Spreading the Bonney affliction!
- Thread starter bonneyman
- Start date
Mikeske
Well-known member
Orginally Boeing had a independent outside company laser etch the tools. A fews years later Boeing acquired laser etchers and from then on it done in-house. By the time that Boeing had started this Bonney had been out of the tool market for a good 15 years. Almost all the tools I saw laser etched were all Snap-on.
Username already in use
Well-known member
From the Twertsy museum of fine tools, I'm the proud new owner of this wartime midget electrical set. I've never seen another.
Some highlights are the Bonney midget screwdrivers, the flexible extension, and the T and U dated ZENEL wrenches which, along with the black oxide finish, date the set 1942/1943.
Surprisingly absent is the ratchet.
Utica for the midget pliers.
Some highlights are the Bonney midget screwdrivers, the flexible extension, and the T and U dated ZENEL wrenches which, along with the black oxide finish, date the set 1942/1943.
Surprisingly absent is the ratchet.
Utica for the midget pliers.
bmwrd0
Well-known member
I picked up this 1/4" socket box over the weekend, filled with wartime SK, some Plomb, and wartime Duro. But from the color and the faint remains of the decal, I would say it is a Bonney box.
In this pic, you can just see the remains of that decal, which I believe is this one:
So I will send off for that once I have time to start putting the whole thing together.
In this pic, you can just see the remains of that decal, which I believe is this one:
So I will send off for that once I have time to start putting the whole thing together.
A couple of Bonney wrenches picked up over the last week or two...I haven't gone over them for date stamps but the finish and similarity to a couple of the pieces posted on AA make me think that these are both likely wartime wrenches.
Last edited:
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
It didn't have a ratchet. (My 46-pc No. V55 set wasn't issued a ratchet, either.) And the miniature pliers are extra. And one of the screwdrivers, probably. I'm pretty sure that's the No. V52 set. And it's complete - except for the spinner! See page 8 in the 1941 catalog. And you may recall it as the 41-W-2615-20 from the ORD 5. We tend to forget about the other midgets sets because they weren't issued to the GMTK. Congrats on owning a terrific set.
Excerpts...
Last edited:
Username already in use
Well-known member
Thanks Lugz!
Good thing I have a spare V22 sitting around.
Not sure how it's going to fit in that box, but I'll give it a go.
Good thing I have a spare V22 sitting around.
Not sure how it's going to fit in that box, but I'll give it a go.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
Um, trust me, I've been wondering the same thing myself! Removing the ratchet from this set...
...which has the same size box, would make some room for the spinner, but just thinking about finding space for a short extension, a flex extension, and a screwdriver (that I don't even have!) puts me in vacation suitcase panic mode.
On the other hand, it's in the "good problem" category and will give you hours of fun packing and repacking until you get it just right.
Of course the catalogs are never much help - because the tools are never in the box!
Oldtuleguy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2017
- Messages
- 10,458
That's how they get you to buy a bigger toolbox
bmwrd0
Well-known member
The obvious answer is to send it to me, for the box I posted above!
A couple of Bonney wrenches picked up over the last week or two...I haven't gone over them for date stamps but the finish and similarity to a couple of the pieces posted on AA make me think that these are both likely wartime wrenches.
You'll find that shorty DBE very useful. I find myself reaching for them alot. Just the perfect size and length to fit those common spots comfortably.
Found an "E" wrench today way in the back of some old wooden cabinets along with a few other old non-Bonney tools (small blacksmith-made forged wrenches, an unidentified closed-die DOE wrench, some small tongs, and a shop-made socket wrench).
This Bonney "E" wrench has some pretty severe casting flash. It's surprising that they didn't even knock the big chunks off! It actually looks unused.......as if the millwright tossed it way back in the cabinet a century ago, where it remained until today.
This Bonney "E" wrench has some pretty severe casting flash. It's surprising that they didn't even knock the big chunks off! It actually looks unused.......as if the millwright tossed it way back in the cabinet a century ago, where it remained until today.
Attachments
BlakeTheCarGuy
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Found this little guy at the pawn shop on Saturday. 11/32 12 point 1/4 drive. Model number appears to be V11. I had to dig and dig and dig but it was in a bin full of Chinese and Taiwan sockets it was worth it haha.
Mikeske
Well-known member
You are probably correct on the part number for that socket. My later full chrome 1/4” has V11 on it
Found this little guy at the pawn shop on Saturday. 11/32 12 point 1/4 drive. Model number appears to be V11. I had to dig and dig and dig but it was in a bin full of Chinese and Taiwan sockets it was worth it haha.
PSCo1867, nice find on that E wrench! I don’t have that one yet.
I had my hand on what I call a “cravat” S-wrench last Sunday (they also have flash), and got a little spike of false recognition, then realized Bonney didn’t make those (I think). Price was good, but I wasn’t in the mood to double my cravat wrench collection, and left it behind. Some day, I’m sure, I’ll figure out who made them, and regret not buying it. When I got home, I saw that the unpurchased one had a clearer part number on it, but I hadn’t taken a photo.
I had my hand on what I call a “cravat” S-wrench last Sunday (they also have flash), and got a little spike of false recognition, then realized Bonney didn’t make those (I think). Price was good, but I wasn’t in the mood to double my cravat wrench collection, and left it behind. Some day, I’m sure, I’ll figure out who made them, and regret not buying it. When I got home, I saw that the unpurchased one had a clearer part number on it, but I hadn’t taken a photo.
LessorSon, here are my letter-wrenches I've found so for at the mill (A, D, E, E, J, K). I have two "E" wrenches, both in great shape. PM me your address, and I'll send you one of the "E" wrenches no charge. They didn't cast me anything!
Attachments
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
A guy I know who knows my affinity for Bonney showed me this 3/4-inch drive No. HD-1 set in the back of his van today at the flea market. It is only missing one socket (the 1" HD32). Includes nine (9) sockets, two (2) extensions, the sliding tee and the ratchet, as shown on page 44 of the 1941 catalog. In the original wrinkle brown finish box. Missing the handle. No decal. He was asking $250. It's a cool set, in exceptionally good condition, barely used, dark steel finish, but I don't have the level of interest in owning it required to justify paying that. If anyone does, PM me. He's a kooky itinerant glazier who makes his way back and forth a few times a year between Florida and NJ. It's highly probably I will run into him again.
Attachments
Oldtuleguy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2017
- Messages
- 10,458
Wow those are cool! 250 is a bit high.
Username already in use
Well-known member
Neat wartime set. If I had money to burn, I’d be into it.
I visited a set of that era, off and on for several months. The seller actually had a wartime set and a post-war set together in one big unbranded box, for $300. Eventually, I asked what a single set would cost. $150. For a couple weeks, I really thought I would buy it. I pulled together the cash, and tried to justify a 3/4dr set in terms of GJ prestige, but then I’d see a vise or chest, or something else, and spent it down again.
I finally just avoided that whole flea for a couple months, and now it appears to have sold. I saw the vendor last week, and I didn’t dare to confirm.
I have no real use for anything bigger than 3/8dr, but 1/2dr is so common and cheap, it makes for easier collecting. 3/4dr is NOT common, nor cheap.
I finally just avoided that whole flea for a couple months, and now it appears to have sold. I saw the vendor last week, and I didn’t dare to confirm.
I have no real use for anything bigger than 3/8dr, but 1/2dr is so common and cheap, it makes for easier collecting. 3/4dr is NOT common, nor cheap.
Provincial
Well-known member
I found this 4084 spinner in a box under the table at the local flea market this morning. It set me back a buck.
I notice that the rear handle is different from most of the ones I see on the internet. Mintgrun found one like this a while ago. I think the diamond-knurled steel rear handle may be the later version. This one has the "CV in a circle" stamping.
I notice that the rear handle is different from most of the ones I see on the internet. Mintgrun found one like this a while ago. I think the diamond-knurled steel rear handle may be the later version. This one has the "CV in a circle" stamping.
It’s hard to know, considering the recycling of catalog illustrations, Prov, but the 1932 catalog shows cross-hatched knurling. Parallel grooves doesn’t show up till 1937 (maybe 1934 - the single illustration fully showing a speeder isn’t quite clear) and persists through the late 1940s.
Last edited:
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
That's what I told him. He doesn't really curry in collectibles. He's basing his price on used user rationale. He is making a killing buying vintage tools at flea markets here for peanuts and selling them for low retail to off the books mechanics in Florida. He's been doing it for a few years now. Mainly chrome, mainly =V=, Snap-on and SK. But those kinds of scramblers are usually after metric. Which was the angle I tried to use to talk him down.
Do you mean it's the same set?
Your other thoughts and UNAIU's are similar to mine. I was thinking it would be nice to have, I would beat my chest here for a week, and admire it on the Bonney shelf for a long time, but probably have a hard time getting that money back at some future date on resale.
I don’t have a 4084 like yours, but I have two knurl caps (no shaft grips, plus the profile of the cap is different), and two half-n-half (the shaft grip is ribbed, but the cap is knurled) . The two knurls have the embedded shield logo and the CV circle; the half-n-halfs have plain Bonney with no CV-circle. I think the half-n-halfs may be a transitional or perhaps a wartime compromise. The rotating shaft grip is also on some extensions, so presumably, they made at least twice as many of those as caps, and they could have simply eliminated it on the extensions to supply more speeders. Maybe they had to source caps in too much of a hurry to worry about matching them to the shaft grips?
EDIT - I realize I haven’t demonstrated solid evidence. My embedded shield examples don’t have the flat-topped cap.
EDIT - I realize I haven’t demonstrated solid evidence. My embedded shield examples don’t have the flat-topped cap.
Last edited:
No - the set I saw had no era-correct box, and it was cleaner. Mick had it at Qtown selling it “for somebody else.” Maybe he still has it, but I didn’t see it the past two weekends.
Exactly.
Ricky Joe
Well-known member
I consistently lose money on resale. If I want it, it is gold. If I have it, it has mysteriously turned brown. Yeah, that brown!
Raineman
Well-known member
X2 here.
X3
It's why I pretty much gave up on resale many years ago. I buy what I want, to fill a set or use. And I don't worry about how much the Mrs. will get when I pass. I do give away some stuff to people who I know will appreciate a piece. But mostly I buy for me.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
I've been running my hobby in the black for quite some time, but I think it's primarily a function of source (I am fortunate to live near some excellent flea markets, so I am buying very low) and time.
There are tools that I buy strictly and explicitly to flip, to bankroll my "keeper" buying, but they are chosen and acquired strictly and explicitly for their resale value, with that math in mind, and I flip them immediately for that reason.
There are also tools that I buy with the intention of "keeping" in the Lugzsonian (researching, displaying, showing off, and proudly admiring them and my good aesthetics and fortune in having found and preserved them) forever, but the fondness wears off or my interests and desires shift and I end up passing them on to other collectors. Like the tools I am expressly buying to flip, they are being bought and sold within the same general timeframe (a few years, not a few decades), so their market value is retained.
But there are certainly tools that are deeper keepers that I will never, ever sell. I am only 61. Realistically, I have fifteen maybe twenty or so years in me, God willing. Someone - either Mrs. Lugz, perhaps, or the Offspringz, is probably going to lose some money on their resale as the market for antique and vintage tools shifts or wanes. As all the old tool buying jokes go. But it won't be me.
1938-1946. If I could discern the 2-letter date code, it could be dated to a specific month and year.
Fantastic, thanks.
I can't see Any other marking on it. Where would the 2 latter date code be?
The letter codes are forged-in (raised), not stamped. They can be at either end, either side, near the rings. The first letter will be A-L; the second, M-Z. They can be joined by several small dots and/or a larger X- or V-shape. Unfortunately, they can be obliterated in the finishing process or by subsequent wear.
Thanks.
No trace of anything like that left u fortunately, but always good to learn about these things.
I didn't know the make when I bought it, had to look it up when I got home.
It just looked good quality and felt really nice in the hand so I bought it.
Probably my favourite spanner!
Just nice to handle.
I've kept my eyes open for more over the 5 years since but never seen any.
Old Radar
Well-known member
I've been running my hobby in the black for quite some time, but I think it's primarily a function of source (I am fortunate to live near some excellent flea markets, so I am buying very low) and time.
There are tools that I buy strictly and explicitly to flip, to bankroll my "keeper" buying, but they are chosen and acquired strictly and explicitly for their resale value, with that math in mind, and I flip them immediately for that reason.
There are also tools that I buy with the intention of "keeping" in the Lugzsonian (researching, displaying, showing off, and proudly admiring them and my good aesthetics and fortune in having found and preserved them) forever, but the fondness wears off or my interests and desires shift and I end up passing them on to other collectors. Like the tools I am expressly buying to flip, they are being bought and sold within the same general timeframe (a few years, not a few decades), so their market value is retained.
But there are certainly tools that are deeper keepers that I will never, ever sell. I am only 61. Realistically, I have fifteen maybe twenty or so years in me, God willing. Someone - either Mrs. Lugz, perhaps, or the Offspringz, is probably going to lose some money on their resale as the market for antique and vintage tools shifts or wanes. As all the old tool buying jokes go. But it won't be me.
I'm much the same as Lugz. I started keeping a yearly accounting and so far this year I've purchased 1065 tools, spending $1165. In my simplified accounting, I classify everything a "tool", from a 100+ pound vise to a 1/4" socket. I've sold exactly 38 tools for a profit of $1295 which leaves me with $130 in the kitty and 1027 free tools.
Oldtuleguy
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2017
- Messages
- 10,458
Pretty good! I usually just spend money on tools....
Ricky Joe
Well-known member
If you want to try to make a set, I have several.