Tell me about Ace taps & dies

[NHBandit]

I spent some time today organizing the tap & die sets that were my dads from the 50s and came across an interesting observation. His small Blue Point set had a couple Ace brand taps which didn't surprise me since I'm sure he broke a couple over the years and that's what he replaced them with. However the big set that starts at 1/2" and goes up from there is ALL Ace brand taps and dies. Same style wooden box as the small set, same "Blue Point by Snap On" decal on the cover of the box, but the taps & dies themselves are marked "Ace". They are all US made and look to be the same quality as the Blue point stuff in the small set. What gives ? Doing a quick Ebay search only comes up with tools from Ace Hardware stores which is not what these are. These are at least 60 years old.

 

[crewchief888]

i have a set of ACE taps & dies in a blow molded box.

stole them from an old boss in '85


still have the original tap handle,
unlike the 12 or 15 SO tap handles that seem to break when i look crosseyed at them

 

[rusty65]

I think they were made by Hanson but don't quote me on that.

 

[Provincial]

Ace was the Hanson brand. I have a set from the late 1960's in the blow-molded case.

They are good quality taps. All the ones I have seen are carbon steel. For tapping stainless steel I would not use these, but they work well on mild steel and cast iron. I have used them on aluminum, and they work fine for that if you use the right lubricant and a sharp tap. I only run them by hand.

For machine tapping or stainless steel I use high speed steel taps.

Enjoy your dad's tap sets! They will serve you well for your lifetime if you take care of them.

 

[NHBandit]

Enjoy your dad's tap sets! They will serve you well for your lifetime if you take care of them.

Way ahead of ya. Dad has been gone since 1963 and I've been using them since the early 70s. My son will get my tools one day and hopefully will take as much care of them as I have. Hell I've been a grandpa for 18 years already but so far my grandchildren are both girls. Thanks for all the help guys. I just thought it was odd that the large Snap On set has ALL Ace marked taps & dies in it. The die handle is clearly exactly the same as the small Blue Point handle I have in another set I own and that may very well be the only thing original to that box.

 

[454ragtop]

Pretty sure Ace-Hanson was the OEM for Snap On, at least the older stuff. The ones in the molded plastic cases are a dead give away, exact same other than the color of the plastic.
Jim

 

[jeffmoss26]

Those are some good old taps!!

 

[Kinsey691]

I got a ton of ace of ace taps some broken wonder if ace would warranty them out

 

[mbshop]

My first set was from snap on labled blue point from the 70s. Second set was much later and labled ace. They are very good quality and have lasted all these years of use.

 

[DWise]

My Ace Tap & Die set, made by Hanson.