Spreading the Bonney affliction!

[Mikeske]

I been rather absent for a while just lurking and watching what is going on and not really posting a lot but Wednesday I fell into a deal for a Harbor Freight US General 72" red toolbox. My local Harbor Freight had the floor model on a open box tag for $767.00 and I debated it over night and decided to try and get it. The main reason I had run out of room in my 2 red 44" Harbor Freight toolboxes with 2 side boxes and a locker. Seems that I have more tools then I had boxes for and it was crowded.

So the next day I decided to go ahead and see what I could to do to swing the deal and went down to the Harbor Freight and I got talking with hem and they took a additional 10% off the price and I grabbed the box and out the door cost was just at $750.00. I measured everything and I thought that it would fit in perfect with the location in the shop if I took my locker off and slide everything over 18". This part one of two postings as I could only post 7 pictures.

Well I was right I took the handles off the new box and everything fit perfect. After all that I finally have plenty of room and more for all my Bonney stuff and my wood working tools now are consolidated into the space my Bonney's had been in. So I doing a tool box tool of the new Bonney toolbox.

 

[Mikeske]

Part two of my toolbox tour of the new tool box for my Bonney tools. Almost all of my Bonney tools are from the early 1980's to the time that they ended production in the mid 1990's

 

[LesserSon]

Wow, Mikeske, that is a feast for the eyes!

 

[Username already in use]

Whoa... I’m wading in a puddle of my own drool over here.
They had the best chrome.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Thats an impressive collection!

 

[bonneyman]

Nice Mikee!

I had a chance to snag a complete set of Bonney tube flaring tools a few years ago, didn't do it because I had a nice set of Imperials to do the job. Now that I'm pretty much out of HVAC I don't need it, but their reefer sets were sweet.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That's a whole lotta red, and a whole lotta Bonney chrome, Mike! I know the brand changed hands at that time from Triangle to Cooper, but were they still being made in the same plant in Orangeburg, S.C. in the 80's and 90's?

 

[Mikeske]

The Bonney's served me well and I over the past three years I slowly rebuilt for the missing and broken tools. I have SAE and metic in these even through I mainly used the SAE when I was a aviation mechanic. It was to the point that the metric tools were never even taken to work as they were not needed working on Boeing aircraft.

I just thought that maybe that I never really posted what I had in the Triangle and Cooper era of Bonney as to my complete set. That was the main reason I decided to post after I had everything in the new toolbox. Yep it is a lot of chrome and if my buddies show up well they can use the other brand no brand tools I have in my other 2 toolboxes. Nobody but I use the Bonney's. My son lost or took more of my Bonney's then I ever broke or lost on my own.

EDIT: I did notice in the pictures I missed the hydraulic tubing crowfeet I have so it included in this picture

 

[Provincial]

My son participated in a Rotary Club exchange program that took him to Berlin, Germany his Junior year in High School. He learned the language and decided to try to attend University there. He got accepted, and is in his third year now.

He joined the Glider Club, and works on gliders while learning to fly them. He was amazed to learn that the gliders use SAE hardware, as he was unaware that this was the World standard for aircraft until Airbus made a point of going metric.

He loaded up on SAE tools when home for holidays, and has become somewhat of a celebrity for his box of American tools. I even found a Starrett slide caliper for him which is graduated in both inch and metric.

Fortunately, he hasn't borrowed any of my Bonney wrenches!

 

[Mikeske]

My son participated in a Rotary Club exchange program that took him to Berlin, Germany his Junior year in High School. He learned the language and decided to try to attend University there. He got accepted, and is in his third year now.

He joined the Glider Club, and works on gliders while learning to fly them. He was amazed to learn that the gliders use SAE hardware, as he was unaware that this was the World standard for aircraft until Airbus made a point of going metric.

He loaded up on SAE tools when home for holidays, and has become somewhat of a celebrity for his box of American tools. I even found a Starrett slide caliper for him which is graduated in both inch and metric.

Fortunately, he hasn't borrowed any of my Bonney wrenches!

You do know that for years Bonney was primarily marketed towards the aviation fields. When I started working for Boeing in 1988 most of the specialty tools we used were made by Bonney. After Cooper shut down the Bonney division the tools were slowly replaced by Snap-on. If you ever see a Bonney tool that is etched with B and circle around it that tool was at one time owned by Boeing.

 

[LesserSon]

Perusing eBay, came across this advertisement. Not that it’s exactly news, but it corroborates the evidence that Bonney catalog numbers ARE the last two digits of their respective years, by explicitly stating, in a 1924-dated periodical, that the #24 catalog is “hot off the press.” Particularly in the early years, catalogs don’t always bear a printed copyright notice, leading to “unknown” or inferred dates of publication given on, for instance, Internet Archive.

 

[Provincial]

I was aware that many Pratt & Whitney Aircraft tools were made by Bonney. So many, that it was apparent that they were the "go-to" source well before WWII. It makes sense that all United Aircraft branches would do the same. Given Boeing's link to UA, your experience makes sense!

I have some tools that came from Boeing Surplus in the 1980's. Mostly riveting tools, air drills, and such.

A friend was a flight-line mechanic doing final inspections on early 747's. He had a large collection of wrenches found in the airplanes, but I remember no Bonney among them. Perhaps you Bonney guys were more aware of where your tools were!

 

[LesserSon]

Mikeske, a question that I can’t quite make out enough detail from your screwdriver drawer to answer myself:
Does this screwdriver look legit?

I received it from eBay today, and was immediately struck by its new unused appearance. I haven’t really focused on this period, but the four screwdrivers I have with similar handles are all Triangle, which is also the latest catalog pdf I have (1977).
This just says “Bonney USA” and the model number “001-6”.

 

[Mikeske]

Mikeske, a question that I can’t quite make out enough detail from your screwdriver drawer to answer myself:
Does this screwdriver look legit?

I received it from eBay today, and was immediately struck by its new unused appearance. I haven’t really focused on this period, but the four screwdrivers I have with similar handles are all Triangle, which is also the latest catalog pdf I have (1977).
This just says “Bonney USA” and the model number “001-6”.

Short answer for your question Lesserson. YES. My original set all looked like it and the new replacement (new old stock) also look the same. One thing is in constant use the white lettering will wear off and it it will be hard to see the Bonney name later on. I post a picture later of my screwdrivers in a closeup of the handles showing the lettering on mine. I do think that the screwdrivers were made by Stanley as I seen Stanley screwdrivers that looked identical to what you and I have.

 

[LesserSon]

Thanks. I look forward to your close-up.
When I saw how identical Bonney & Stanley drivers were, I just picked up Stanley “100 PLUS” ones as users for a while, even ignoring an opportunity to buy a pile of the late Bonney-marked ones last year, so I have few to compare from my own hoard.

 

[Mikeske]

Here the pictures of the screwdrivers I promised of the Bonney and one John Deere

 

[LesserSon]

Cool! Thanks.

OMG, anither double-post! They’re training us away from editing/revising! Part of the general slide toward degraded language.

 

[LesserSon]

Cool! Thanks.
I wonder why no triangle on the 001-6...just space? or maybe somewhere in the Cooper buyout...
What puzzles me is in my (sketchy unconfirmed) notes the Bonney line is discontinued. So assumed a different pattern screwdriver would have prevailed. Guess not.

 

[LesserSon]

ACK!
I seem to have joined some kind of “Bonney-a-Day” club! Or maybe the time is out of joint; is it Groundhog Day?

Received a second 001-6 (that I didn’t order) from the same seller.
...nice to have the blades set at 90° to each other...but heck, I barely “needed” the first one!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked up this postwar No. K-1 magnetic holder (see Pics 1 & 2) from wrenchguy in a trade for a 1920's BKLYN logo Williams spark plug wrench. I've got a few longer ones (Blue-Point and Duro), but this one is really cute. I'm going to keep it in my No. VS5 Extra Small Socket and Tool Set, where it fits nice and snugly (see Pics 3 & 4) - and appropriately, too, as a later production alternative/back-up to the miniature mechanical No. K-4 holder (see Pics 3 & 5) these sets came with in the 30's. 1951 catalog excerpt in Pic 6.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice. Looks good in there!

 

[wrenchguy]

I'm glad to help.

 

[Shelbylex]

Took apart, cleaned up and lubricated BonneyV-702 ratchet. Put it in my set to for comparison to the same model (the upper one) which came with the set I already have. I assume that the one I got recently is newer

 

[Mikeske]

Took apart, cleaned up and lubricated BonneyV-702 ratchet. Put it in my set to for comparison to the same model (the upper one) which came with the set I already have. I assume that the one I got recently is newer

Actually the newer one is the straight across reversing lever. The tri-wing reversing lever is the older one.

 

[pelletman]

Can anyone tell me what these are for?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Water pump wrenches, for turning the packing nuts on water pumps.

 

[Shelbylex]

Actually the newer one is the straight across reversing lever. The tri-wing reversing lever is the older one.

Thank you, Mikeske

 

[outofbounds]

Can anyone tell me what these are for?

I think if you bought that whole shooting match for $65 or less, you did pretty good.

 

[LesserSon]

Picked up three LocRite line combos (top) and a 1” Streamline combo (bottom) this morning.
For some reason 1” combos have been easier for me than 15/16 (settled on an Outline).
The lines seem good though engraved with “AL” (if only my real name were A. Lesserson).
I also have a LocRite 1” combo.
The Streamline is my 3rd, and finally, one that isn’t magnetized at either end. It’s coded HP, so 1952, lending support to my idea that the non-rounded corners were typical of the Allentown-produced Streamline (prior to Miller and Alliance OH). I have an EN with the same characterisitics (though a smaller USA), so now I’m more certain that it’s 1950 and not 1964.

 

[LesserSon]

Also, a pre-war 006 electricians screwdriver. This is undoubtedly the oldest Bonney screwdriver in my possession. Hard to demonstrate from catalog evidence, though. Bonney continued to use the same illustration for this model (and most straight blade screwdrivers) from when they first appear in 1934, right up to 1960, entirely skipping two handle-design changes, and still not catching up to the contemporaneous black-accented twins of Stanley’s 100 Plus line. The catalog images really only update to introduce a new model, like Phillips head, stubby, and Clutch head.

 

[pelletman]

Water pump wrenches, for turning the packing nuts on water pumps.

Thanks! So fairly useless today? $50 was the price.

 

[pelletman]

I think if you bought that whole shooting match for $65 or less, you did pretty good.

I coulda for $50, but I passed. Not sure what I would do with them

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks! So fairly useless today?

Pretty much. Made obsolete by "Channellock" or more conventional slip-jointed water pump pliers. Unless you're re-building an old Lincoln or something with a packing nut that took the pin spanner type jaws, then you might need those type of water pump wrenches. They're a neat collectible, though, because they went from 5/8" to 2-1/4" or something like that. As you can tell from that rack.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Picked up this cute little wrench

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Picked up this cute little wrench

That one is sweet indeed...


Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[LesserSon]

Quick stop through the Quakertown Flea today yielded four rusty wrenches. Cleaned them up on the wire wheel.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nice finds, LS. Pretty early A-Towns.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Those cleaned up nice

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's a late 60s 1/4 set

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Now that's what is meant by NIB....