Spreading the Bonney affliction!

[Private Lugnutz]

15/16 unknown number

I don't know how many other DBE wrenches belong to this set or if I have the whole set already, so if anyone has any insight please let me know!

Odds are that chopped wrench was probably a 2810 (15/16" x 1"), but given the 25/32" opening he had (2808B), maybe a 2810A (15/16" x 31/32"). Would you post a photo of the top side of the wrenches? so we can see the markings? Those look like they have a natural steel finish to me, and the profile suggests the possibility they are -ZENEL-. Hard to tell exactly when they were made though from just the side. Bonney used the same model numbering scheme for many years, but if we know when they were made, someone could post a catalog excerpt that is closer to the production era.

 

[Peter Burritt]

Odds are that chopped wrench was probably a 2810 (15/16" x 1"), but given the 25/32" opening he had (2808B), maybe a 2810A (15/16" x 31/32"). Would you post a photo of the top side of the wrenches? so we can see the markings? Those look like they have a natural steel finish to me, and the profile suggests the possibility they are -ZENEL-. Hard to tell exactly when they were made though from just the side. Bonney used the same model numbering scheme for many years, but if we know when they were made, someone could post a catalog excerpt that is closer to the production era.

Here's a couple pictures I just took:



My grandfather was never the best at taking care of his tools. These were all caked in rust with small splotches of chrome plating when I found them. There was so much rust that "BONNEY" was barely legible. I wire brushed all of these wrenches to remove the rust and what was left of the chrome finish, giving them a deceiving original finish of bare metal. I'm exploring the idea of possibly re-chroming them to bring them back to 'original'

 

[Peter Burritt]

These were all caked in rust with small splotches of chrome plating when I found them.

Let me rephrase. From what I can remember, these all showed signs of chrome plating. I can say for certain that the top wrench (2812B) and bottom 3 wrenches (2808B, 2807, 2806) had splotches of chrome on them. There wasn't much to save of that original finish

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I just couldn't tell from the other pics, Peter. As for era, LesserSon or bonneyman might be able to pinpoint it for you. I generally don't collect much past 1950, and your wrenches are newer than that. If you go to Internet Archive International Tool Catalog Library and search on Bonney, you will see a bunch of catalogs. I know there's a 1957. Maybe later, too. It would give you an idea of the wrenches they sold as sets and also individual wrenches you're missing if you want to try to build a set out from what you have.

 

[Peter Burritt]

Thank you for the new direction! I'll be doing some research tonight then. Another rabbit hole to dive into hahaha!

 

[swshawaii]

Found these "holy grail" long metric MDB's at a garage sale last weekend and I'm still pinching myself. Real coincidence since I recently had a discussion about these with another GJ member via email. Almost tempted to sell them if they can bring in what I'm thinking. We'll see.

Interesting this thread started by bonneyman on December 23, 2014 mentions these "long DBE's in metric" in the opening post.

 

[Username already in use]

That's a great find. Those look like they've never seen a bolt!

 

[swshawaii]

Thanks. Rings could use a little cleaning but they're pretty nice. Really want these as users but damn. LOL

Found that a brass bristled pipe cleaner or battery terminal cleaner works quite well to clean box ends.

 

[Raineman]

WOW! Those are sweet.

 

[LesserSon]

LesserSon or bonneyman might be able to pinpoint it for you

Not I. If there are traces of forged date codes, I don’t see them.
I looked at PB’s earlier post of fewer wrenches, and saw they were Bonaloy.
I sometimes pick up Bonaloy if it is “MADE IN U.S.A.”, but usually leave it otherwise. Nothing wrong with it, very workmanlike, but it has neither the distinctive looks of CV/Zenel nor the LocRite feature of Full Polish. Stylistically, the early-mid 1950s are just not my thing.
I was actually more interested in “Central New York,” which I assume is the Finger Lakes area. The annual RT90 Yard Sale is one of my favorite pilgrimages, plus my sister lived in that area for a few years.

 

[bonneyman]

Me likey those wrenches Mikey!

 

[Peter Burritt]

I was actually more interested in “Central New York,” which I assume is the Finger Lakes area. The annual RT90 Yard Sale is one of my favorite pilgrimages, plus my sister lived in that area for a few years.

I live closer to Utica despite my "Central New York" tag here on GJ that typically suggests the finger lakes region. I regularly travel that corridor of the finger lakes because I attend College in that region.

As for the rt 90 sale, I have been told it is a fun weekend event, but I have never participated in it. Unfortunately the end of July is the busiest period of the haying season and that's when sweet corn needs to start getting picked. Summers are the worst for trying to do fun things. :/

Hopefully I might end up getting some time to go hunting for more toys to play with!

 

[Raineman]

I have to say, my go to wrenches are my Snap On Flank Drive Plus wrenches. Since I got my Bonney Loc Rite set I have left my prized Flank Drive set at home and took my Bonney roll over to my rented garage to use on my Chevelle restoration.

I have fallen in love with these wrenches! Smooth, crisp, solid....dag gone they feel natural to work with. I’m a retired auto mechanic. I had never heard of these and I used these tools for a living. Blind or uninformed color me.

I fell into this Bonney affliction by accident, but now I think I’m hooked. This could be dangerous.

So glad I found this website and this forum. I think ?

 

[Provincial]

I stumbled on to Loc-Rite tubing wrenches, one each at two garage sales on the same weekend. I was hooked! Filled out the set, with the last one from Ebay.

A couple of years later, I spotted a photo in a Craigslist ad for a local garage sale. I was the third one in the door, and scored a Bonney Loc-Rite combo set from 3/8 to 1-1/8 for $45.00. Satin finish, but perfect condition.

Now for the DBE set!

 

[Mikeske]

I have to say, my go to wrenches are my Snap On Flank Drive Plus wrenches. Since I got my Bonney Loc Rite set I have left my prized Flank Drive set at home and took my Bonney roll over to my rented garage to use on my Chevelle restoration.

I have fallen in love with these wrenches! Smooth, crisp, solid....dag gone they feel natural to work with. I’m a retired auto mechanic. I had never heard of these and I used these tools for a living. Blind or uninformed color me.

I fell into this Bonney affliction by accident, but now I think I’m hooked. This could be dangerous.

So glad I found this website and this forum. I think ?

I knew of Bonney as the Air Force bought a lot of Bonney tools and they were the old satin finish were what was used at the time. When I got ready to go from active duty to the Reserves in 1983 I knew that I had to have tools as I was a vehicle mechanic in the Active Duty side of the Air Force. I was going to need a job and I got bids from the 3 big truck brands and Grainger that sold Bonney at the time. The bid from Grainger won out as they also included a cheap roller cabinet branded Bonney, it was the same as the Craftsman of that era. I flat out wore that Waterloo box out and sold it after I retired to a kid up the street from my home.

My set of Bonney tools was all the high polish chrome finish and I still have them today. Are they as good as the truck brands I don't know as the only thing I have that was Snap-on was the ratchets of the same era as the Snap-on were just better ratchets then the Bonney in my opinion except for the 3/8 flex ratchet and getting plenty of a good quality grease the Bonney was great. I do have to agree the wrenches are smooth, crisp and solid and do feel natural to work with. IN 99% of the time the long reach wrenches are still to this day my go to and I have my 72" Harbor Freight tool box with all my Bonney's and then the other toolboxes have the junk tools that allow my grandkids and son to work out of and my 72" box is locked and only I have the key to.

I ended up retraining into aircraft sheet metal and then did a career change and went from vehicle mechanic to aircraft mechanic and spent almost 30 years at Boeing working on aircraft. I retired in 2017 after 29 years there.

 

[bonneyman]

Found these "holy grail" long metric MDB's at a garage sale last weekend and I'm still pinching myself. Real coincidence since Mikeske and I recently were discussing these via email. Almost tempted to sell them if they can bring in what I'm thinking. We'll see.

Interesting this thread started by bonneyman on December 23, 2014 mentions these "long DBE's in metric" in the opening post.

Oh man, the holy grail! Congrats!

I'm glad I've been able to share my love for Bonney tools and have made folks aware of them so some can find stashes like this and benefit from them.

 

[swshawaii]

^ YOU are definitely the person that got my "Bonneyfliction" started. Thing is 90% of my saved searches on eBay begin with the word Bonney. Being in Hawaii most of the new listing alerts are posted between 3AM and 4AM HST. Guess who's waking up before 3AM EVERY morning? LOL Fun hobby though, and am almost certain I'll never lose money should I decide to sell any. Mahalo! (Hawaiian thank you)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I hear from a pretty good source that the Sunday flea market in Pearl Harbor is pretty good for vintage tools. I don't know if that includes more modern chrome though. This is a WWII jeep buddy hunting 40s vintage.

 

[swshawaii]

Just for kicks copied and pasted my first private message here and the beginning of my Bonney Tools interest. Incidentally, the Bonney set mentioned below sold on eBay for $77 + shipping. A LOT has changed in two years for Bonney Tools demand, and I wouldn't be surprised if a clean MDB set fetched over a grand to the right buyer today. Bonney made John Deere long combos are another good example.

Feb 24, 2019

bonneyman said:

swshawaii said:
bonneyman, I missed out on these ten days ago at the closing seconds of bidding because I forgot to change my Hawaii shipping address. I saw pics of your set in your "Bonney Affliction" thread. Can't seem to find much info on these polished Bonney offsets, especially metric. I was just sick about losing out on these, and placed a maximum automatic bid for well over $100. Also surprised there were only three different bidders despite only being a 5 day auction. These were going to be a gift for a very special childhood friend. Is this about the going price, and any idea where I can find them? Thanks for any advice you can give or possible leads. Steve

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BONNEY-TOO...m43663.l10137&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

Man that looks like a nice set! And the selling price was quite good.
Sorry to have to be the one to tell you - the DBE's in metric are some of the hardest Bonney wrenches to find. Took me 10 years of diligent searching to put my set together. At one point I had to buy a Snap-On to fill an empty spot on my pegboard because that particular size (13 x 15) is virtually gold. The SAE's are fairly easy to get - the metrics are stealth!
Recommends to search:
Harry Epsteins Tools in Kansas City
Charlies Second Hand store in Denver
Also member beerman gets Bonney items form time to time. You might want to PM him and ask, tell him I sent you.

Keep looking - you never know what you might find!

B-man

 

[Raineman]

Almost missed this today at Carlisle. Caught it out of the corner of my eye when I was buying something else for $1. Gave the guy a $5 bill and said “I’m taking this too”. Its for gapping distributor points.

 

[bonneyman]

^ YOU are definitely the person that got my "Bonneyfliction" started. Thing is 90% of my saved searches on eBay begin with the word Bonney. Being in Hawaii most of the new listings are posted between 3AM and 4AM HST. Guess who's waking up before 3AM EVERY morning? LOL Fun hobby though, and am almost certain I'll never lose money collecting them. Mahalo! (Hawaiian thank you)

I guess I'm guilty as charged. Though, they do make meds to help one sleep through the night.

U R Welcome!

 

[LesserSon]

New old lil hammer came from eBay today. PH17. There’s a flat to the stubbier handle, like the PH20. I think the brass threads are a PO addition.

 

[Username already in use]

Nice collection of soft face hammers. I like em!

I picked up a pair of Bonney combos from the flea today. Pretty happy with them. Those polished chrome wrenches just shine.



Also picked up this Utica/Bonney roll cab in trade from another member. Nice place to store all that Bonney goodness.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

This lone Bonney socket was in that Montgomery Ward box I got. 13/16 deep 1/2 drive. Has 3 detent holes in the bottom 2 big and one small. LD26T.

 

[Username already in use]

Has 3 detent holes in the bottom 2 big and one small. LD26T.

The two large holes are for a pin handle or cross bar. Typical deep well socket construction across brands at the time. Nice socket.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

The two large holes are for a pin handle or cross bar. Typical deep well socket construction across brands at the time. Nice socket.

Awesome. Learned something new today.

 

[bonneyman]

As I recall 13/16" was a common spark plug size. As was 5/8". I have both in Bonney with the rubber insert for holding the plug snug while installing it. Last time I switched out the plug on the lawn mower it was 18mm though.

 

[1320]

I am looking for some other part numbers for the same style as the 2890H 3/8" x 7/16" DBE 6 point wrench. Anyone know of the others in the same set?

 

[swshawaii]

^ See page 42.

Bonney Quality Tools : Catalog 60 : Bonney Forge & Tool Works : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

132 p., illus., 27.0 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

Page not found

 

[1320]

Thanks, just what I needed.

 

[1320]

^ See page 42.

Bonney Quality Tools : Catalog 60 : Bonney Forge & Tool Works : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

132 p., illus., 27.0 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

Page not found

Thanks, just what I needed.

 

[JjKk40]

I'm curious about this 4080L long handle, stream-lined ratchet I got rescently. The date code is 1949 but has the "made in u.s.a." instead of "u.s.a.". I thought Bonney changed to "u.s.a." around '46/'47 on their forgings? Here's 2 pics of what I'm talking about...

 

[bonneyman]

I'm no expert on the vintage Bonney's Jj, but it could have been some NOS that got buried for a few years and then when discovered they struck it with the later date code to sell. Nothing wrong with it. Back then they weren't so stuck on date codes as collectors are today. Then again one of the vintage experts could chime in and prove otherwise.

Nice tool though.

 

[Raineman]

Picked up a clean 1/2" to 3/8" adapter yesterday with a little bundle of tools locally. No pics, just figured I'd add to the list. If anyone wants a pic, I can post later, just let me know.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I'm no expert on the vintage Bonney's Jj, but it could have been some NOS that got buried for a few years and then when discovered they struck it with the later date code to sell.

Problem with the old stock theory is both the date code and the "MADE IN U.S.A." marking are forged. So, made at the same time.

It's a headscratcher, JJ. The cutover time rationale ('47) is pretty solid based on mainly wrenches. The explanation is either that's not an "M" or perhaps the dies for certain tools (e.g., that ratchet) were switched from "MADE IN U.S.A." to just "U.S.A." much later. AA tends to generalize.

 

[Rickster]

Picked these up the other day...

 

[LesserSon]

I’ve got nothing solid to add about the Made in USA 1947 / HM 1949 ratchet dilemma, except…the long version is a less-common variant (I didn’t see it in the catalog pdfs I looked in), it is a very early Streamline-era tool, made 2-3 months after Fred S Durham died, and of all the “screwups” that might not be caught before production started, “Made in USA” versus “USA” seems uncatastrophic. Maybe someone was old school, didn’t get the memo, or just had a brainfog moment. Or rationalized that the looong shank had plenty of room for the longer phrase.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked these up the other day...

I have never seen those before in my life, not in the wild or in a catalog. What are they called? Is that supposed to be a finger grip?

 

[Rickster]

Yup, hand grip. I’ve never seen these before so I grabbed them up at a tool estate sale. Head is kinda thick... so I’m guessing possible line wrenches?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Cool wrenches. Diggin the handles.