This has come up a few times before here.
Walden and Bonney both used the name. Walden first used it on welded, non-detachable socket era 3-way offset socket wrenches (which sort of resemble a tomahawk). They used it again in the 1950’s on a 1/4-inch drive hex set (7 socket wrenches and a spinner in a red case with the name and picture of a tomahawk on it). Walden actually sued Blackhawk when they formed for using a name that was too much like Tomahawk. Bonney used it on a multi-tool (hammer, hatchet, punch, tack claw thingie).
Whether Walden or Bonney used it on DOE’s is unknown.
User name already in use posted a whole set of the DOE’s in d42jeep’s “Mystery” thread. And he posted some stunning comparisons to Barcalo from the 50’s or 60’s.
If you type “Tomahawk” in the search function on Tools Archive, the search function on Alloy Artifacts, and the Advanced Search function here on GJ, you will find articles, blurbs, threads, and photos of everything I summarized above. EDIT: Except for the hex set. You’ll find an old thread here on GJ with a photo of the case and no ID. I found it in a 1954 Walden catalog.
What I am trying to do in my comparison is to find the closest match to the geometry of the tomahawk marked wrench with examples of brands that were also known to to make contract end wrenches for other brands.
Because there is so little info out there on any significant presence in the marketplace of an established Tomahawk brand end wrench, I'm working under what I feel is a very safe assumption that the Tomahawk was a contract wrench, perhaps either a brand of a small local chain (if it were a national chain, we'd know a lot more about them), or an offbrand created by the mfr itself to sell to individual stores (like mom & pop operations) as a ready-to-sell private label.
I compared the geometry of numerous contract mfr wrenches, both with online photos and with hard examples I have in my own inventory. I did study the Barcalo very closely, as I agree there are some strong similarities. But after reviewing all the available data, I had to conclude that the Barcalo wrenches are more squared off on the edges (more of a rectilinear cross-section profile) than the Tomahawk example. And I looked at a LOT of Barcalo, which are one of the most common vintage tools I see in my area behind Craftsman stuff and the recessed panel Indestro (signed or unsigned).
This doesn't mean that it can't be a Barcalo. But if so, it would be an atypical geometry for them. Barcalo did make a lot of design variations over the years, and they did do a lot of contract work. It certainly looks like it could have been made by them. The stamped lettering certainly has a lot in common with some Barcalo wrenches.
In the end, I felt that the contract mfr whose geometry was
most consistently similar to the Tomahawk was Vlchek, especially the one in my first photo.
For comparison, I'm posting a photo of the most similar Barcalo I could find, even though it's an atypical geometry compared with just about every other Barcalo I've examined. Check this one out too and see what you think.
