I'd love to hear what part of the country you were in when you bought your set, what type of store, and why you chose Bonney. If that's all too nosy, disregard, haha.
I was still active duty Air Force in late 1983 stationed at Nellis AFB, Nevada. I originally bought my basic set of Bonney tools after determining that I would not reenlist in Active duty but would go into the Air Force Reserve when my time was up in late 1986.
I needed a tool set and I got the hold of the dealers and jobbers that were serving the tool needs of the base. I had known about various tool brands that were there and I got quotes from Mac, Snap-on, and Bonney. I choice Bonney for the basic set as they were the cheapest and the jobber was able to also included a basic toolbox in the kit. The jobber that I got my toolset was from Grainger.
I had known about using Bonney tools at the time as they had government contracts and I had used Bonney tools working aircraft in the Air Force, we also used Thorsen, Mac and limited Snap-on. So I was familiar with all the tool brands that the various bases used. I had no issue what brand to buy and I went for the one that actually gave me the best bang for my money. At the time I worked part time at the Montgomery Wards tire center in Las Vegas doing quick repairs and tires and I had a older Craftsman set in a hand carry box that what I needed there but I realized that if I decided that I would be leaving the Air Force soon that I needed to upgrade to better tools.
So I bought the Bonney set for $1150.00 and it included 1/4", 3/8" 1/2" sets in SAE and metric in 1/4" and 3/8" in sockets in shallow and deep well, the set also had the ratchets 2 of the 1/2", 2 of the 3/8ths, 1 of the 3/8ths flex head (I broke this ratchet several years ago and recently found a new old stock that is my new replacement) and 2 of the 1/4" ratchets (note I lost 1 of the 3/8ths and 1/4" ratchets over the years). In wrenches I had SAE 5/16" to 1" set and in Metric 8 MM to 20 MM, Flare wrenches in SAE 3/8" to 7/8" and metric 9 mm to 21 MM, double box end wrenches from 3/8" to 7/8" a set of SAE ignition wrenches with feeler gauges. It also had a hacksaw, screwdriver set, flaring kit and adjustable wrenches and various pliers. These tools were all put in a Waterloo 27" roller and top toolbox branded with Bonney name on the box. The toolbox was used my entire career of almost 30 years I was employed at Boeing until I retired in April of last year.
It should be noted that my basic set was heavily favoring SAE as my set was more set up to be used on aircraft and even to this day after 30 years at Boeing they still use SAE fasteners on their aircraft. I did have metric sets but not as intensive as the SAE and I kept the metric sets at home as I did not need them working for Boeing, I have since retired in April of last year from Boeing.
Here is a picture of it that I got off the eBay listing
) for a set of metric bonney SALTUS wrenches.
