was also selling Bonney. I bought these over Snap On, I just liked the way they felt in my hand.

My SAE combo wrench sets were bought in 1981. My DBE's were gotten much later - just found the last metric one a little over a year ago.

 

[twertsy]

I'll pull it off the board tomorrow and check it out.. Neat stuff...

It also has a forged delta at the "bottom" of the handle...

I couldn't find it in a catalog. That said, I have a gap between 1925 and 1932. The "B-Shield" stamp on the head of your wrench ceased sometime between 1930 and '32 so it's before that. My guess is that it's after '25 so I'm thinking late '20s. There could also be a date code on it, 2 small letters forged.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

I couldn't find it in a catalog. That said, I have a gap between 1925 and 1932. The "B-Shield" stamp on the head of your wrench ceased sometime between 1930 and '32 so it's before that. My guess is that it's after '25 so I'm thinking late '20s. There could also be a date code on it, 2 small letters forged.

Here are some more pictures after pulling it off the board.. The delta/triangle now looks more like an arrowhead with an R or TR combined or maybe a P or D. The opposite side of the handle there is a small indentation that looks mostly like a 6 or G but could be a 0, 8, D, etc. The wrench is 7/8 and 5-1/4" long. There is no other marking on it...

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[twertsy]

I think your second pic is simply a worn out B-Shield on the shank, which would indicate pre-1925 if it is a B-shield. 3rd pic I can't see but it's probably a worn out date stamp.

 

[twertsy]

Present day 3015 Chestnut St. Home of Bonney in the late 1890s to about 1908. Now a postal facility.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Present day 3015 Chestnut St. Home of Bonney in the late 1890s to about 1908. Now a postal facility.

image removed..

Seems like a lot of old industrial businesses have ended up with Postal facilities in their place, sort of like a federally funded urban renewal process. In South Bend, IN the central post office if on the land formerly owned by the Birdsell Company, early manufacturer of clover harvesters and similar wooden based ag equipment and wagons.

 

[StillTooManyHobbies]

I have a little bit of Bonney too. I found the 9/16" long combo "somewhere", all crusty and rusty, and it needed a home. I cleaned it up with a wire brush and a belt sander, shot it with some gloss clear, and it's ready to work. I bought the closeout 2 pc long pattern set of 1/2 and 5/8 from Epstein's during one of the Epstein Days, now I have the three of them. Not an exact match (satin vs shiny) but close enough! I have always liked these in the long pattern, they just feel good in the hand. If I find more long pattern, I'll pick them up.

 

[bonneyman]

I have a little bit of Bonney too. I found the 9/16" long combo "somewhere", all crusty and rusty, and it needed a home. I cleaned it up with a wire brush and a belt sander, shot it with some gloss clear, and it's ready to work. I bought the closeout 2 pc long pattern set of 1/2 and 5/8 from Epstein's during one of the Epstein Days, now I have the three of them. Not an exact match (satin vs shiny) but close enough! I have always liked these in the long pattern, they just feel good in the hand. If I find more long pattern, I'll pick them up.

Good score! The satin Bonney's are every bit as solid and usable as the full polish ones, just left "gritty" as a cost saving feature.
Personally I think all of Bonney's wrenches started out as satin, and then some went on to be made full polish. They had to grind and smooth the shanks down to get them to mirror smoothness, which took alot of effort. And Bonney did all their finishing by hand.

 

[Username already in use]

This thread needs more screwdrivers!
I pick up every one I come across and that hasn't been many. Seems that not too many of them survived.
One of these Phillips drivers has been ground to a point.
But, it followed me home anyway! I'm sure I can find something for it to do.

-0lllll0-

 

[LesserSon]

These are my Bonney Zenel 1940s DOE wrenches. Got started with a clutch at a yard sale and have been hunting them since. They maxed out available sizes in 1941, so I've got just 16 more to find. Also came in miniature sizes. The smallest in pic is actually one of those, an H12. I also have one from a flea market, which must have escaped the factory unfinished. The openings are cast, but not ground to widths or stamped with the fractions.

 

[bonneyman]

These are my Bonney Zenel 1940s DOE wrenches. Got started with a clutch at a yard sale and have been hunting them since. They maxed out available sizes in 1941, so I've got just 16 more to find. Also came in miniature sizes. The smallest in pic is actually one of those, an H12.

Cool!

I'll check my collection and see if I have any of those for you.

 

[LesserSon]

And here are combination wrenches from Bonney Streamline and Outline series. Metric...

 

[LesserSon]

And SAE.

 

[LesserSon]

Punches and chisels

 

[LesserSon]

Linemans pliers and a screw starter

 

[LesserSon]

And yet another way to organize wrenches: by date. I used the proposed, modified Bonney date code system described on the Alloy Artifacts website as a reference.

 

[twertsy]

And yet another way to organize wrenches: by date. I used the proposed, modified Bonney date code system described on the Alloy Artifacts website as a reference.

I'm confused by some of your date ranges. "21-26," those have specific codes, as do "33-46.". Why the ranges? If you look at my site, I actually have 1914 and 1919 catalogs to help you with the "pre 1916" wrench.

 

[LesserSon]

I'm confused by some of your date ranges. "21-26," those have specific codes, as do "33-46.". Why the ranges? If you look at my site, I actually have 1914 and 1919 catalogs to help you with the "pre 1916" wrench.

On those particular wrenches the two letter code is too faint to read. And I certainly may have made errors. I'm pretty sure you know more about than I do. Not intending to promote myself as any kind of expert - just a guy who has some Bonney wrenches in his possession, and did a little research. Maybe I didn't get a 100% on the quiz.
But as long as we're on the subject...
Considering the anomalies discussed on AA, suggesting that the forged-in code may reflect the creation of the master, rather than the specific wrench, I think even stating a specific year is a bit bold for anyone who didn't actually work in the foundry, which is why I didn't include the month. (I also think assigning "A" to January is arbitrary - why couldn't it be the first month Bonney went into production, instead? And who knows when that was?) The proposed date code system is an interpretation of incomplete data, so inevitably includes assumptions, reasonable as they may be.
Really, though, those written dates were the result of my teaching myself how to read the code, based on what I had read at the time. So thanks to you and others for contributing such invaluable resources to the web, and making intelligent discussion possible.

 

[LesserSon]

And some sockets and drivers. All 1/2 square drive. I dug these sockets out of a mixed bin at a thrift shop this weekend. I had let a dozen deep wall sockets pass at a recent event, which I now regret even more. Maybe we'll meet again, some sunny day.
Edit - updated family portrait, after a second visit to the same shop, and a couple flea market hits.

 

[LesserSon]

Here's a closeup of one of the tapered 12 points.

 

[LesserSon]

The two square sockets I found had "forged'" under the CV, but even the couple 12pts that have the italic script (the closeup above has roman script) did not. Interesting.

 

[LesserSon]

See? This is a D30 (15/16).

 

[twertsy]

On those particular wrenches the two letter code is too faint to read. And I certainly may have made errors. I'm pretty sure you know more about than I do. Not intending to promote myself as any kind of expert - just a guy who has some Bonney wrenches in his possession, and did a little research. Maybe I didn't get a 100% on the quiz.
But as long as we're on the subject...
Considering the anomalies discussed on AA, suggesting that the forged-in code may reflect the creation of the master, rather than the specific wrench, I think even stating a specific year is a bit bold for anyone who didn't actually work in the foundry, which is why I didn't include the month. (I also think assigning "A" to January is arbitrary - why couldn't it be the first month Bonney went into production, instead? And who knows when that was?) The proposed date code system is an interpretation of incomplete data, so inevitably includes assumptions, reasonable as they may be.
Really, though, those written dates were the result of my teaching myself how to read the code, based on what I had read at the time. So thanks to you and others for contributing such invaluable resources to the web, and making intelligent discussion possible.

You definitely have some interesting Bonney tools! I think Bill has the date codes correct based on all the evidence, such as models and marking changing at specified times, and then comparing known examples against those changes. He (AA) did a great job deciphering that. I'm not so sure I agree on the meaning of the dots but I suspect, as you assert, we'll never know without speaking to someone who was there, which is getting less and less likely.

Again, great collection!

 

[bonneyman]

CV in a circle makes them old. I don't have my simple chart pulled up but IIRC that is 1930's or so. But Twertsy would know better having the actual catalogs available.

How are the working ends on those sockets? If clean and crisp you ahve a nice set there.

 

[LesserSon]

Based on street intersection and building layout, I think this is the long-time Bonney site in Allentown. Different type of America then. Now it's apartments.

 

[twertsy]

Based on street intersection and building layout, I think this is the long-time Bonney site in Allentown. Different type of America then. Now it's apartments.

I think I posted my original plot map back a few pages. Also, someone posted a real time pic of the actual old plant (2nd Allentown location I think) a while ago too. Bill300 maybe?