The Curious Copper Caper

[DadsTools]

I have a copper-coated Williams Superrench combo somewhere with the forged raised lettering. I'll have to dig it out of the heap and post a pic, just wanted to report they do exist too.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I posted these on the Auto Kit thread, but they are pertinent here too. As this thread demonstrates, copper plating, coatings, and washes were used as a preservative or rust prevention finish in the primitive vintage era. This auto kit set is more proof of that. The largest of these FRANKLIN wrenches is stamped "RUST PROOFED" and the copper coating on all the wrenches (more evident on some than others) seems to be what it alludes to.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

RagTopTA posted a nice example of a Plomb KOP-R-KLAD Safety Wrench on the Plomb thread, links here and here.

 

[RagTopTA]

Thansk for linking to this thread Lugs ill post the pics here. and thanks for the info on it! Now to look for more! I really think its neat that the catalog says they are only obtainable from the factory with a 10 day lead time! So, Im imagining the original owner making a trip to the Plomb factory!

 

[DadsTools]

As Santa said of the M&Ms....

They DO exist!

Sure it wasn't copper plated by somebody's mom to give away as an award???

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I forgot I had this Herbrand copper-coated 1725 DOE wrench. You can see where it's wearing off. Shown with a natural steel Herbrand 1723 DOE wrench for comparison purposes.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Flea find Williams DBE today. Hardly any remnants on the shank. But the head shows it best.

 

[RubiconJK]

Thansk for linking to this thread Lugs ill post the pics here. and thanks for the info on it! Now to look for more! I really think its neat that the catalog says they are only obtainable from the factory with a 10 day lead time! So, Im imagining the original owner making a trip to the Plomb factory!

Cross posting a link to the Plomb thread for my recent acquisition of a Plomb 1036 KOP-R-KLAD DBE. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8809748&postcount=10077

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nice find!

 

[RubiconJK]

Nice find!

Thanks Lugz. I don't think this wrench has ever been used!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

It's neat the way the copper coating gets inside the marking and makes it bolder.

 

[Jacobs976]

Was going through some of my triples to re-home soon and found this Williams 3/4 drive 1-1/8 socket again. It has the stone washed(think that's the right term, no mirror finish just ran through a tumbler to deburr) chrome on the lettering and lines and a little left on the inside of the square along with streaks of copper but everything else is copper plated. Seen alot of use, hex is mirror polish steel.

Would imagine if this was originally fully chrome plated the plating was about as thin as the gold plating on fake jewelry. Would pull the chrome off with just dragging it over sandpaper with no pressure. Figured it might've been plated at a bare minimum to preserve copper and/or chrome while still providing some coating or something. Regardless it might be a good example of light plating.

 

[MFBown]

I found this old thread because I got an older wrench today that is copper plated. I have another clear case that I got recently. Someone up there had asked if anyone else had copper plated tools, so I’ll post them.

One is a Herbrand 1/2”x9/16” tappet wrench. It had a thin nickel coating over it that has mostly worn off. I’m guessing this is from the 40s.

The other is a Thorsen 3/8” open-head ratchet. You can see that the shroud, which is chrome plated, has a copper undercoat. Not sure when this was from, as they were made this way a long time. But I don’t think copper base coats were used much in the 50s.

 

[Provincial]

Maybe the late 30's, when money was tight, the expensive nickel coating would be skimped to keep costs down? By 1940, business was picking up to meet demand from WWII.

 

[MFBown]

Maybe the late 30's, when money was tight, the expensive nickel coating would be skimped to keep costs down? By 1940, business was picking up to meet demand from WWII.

That would make sense. I was surprised at how much the nickel coating has worn. I've never seen another wrench with the plating worn this much - and it's uniform, not in splotches like you'd usually see. Interesting.

 

[snapmom]

Date code ranges for Snap on/Blue point that I have. 1944-67. May go into 70s

 

[d42jeep]

I posted this S-K Chrome drag link bit in the S-K thread. The entire finish is copper plating with no evidence of nickel or chrome.
-Don