tool ID ??

[linwood]

I'm new here, not working today, jacking around in the shop. I figured what a good day to post a few questions I've had for months. Been looking for these online and haven't found anything on GJ or google. Cool looking wrenches, the questions are how old? and who makes them? The back side has no markings.
I found them at an estate sale and the guys there knew nothing.

thank you
great forum

 

[drivesitfar]

Linwood: welcome to the group and the vintage guys group. looks like you found some great wrenches and sorry i can't say who made them. i know they are old and even though i might own thousands of wrenches i can't say i own one of those. maybe some of the guys that own them or know about them will post to let you know.

congrats on grabbing them because you are right they are COOL looking.

 

[ken w.]

Barcalo tools from Buffalo , NY made a wrench like those. The ones that I have seen had the Barcalo name on them.

 

[lbgradwell]

Barcalo tools from Buffalo , NY made a wrench like those. The ones that I have seen had the Barcalo name on them.

+1. Barcalo...

 

[linwood]

Bingo! thanks guys. Did the ol Google search, nothing came up. Hit Ebay and there it was. Barcalo Buffalo.

Why wouldn't they stamp their name on it? I have a old Snap-On ratchet that it looks like someone ground the Snap-On off it.. Did companies make their guys grind them off, so they were not promoting the tool company?
What year do you think?

I"ll keep searching on the why and the year.
thanks again

 

[Private Lugnutz]

linwood,
Barcalo (among other Mfgrs) was a contract maker for Western Auto Stores and others. You see a lot of their earlier styles of DOEs and DBEs (convex; raised panel), just as distinctively recognizable as Barcalo, also marked with nothing but DROP FORGED or FORGED USA. This is the first geometric pattern I have seen without their branding.

 

[drivesitfar]

LW: Plvmb had to grind off their name off of their tools when they lost a lawsuit and then changed their name to Proto.

my guess most of the tools that have ground off names were owners not wanting them stolen or the theives were grinding off prior owner's names.

nice to hear some of the members knew what brand your wrenches were/are.

 

[linwood]

Never thought about the stealing part. I find the history of the companies and the companies they supplied, fascinating. Seem like some guys I know just want cheap, disposable tools. I like the ones with our history behind them

 

[r_olson_06]

I go plus one on the baraclo. I think I have a similar wrench somewhere I will have to dig and see if it stamped.

The snap on ratchet having the marks ground off I know that pawn shops will not accept tools with ground off logos due to the possibility of theft. I wonder if it would void the warranty as well

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

 

[ken w.]

There are other wrenches similar to these that are marked with another makers name that I can't recall at the moment. I know I have a few in the garage.

 

[lbgradwell]

Bridgeport?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Bridgeport made DOEs with a geometric pattern and an X in the middle of the shank but the panels were raised. Hazet from Germany went geometric crazy in this same era and they were concave panels like these, but these are exact pattern matches for the Barcalo. Edit- My money is still on Barcalo third party contract production.

 

[linwood]

The is one on Ebay that has the exact wrench that is marked Barcalo buffalo. Does anyone know the time period? I'm guessing that they were not made to long if there isn't a lot of these around ??

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I don't know, but unless it was parallel production to the convex (so-called "Double Grip") pattern and the raised oval panel pattern, which seems unlikely to me, it was NOT the late 1930's through 1945. That style wrench is NOT shown in the January 1941 catalog.

If I had to speculate, I would say early to mid 1930's, when the Hazet and BHM geometric pattern wrenches were apparently made, and when the Art Deco influence on industrial design was peaking.

That's when Barcalo made these Crescent-type adjustable wrenches, with concave geometric patterns in the handle:

 

[lbgradwell]

Edit- My money is still on Barcalo third party contract production.

The is one on Ebay that has the exact wrench that is marked Barcalo buffalo.

Yes, your unmarked wrench in the first post is irrefutably Barcalo.

When I said Bridgeport above, I was speculating on the brand Ken was trying to remember...

 

[linwood]

Ah sorry ibgradwell, and thanks for the info lugnutz.
I was reading on another forum, that Barcalo made tool kits for the Military WWII Jeep. Lugnutz is that correct?

cool history

 

[d42jeep]

I don't think that Lug will mind if I post a picture of my Jeep toolset featuring Barcalo wrenches.
-Don

 

[ken w.]

The Barcalo Buffalo building is still here in Buffalo. They made the Barcalounger recliner chair.

 

[linwood]

d42jeep that is to cool, thanks for the pic

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was reading on another forum, that Barcalo made tool kits for the Military WWII Jeep. Lugnutz is that correct?

Not entirely. There were two OEMs of the standardized "jeep" (1/4-ton 4 x 4 reconnaissance car), first Willys, and then Ford. (EDIT: Before any weisenhiemer even thinks of mentioning Bantam, Budd, or Checker, note that I said "standardized.")

Thanks to tireless researchers, some of whom are my friends and colleagues, we have a lot of verified information about the suppliers of tools that went in the Willys factory toolkit, based on original factory documentation. Multiple suppliers, by the way.

Not so for Ford. No Ford factory documentation has been unearthed that identifies suppliers. A supposedly unmolested NOS toolkit was found in packaging consistent with Ford GPW markings, and its DOE wrenches were made by Barcalo and of the style (raised oval panel in the middle of the shank) shown in Don's very fine example of a GPW toolkit.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a link to another recent thread about Barcalo Buffalo.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=317237

 

[linwood]

Thank u! I thought these wrenches were cool when I found them. I'm Into Jeeps so finding out that Barcalo made tools for these kits takes this to a whole different level for me. The hunt is on!