Spreading the Bonney affliction!
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Private Lugnutz
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That's a nice find. I have never seen one before. Probably made for them by Reiff & Nestor, or JAW, depending on the age.
Private Lugnutz
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Really? Which ones? Postwar?
EDIT: Belay that. I just checked a few. Found it in the 1951. I don't ever remember seeing one in any earlier cats, but I checked the 1933, 1939, 1941, and 1946 just to be sure. It's not in those, unless I missed it. The branding on the tool in the 1951 cat looks like the Bonney marking with the slightly larger B and Y. Yours could be later, but who knows. My Reiff & Nestors and my Blue-Point (made by R&N) are all wartime or earlier, but R&N made them for a long time, and then JAW appropriated the design and made a crapload of them, too.
EDIT: Belay that. I just checked a few. Found it in the 1951. I don't ever remember seeing one in any earlier cats, but I checked the 1933, 1939, 1941, and 1946 just to be sure. It's not in those, unless I missed it. The branding on the tool in the 1951 cat looks like the Bonney marking with the slightly larger B and Y. Yours could be later, but who knows. My Reiff & Nestors and my Blue-Point (made by R&N) are all wartime or earlier, but R&N made them for a long time, and then JAW appropriated the design and made a crapload of them, too.
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Here are two:
Gray-Bonney : Catalogue No. 46 by Gray-Bonney Tool Co., Ltd.; https://archive.org/details/GrayBonneyCatalogueNo46/page/n25/mode/2up
Gray-Bonney : Catalog No. 57 by Gray-Bonney Tool Co., Ltd.; https://archive.org/details/GrayBonneyCatalogNo571957/page/n35/mode/2up
Gray-Bonney : Catalogue No. 46 by Gray-Bonney Tool Co., Ltd.; https://archive.org/details/GrayBonneyCatalogueNo46/page/n25/mode/2up
Gray-Bonney : Catalog No. 57 by Gray-Bonney Tool Co., Ltd.; https://archive.org/details/GrayBonneyCatalogNo571957/page/n35/mode/2up
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Heres my Bonney No TR-1 thread file. No date on what’s left of the packaging.
It's remarkable that any packaging remains. Those are some damn sharp teeth!
Private Lugnutz
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That could be Reif & Nestor or it could be JAWCO. I suspect JAWCO. That "8-in-1" on the box with the quotes smacks of JAWCO's marketing slogan, appropriated, like the tool and everything (I am not exaggerating!) else surrounding it, from Reif & Nestor, in Lykens, PA. I've gone off on this before. The whole thing just stinks to high heaven.
Reif & Nestor trademarked the name NU-TRIX for a 4-sided thread file in 1927, patented the 4-sided file in 1928, re-upped the TM in 1938, and made and sold them for decades prior to and during WWII.
Some time after the war JAW Mfg Co established itself in Reading, PA., started making the EXACT SAME tool, which was extremely popular during the war, and they had the nerve to call it the NU-THRED (admittedly, a much better name than Reif & Nestor's, but clearly a direct copy effort!) in the same pitch/TPI. JAWCO TM'd NU-THREAD in 1979 and claimed first use in 1946. Shamelessly, they even copied Reif & Nestor advertising!
SCscoutguy
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Oldtuleguy
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Sure looks like it
Private Lugnutz
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Grabbed this CP3 at the flea this morning. Believe it or not, it's only the second BONNEY screwdriver I have ever found in the wild. I was hoping for wartime, but de-rusting of the shank revealed the dratted postwar patent. Checking my notes, I apparently have a wartime Phillips #3 from UNAIU in a trade somewhere, but I can't find it. Not in my Bonney box, not in my GMTK, and not in my screwdriver drawer. It'll turn up. Meanwhile, probably because I've never found one before, I never paid much attention to the model number. I am guessing "C" for Composite, and "P" for Phillips. The "3" is obvious. Only fair condition. Bunch of wrench bite marks. But I like the deep amber color.
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mritchie77
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Some Bonney sockets and crows feet from a recent toolbox purchase.
Those first-edition 3/8dr sockets are sweet! Actually, so are the crows feet. Must have been an old box. I see them in the 1932 catalog, p27.
EDIT:
Oops, maybe not. Those are second- (CV plus knurl) and third- (CV gone, wartime) editions!
Second-editions are hard enough to come by, though: I’ve only found five. What I take to be first-edition has no knurl (far right).
EDIT:
Oops, maybe not. Those are second- (CV plus knurl) and third- (CV gone, wartime) editions!
Second-editions are hard enough to come by, though: I’ve only found five. What I take to be first-edition has no knurl (far right).
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mritchie77
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It was an old cantilever that I was informed by Lugz to be a wartime Kennedy.
AntiqueBen
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I just ran across this thread. I haven't had time to look through it yet so I apologize if I'm asking a repeat question. I just bought a Bonney ball peen hammer. I haven't cleaned it up yet but I would guess it's more than 20oz for sure. Once I clean it up I'll post some pics. I don't see much about Bonney ball peens online & AA doesn't list or show any Bonney hammers at all. Are Bonney ball peens less common than their other types of hammers?
Mikeske
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I know nothing about the ball peen hammers from Bonney. That is one of the few items I did not buy in 1983 when I got my hand tool set as I already had several different size ball peen hammers.
Bonney ballpein hammers are not common.
AFAIK, Bonney never manufactured hammers. All the Bonney hammers I have seen are rebranded from Stanley, as are most of the screwdrivers (some from Forsberg). Pliers came from more sources (Utica, Crescent, Champion DeArment).
As a manufacturer, Bonney was most notable through the 20th century for pioneering steel alloys, forging wrenches, sockets and drive tools. Early on, it also made vises, and continues to forge pipe fittings and valves worldwide today.
(I really should get those soft faces out of there - recent discussions on stinkdriver handles have convinced me the plastic offgassing corrodes steel.)
AFAIK, Bonney never manufactured hammers. All the Bonney hammers I have seen are rebranded from Stanley, as are most of the screwdrivers (some from Forsberg). Pliers came from more sources (Utica, Crescent, Champion DeArment).
As a manufacturer, Bonney was most notable through the 20th century for pioneering steel alloys, forging wrenches, sockets and drive tools. Early on, it also made vises, and continues to forge pipe fittings and valves worldwide today.
(I really should get those soft faces out of there - recent discussions on stinkdriver handles have convinced me the plastic offgassing corrodes steel.)
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Private Lugnutz
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I have found a few in the wild over the years. I posted a 16-ozer in post # 1678, on pg 42, a 12-ozer in post # 2056, on pg 52, and an 8-ozer, er, somewhere. I'll post a group shot later. There is a PH1 2-ozer and a PH17 1-1/2 oz. soft face hammer inside my large midget set, post # 2986 on page 75. And I found a PH2 4-ozer more recently, post # 3335 on pg 84.
But I would agree with LS and have nothing else to add to his excellent gist.
But I would agree with LS and have nothing else to add to his excellent gist.
!!? If you're curious what other threads you might not know about, and you dont want to leave their discovery up to chance, consult the A to Z Index of Threads by brand and type in the Sticky at the top of the vintage forum main page.
BTW, what different members mean when they say “Bonney” is complicated by a long history of breakup and acquisition. CS Bonney seems to have started and sold more than one entity with his name on it. Fairly stable under Durham ownership (my main interest) 1906-1953, then division and sale of production facilities, product lines, and branding get quite complicated through the 1990s.
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Private Lugnutz
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..., which a group InfoGraphic is attempting to summarize in this post linked here!
AntiqueBen
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Here is a few pics. Cleaned up nice. I couldn't turn down the $4.50 price tag. Handle looks original & cleaned up nice after some BLO. Side by side with my Stanley 40ozer, the similarities are very noticeable.
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Raineman
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Mikeske
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Getting ready to hammer it home
Oldtuleguy
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Pretty sweet!
So I picked up this RF-81-B set online. This pic is from my 1947 Catalog but it does show up in other year catalogs.. My set probably is late '41ish to early '45ish. It is the poop brown colored box and it is wartime with black ox tools. Most of the Bonney stuff was here, missing about 5 pieces in which I had to add to it. I had the 3 wrenches to add, 2804, 2805, and 2806c. Wasn't used much. There were some other brand tools , notably an Armstrong Tee socket. All had wartime finishes. Ill have better pics after I clean it up a bit. The water decal is basically 98% all gone on the front of the lid.
Ricky Joe
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Nice set! I have the drive handle and a 9/16” square socket. Also some eight point.Can't wait for this bad boy to show up!!!
Now I have to slowly piece together a "K" set for the brown box i got!
My recent purchase has been this unblemished T20 ratchet complete with drive plug.
Better still is the date code, HV which take to be 1930
I’ve shown it alongside a T35 which may be 5 years younger.
Better still is the date code, HV which take to be 1930
I’ve shown it alongside a T35 which may be 5 years younger.
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Mr.Ric
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Private Lugnutz
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Nice sets, Mr. Ric. I have quite a few Bonney wrench sets in pouches (including ignition, DOE, and tappet) and the condition of the golden markings on the No. 29A set is the best I have ever seen! I would love to see close-ups of all the markings on the mini-pliers set. If the pliers you are not showing (handles showing, business end in its pocket) are ignition or parrot head type, I'd bet my next paycheck that was supplied by K-D. Bonney did not make their own piers, and I have a K-D set just like that. Same pliers, same pouch. Link to them in the K-D thread here.
Mr.Ric
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Yes indeed they are!
Private Lugnutz
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Nice! Thanks for comfirming.
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I cleaned up the War- time 81-B refrig set i got and added the appropriate stuff to complete it. I need 2 small 1/4 dr sockets as all I had was a post '47 chrome plated "usa" socket and I Plvmb wartime place filler. Also put a layer of the tool drawer liner as well.
