Vintage RIDGID Pipe Wrenches

[Brian R.]

160 years between the two of them. Cleaned, painted and greased for another century.

 

[ALLFAST]

Gorgeous work my friend

 

[d42jeep]

160 years between the two of them. Cleaned, painted and greased for another century.

Here are my two Trimo monkey wrenches. A 12” example the same size as yours and a 21” one. They both have the same patent date.
-Don

 

[Brian R.]

Here are my two Trimo monkey wrenches. A 12” example the same size as yours and a 21” one. They both have the same patent date.
-Don

Love them Don! I wanted a sharp and smooth jaw wrench hence my inclusion of the Trimo on the Ridgid thread. They look so nice together. Your 12" Trimo is clean with the original paint. Wish mine had a hanging loop.

 

[Brian R.]

160 years between the two of them. Cleaned, painted and greased for another century.

Thanks Allfast! I use a pretty gentle method. Degrease with hot water and POR15 Marine Clean with a toothbrush scrub. Then I soak in Evaporust for a half day using scrubs of 0000 steel wool to help things along. Basic Rustoleum satin black goes on the painted areas. I like it because it dries quick and I can touch it up easily. I then do a slurry of cold galvanizing compound and Break Free CLP applied liberally with 0000 steel wool. This puts a micro layer of polished zinc on the exposed steel. I just finished the Trimo but the Ridgid has been hanging in my drafty garage for a year without any flash rust.

 

[Brian R.]

Oh! And Birchwood Casey gun blue on the adjuster nuts.

 

[BreeStephany]

If anyone needs a hook jaw for a 24" Ridgid wrench, feel free to message me. Free to a good home.
"B-4-4" date code. Cleaned, all rust removed and oiled up. The jaws are sharp and have plenty of life left in them.
I found it in a rusty & crusty pile at a salvage shop in Seattle sitting outside, covered in rust, so there is some pitting and the stamping of the letters aren't perfect, but the important parts are in good shape!

 

[jeffmoss26]

Got this one today

 

[d42jeep]

If anyone needs a hook jaw for a 24" Ridgid wrench, feel free to message me. Free to a good home.
"B-4-4" date code. Cleaned, all rust removed and oiled up. The jaws are sharp and have plenty of life left in them.
I found it in a rusty & crusty pile at a salvage shop in Seattle sitting outside, covered in rust, so there is some pitting and the stamping of the letters aren't perfect, but the important parts are in good shape!

Here is a replacement jaw for a 24” pipe wrench if anyone needs one of those. I don’t have a 24”
-Don

 

[jeffmoss26]

Got this one today

the jaw is marked D-11-2

 

[cody1325]

12" and this absolute monster of a 24"

Both were my Granddad's originally. While he had some cheap pipe wrenches, most were Rigid. I can recall using the 24" in cases where stuff wouldn't budge.

PS: I saw an overpriced 4" one at a local indoor flea market/antique mall. Any info on these? Smallest they make today is 6".

 

[d42jeep]

I’ve never seen a 4” Ridgid. Too bad you didn’t get a pIcture.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I’ve never seen a 4” Ridgid

I've never seen a 4" pipe wrench from any OEM/brand.

This subject has come up before on the pipe wenches thread, linked here, if you want to delve further, @cody1325 .

 

[AntiqueBen]

I’ve never seen a 4”

Here's my 6" Rigid. It's less than 6" when it's closed all the way. Maybe that's why sometimes people think they see a 4" when it's really a 6" closed all the way.

 

[d42jeep]

I found this 1945 dated 18” Ridgid at a yard sale today.
-Don

 

[jeffmoss26]

Here is the one I got at the restore a week or so ago, I cleaned it up yesterday.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Another one from last weekend

 

[jeffmoss26]

14” wrench I got today at the restore

 

[jeffmoss26]

Not a pipe wrench but it is vintage Ridgid

 

[four.cycle]

Ridgid 814 14 inch aluminum pipe wrench

 

[d42jeep]

Those are my go to pipe wrenches since I’m not as young as I used to be and they are so nice and light.
I cleaned up my new 1945 heavy duty pipe wrench today.
-Don

 

[DAVE94LIGHTNING]

My collection. Not sure of vintage but I’m assuming 60s and maybe earlier. Rigid, Dunlap and Erie Tool Works

 

[DAVE94LIGHTNING]

 

[AreBeeBee]

I'm fond of 6" and 8" pipe wrenches, which I find more useful than a standard adjustable wrench (crescent-type or auto). Those are what you need when parallel jaws are called for. But the smaller pipe wrenches are ideal for tightening/loosening knurled collars on floor lamps, for example. Lots of other uses. You could use pliers for much of this, but the pipe wrench tightens its grip (once set) as you torque on the handle. Easier.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Got these yesterday

 

[jesmed1]

Picked this 24" wrench up yesterday for $20. Date code B-10-7.

 

[d42jeep]

I posted this 1946 14” Ridgid I found at a Berkeley moving sale yesterday on the pipe wrench thread. Here it is as found.
I cleaned it up some.
-Don

 

[truffle]

Okay boys, late to the party here. This might be my Great Great Grandfather's. He was a machinist during the war. I have some of his levels and squares from the time but this one has a soft spot in my heart as it's been used by me to do the same stuff my Great grandfather and Grandfather did. He managed the LST Factory in Pittsburgh while his 8 boys went to war 7 coming back. Grandad drove a truck in the war and was a GAS Welder upon civilian life. Tell me this thing was in the lst factory....

 

[d42jeep]

Welcome to the Garage Journal. Your last picture shows a 1945 date on the jaw.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks for contributing to the thread, @truffle. Love the story and the photos. My father was a WWII vet. Navy. Destroyer ****** in the Pacific. A few of his brothers, my uncles, fought in Europe, and one of them landed in Normandy. I have always been interested in the war, and vintage tools, and when the two come together, it's the sweet spot.

This might be my Great Great Grandfather's. He was a machinist during the war. I have some of his levels and squares from the time but this one has a soft spot in my heart as it's been used by me to do the same stuff my Great grandfather and Grandfather did. He managed the LST Factory in Pittsburgh.

If I am reading this right, that's your Grandfather in uniform in the photos, and his Grandfather was the machinist and factory manager? Pretty cool. Which one? Neville Island (Davo?) or Ambridge? I'm curious how old you and your father are.

Tell me this thing was in the LST factory....

It well might've been. All of the features match the 1945 date code that @d42jeep pointed out. (They were typically finished in black enamel prior to 1948, and there's a possibility some were just natural steel, but those reddish orange paint remnants I see on the handle, which was a postwar finish, may have been a safety thing, or one of your forebears painted it later.) Ridge had thirteen (13) contracts for pipe wrenches and other tools with the Navy during WWII, and one of them was still being executed in April 1945. If the Navy was buying some of them for the LST factories in Pittsburgh, which is not at all out of the question, but I have no way of knowing from the WPB records I have, it didn't have far to travel. It would've been supplied after D-Day, though, well after the hundreds of LSTs splashed into the Ohio river on their way to Normandy. EDIT: LST's were used in the Pacific, too, of course, and we were still mopping up over there well into 1945.

 

[truffle]

Thanks for contributing to the thread, @truffle. Love the story and the photos. My father was a WWII vet. Navy. Destroyer ****** in the Pacific. A few of his brothers, my uncles, fought in Europe, and one of them landed in Normandy. I have always been interested in the war, and vintage tools, and when the two come together, it's the sweet spot.

If I am reading this right, that's your Grandfather in uniform in the photos, and his Grandfather was the machinist and factory manager? Pretty cool. Which one? Neville Island (Davo?) or Ambridge? I'm curious how old you and your father are.

It well might've been. All of the features match the 1945 date code that @d42jeep pointed out. (They were typically finished in black enamel prior to 1948, and there's a possibility some were just natural steel, but those reddish orange paint remnants I see on the handle, which was a postwar finish, may have been a safety thing, or one of your forebears painted it later.) Ridge had thirteen (13) contracts for pipe wrenches and other tools with the Navy during WWII, and one of them was still being executed in April 1945. If the Navy was buying some of them for the LST factories in Pittsburgh, which is not at all out of the question, but I have no way of knowing from the WPB records I have, it didn't have far to travel. It would've been supplied after D-Day, though, well after the hundreds of LSTs splashed into the Ohio river on their way to Normandy. EDIT: LST's were used in the Pacific, too, of course, and we were still mopping up over there well into 1945.

Thanks so much for the information. My grandfather pictured with the Dodge, landed on Normandy 2 weeks after D-Day. He was born 12-25-1921. So that sweet picture at the trading post Was his birthday. My dad is retirement age. I believe he was at Ambridge but I'd have to confirm with my old man. I swear it was Charleroi. His brother quite possibly transported your father's ship, he was a heavily decorated with medals. They blew the poor belly turret off at one point heavily damaged and it back somehow.

These men are now gone. My father is left to tell piece of stories I'll never know. I'm just honored to have a piece of history I can use and pass on to my boys. That wrench helped win the war. I'm a Pittsburgh fan all day long.. not for sports teams. But for every team effort we had to make this country great. We made everything here 100 years ago now those cities are crumbling ghettos. Sad. The brick they stacked and the iron they cast will soon be the only story left they have to tell.

 

[truffle]

Thanks for contributing to the thread, @truffle. Love the story and the photos. My father was a WWII vet. Navy. Destroyer ****** in the Pacific. A few of his brothers, my uncles, fought in Europe, and one of them landed in Normandy. I have always been interested in the war, and vintage tools, and when the two come together, it's the sweet spot.

If I am reading this right, that's your Grandfather in uniform in the photos, and his Grandfather was the machinist and factory manager? Pretty cool. Which one? Neville Island (Davo?) or Ambridge? I'm curious how old you and your father are.

It well might've been. All of the features match the 1945 date code that @d42jeep pointed out. (They were typically finished in black enamel prior to 1948, and there's a possibility some were just natural steel, but those reddish orange paint remnants I see on the handle, which was a postwar finish, may have been a safety thing, or one of your forebears painted it later.) Ridge had thirteen (13) contracts for pipe wrenches and other tools with the Navy during WWII, and one of them was still being executed in April 1945. If the Navy was buying some of them for the LST factories in Pittsburgh, which is not at all out of the question, but I have no way of knowing from the WPB records I have, it didn't have far to travel. It would've been supplied after D-Day, though, well after the hundreds of LSTs splashed into the Ohio river on their way to Normandy. EDIT: LST's were used in the Pacific, too, of course, and we were still mopping up over there well into 1945.

My only thing I can say is this thing is yellow... I remember it as a little kid being yellow... it was pretty crusty when I became a heavy equipment mechanic and it got soaked in hydraulic fluid daily, the finish wasn't modified and with the yellow being up inside the jaw way down in adjusting nut... any other paint would have fallen off in the oil I promise whatever safety yellow they used was strong. BUT There's 2 or 3 spots where there might have been a red finish. I'm still betting all my marble it was born safety yellow. Even some of the stuff I'd see in all the steel mills in the area (I use to be a into the heavy equipment repair at steel services) corresponding to that is that color yellow... I doubt it come out of Westinghouse but my great grandfather and grandfather worked there post war... where the famous Atom smasher was.

 

[jeffmoss26]

B-10-4

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Accrued conventional wisdom says 1954, Jeff.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Picked this up yesterday

 

[jeffmoss26]

Sometimes we find stuff when we aren’t even looking!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Sometimes we find stuff when we aren’t even looking!

Tiny is cool. Offset is cool. Tiny and Offset is really cool.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I found this wartime (1942) 6-incher this morning at the flea this morning. As I have pointed out before, the GMTK was issued two (2) - a 6" and a 14", and I pick them up and move them on to collectors when I can. I just sold an entire GMTK to someone in North Carolina who shall remain nameless, but I already have another partial set going and this one will go in there for now.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Picked this up from the restore.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Oops