Vintage S-K Tools

[d42jeep]

Maybe he re-purposed it.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

The new early amber handle spinner and plain finish crossbar allowed me to complete this wartime set. Once completed it moved into the basement to join the others. This set includes the 3/16” and 7/32” sockets. It doesn’t appear in the 1943 catalog but the box was obviously made for that quantity of sockets
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Estate sale finds today. A 3/8” drive Diamond flex handle and a couple of early sockets to go with it.
-Don

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Nice haul, lemme guess you payed $1 for them. Lol
-Tommy

 

[d42jeep]

The price for everything was actually a little more than I wanted to pay. Of course, that’s not unusual.

-Don

 

[1930artdeco]

Ok, just picked this ratchet up at an antique store just because the price was right. Anywho, checked the parent date and it says it was patented in 33/34. Now I don’t think the ratchet is that old, I just want to make sure it is not a modern offshore tool. Maybe the 60/70’s?

 

[d42jeep]

They used that early patent number on 3/8” drive ratchets through WW2, judging by found examples. With your ratchet appearing to be chrome plated it is likely that it is prewar. They continued to use that patent number on 1/4” drive ratchets through the S-K Wayne era. Other than the beaver tail ratchets, it would be very unusual to see that early patent number on a 1/2” drive ratchet.
-Don
The bottom ratchet in this picture is the earliest.

Wartime 3/8” drive ratchets with the early patent number.

 

[1930artdeco]

Thank you D42jeep, it is an extra and I was just curious.

Mike

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Here is my one and only. So far.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Got this today, factored out with my scientific formula of, (amt. of $ spent/amt. of items.) for 90¢.
-Tommy

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

I don’t think I’ve ever showed off my Lectrolie/S-K Lectrolite DOE set, don’t mind my $h!ty wrench holder.
-Tommy

 

[d42jeep]

I had a pretty good haul of S-K at a tool sale today. Here is what I cleaned up so far.
-Don

 

[StillTooManyHobbies]

Found this SK 9710 lug wrench at Spring Carlisle. $2 and it came home with me.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Have one just like it that can be seen in post #3,661.
-Tommy

 

[d42jeep]

Here is my slightly earlier S-K 4511.
-Don

I got tired of looking at the rusty exterior of this set so today it got sanded and painted Inside and out.
-Don

 

[Old Radar]

I'm going to have to send you a hammer and a dolly so you can knock out those dents before you paint.
(I know I don't have to send you those things because you already have the right tools. Just wondering why you don't use them--and you can't claim preservation of "character" because fresh paint abrogates that.)

 

[d42jeep]

The sad thing is that I pounded out the worst of the dents before I sprayed it. My excuse is that the box had a hard life. I should send my stuff to Don Long! His results are just excellent.
This wartime box came in the mail with 2/3 wartime finishes and 1/3 postwar tools. I really liked seeing the set number in original paint on the end of the box. Decent decal too.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Fun stuff arrived in the mail today from an eBay seller. 1/2” drive and 3/8” drive socket lots in vintage S-K boxes. The sockets allowed me to upgrade some sets and having the original boxes is just cool. All of the sockets looked to be wartime.
-Don
Upgraded my wartime 1/2” drive set with a NOS cad plated 9/16” socket.
Upgraded the 1/2” drive sockets in the wartime S-K toolbox to all matching cad plated sockets.
I kept one original socket in each box and put them in a safe place.

 

[d42jeep]

I was very happy with the S-K tools available at yesterday’s estate sale. Most of the 1/2” drive tools look to be part of a slightly prewar set, made probably in the early’40s. The speeders, extension, sliding tee, 18” flex handle and crossbar are unmarked.
The 1/4” drive tools look to be a partial S-K Chrome set from around 1939 in the original box. All of the sockets are 12 point plus a small 8 point.
I should have some spares to add to the 1/4” drive set.
-Don

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Nice pile of 1/2 drive stuff!

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks. All of the sockets went into the evaporust last night so I’ll be busy today with cleanup. I’m not sure why the ratchet looks to be cad plated since everything else is Chromed. The 9/16” socket is a later 6 point. Maybe a warranty replacement?
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here they are AE (after evaporust). I replaced a couple sockets with nicer examples and replaced the cad plated ratchet with a matching Chrome plated one.
I added a couple sockets to the S-K Chrome 1/4” drive set.
Here it is with some other slightly newer sets. The set with the repro decal is also S-K Chrome but slightly newer with some 6 point sockets. The original S-K Chrome boxes are missing the little indentations on the sides of the box tops to prevent the boxes from closing too far like the later boxes have.


-Don

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Here’s the S-K stuff from today’s auction haul. I think the 3/8 ratchet is wartime maybe?
-Tommy


Here’s my hodgepodge 1/4 set I put together with what I have, long way to go.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Fun stuff arrived in the mail today from an eBay seller. 1/2” drive and 3/8” drive socket lots in vintage S-K boxes. The sockets allowed me to upgrade some sets and having the original boxes is just cool. All of the sockets looked to be wartime.
-Don
Upgraded my wartime 1/2” drive set with a NOS cad plated 9/16” socket.
Upgraded the 1/2” drive sockets in the wartime S-K toolbox to all matching cad plated sockets.
I kept one original socket in each box and put them in a safe place.

Just wondering. Where is your safe place? lol.

 

[d42jeep]

Just wondering. Where is your safe place? lol.

Not too surprisingly, stashed in a toolbox.
-Don

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Is the ratchet wartime @d42jeep?

 

[d42jeep]

Is the ratchet wartime @d42jeep?

It’s hard to be sure from the picture but it’s not unlikely. It has the early patent number that they used on prewar and wartime 3/8” drive ratchets. If it’s cad plated, it looks like much of it is gone. Same if it was originally chrome plated, much of the plating is gone. Here is another example that it’s hard to know if it’s wartime or prewar.
-Don

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

Mine looks blotchy like that and it has the same pat. No. So probably prewar or wartime

 

[d42jeep]

Yep.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I would like to keep my new 1/2 drive set together. I ended up putting them in a tray from a GMTK McAleer box but I’m going to be on the lookout for a correct S-K box with a leather handle like one they likely came in. The 1943 S-K catalog used prewar pictures so the set shown is what I’d like to end up with. I’ll be looking for the missing unmarked shorter extension to make the set complete.
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

I don't know about you guys, but prewar to me generally means it was in fact used wartime despite being made before the war, as it would have been used during. So "period correct" for a war time kit. Heck, some stuff made for WWI was used WWII

Having said that I get trying to establish the mfg date "Just because".

 

[d42jeep]

I generally make an effort to have my wartime sets reflect what was allowed to be produced after the metal and other restrictions were put in place in 1942. Obviously tools manufactured before the war would have continued in use by both the civilian population as well as the military. The 1943 S-K catalog publicizes some of the restrictions made on manufacturers during the war
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I would like to keep my new 1/2 drive set together. I ended up putting them in a tray from a GMTK McAleer box but I’m going to be on the lookout for a correct S-K box with a leather handle like one they likely came in. The 1943 S-K catalog used prewar pictures so the set shown is what I’d like to end up with. I’ll be looking for the missing unmarked shorter extension to make the set complete.
-Don

Until I find exactly the correct carry box for my new set, I put them into the wartime box that came from Honza. They look right at home there. I still need that unmarked shorter extension.
-Don

 

[LNKMK8]

I picked up this nice No. 6611 Box last week at an estate sale with some misc S-K tools. The box cleaned up pretty nicely. I bought a similar one a few years ago but it had a lot of rust in it, so I ended up passing it along to someone else. Was glad to find one in fairly nice condition.

 

[RTM]

Picked this box up the first weekend of April, but didn't get around to sorting out the contents til today. The set description will take a minute or three to figure out, as I need to verify 97 pages of posts. Or the East Bay magnetic anomaly known as D^4 will probably chime in with the answer before I'm off page 2.

I gravitated towards the box because I love this shade of blue, both for toolboxes (and old Mustangs), real easy to find stuff in, easy on the eyes, etc. The box itself is 11-3/16 x 3-7/16 x 1-1/2", and the contents included a knurled set of 3/16 - 1/2" 1/4" drive sockets (40906 - 40916), missing 5/16 and 11/32, which I appear to have matches for in the garage. Also included was 3/8 - 11/16" (45112 - 45124) missing 1/2 and 3/4", plus the 1/4" adapter. This has the divided rail to hold the 3/8" drive, and I swear Don just posted that, so shouldn't take too long to find. (I was wrong) Also, this has the triangle logo riveted to the lid, and I thought someone said that was post war for only a year or so. Guess I was remembering wrong. Yup, Don's guess was 1961 or so. Thanks for adding the contents link too.


You can see the different styles of sockets loose in the box, 1/4" drive knurled on the left. Also in the box were other goodies, seen here.




Once I get the set figured out, will try to put a few more pieces inside

The box appears to have been owned by Wong, L. from the Weapons Dept X-31




This one will get the arrested decay treatment, clean off the rust, spray it with clear matte finish to slow the rust's progression.

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks to a recent thread started by Graysgarage, the contents and set number have now been documented. I need to make some minor modifications to make my set match the list.
-Don

The mystery of the blue boxes was solved back in Nov 29 of last year when a contents list was posted. Here is my set after I added pieces to match the list. I have revised my estimate of the year it was made to 1963, during Wayne ownership, which accounts for the blue color.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

The reason for the newer year estimate was that Kdaniel has posted this 1962 S-K Lectrolite information on Internet Archive. He generously sent me this S-K Lectrolite box after I whined about not having one. It is a slightly smaller set than the one posted above, having fewer 1/4” drive sockets and other pieces.
-Don

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

I picked up this nice No. 6611 Box last week at an estate sale with some misc S-K tools. The box cleaned up pretty nicely. I bought a similar one a few years ago but it had a lot of rust in it, so I ended up passing it along to someone else. Was glad to find one in fairly nice condition.

First off, awesome box would love to find S-K toolboxes, sadly I’ve only ever seen one, its mine.

Looks like you’ve got a long way to go to filling it.

Or this one.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

I was looking at a tools era catalog and found these, they are just Wayne era screwdrivers with the “Wayne” covered up lol!
-Tommy

 

[Old Radar]

Saving a little on graphics and trying out that new-fangled correction ribbon.