Vintage S-K Tools

[d42jeep]

Judging by the patent information, between 1939 and 1941.

US Patent: 2,232,477 - Ratchet Device

US patent 2,232,477 Ratchet Device was issued to Theodore O. Rueb of Chicago, IL. It was granted on 02/18/1941. Glenn S. Noble - patent attorney {br}The outer disc has an inwardly extending skirt with a notch. The notch engages the stub lever on the stub pin wh

www.datamp.org

-Don

 

[Kdaniel8601]

I went back and checked the S-K patents on Alloy Artifacts and the first one I looked at was patent 1,981,536, which is the ratchet in the top picture, yet there are many 3/8" drive ratchets with that same patent number that are like the ratchet in the bottom picture. Just how accurate are the patent numbers for dating tools?

 

[RTM]

yet there are many 3/8" drive ratchets with that same patent number that are like the ratchet in the bottom picture. Just how accurate are the patent numbers for dating tools?

if the patent number is specific to a feature like the ratchet pawl, they can make lots of cosmetic changes to the body and still wear the number.

From date of patent approval, the patent is good for 17 years. Nothing made after then should wear the number.

You really need to understand what the patent is for, some patents show up on weirdly different things some times.

 

[Kdaniel8601]

Would that mean that this ratchet could have the 1981526 patent number untill Nov. 20, 1951?

 

[bonneyman]

I was happy to find a 3/8” drive Tuff 1 ratchet hiding in an old Thorsen set at today’s estate sale. When adjusted properly these are some smooth working ratchets. I previously only had 1/4” drive examples.
-Don

Oh, yeah! Love the TUFF 1's!

I had a 3/8" JS version and gave it to a friend. He loved it. Then finally found one of the S-K version - keeping that gem for myself.

 

[RTM]

Would that mean that this ratchet could have the 1981526 patent number untill Nov. 20, 1951?

More or less, yes

 

[Outlawmws]

Has anyone ID'ed the transition dates from "SK Tools" in a diamond to just "SK" in a diamond? - My current notes on that:

S-K Tools - Boxes had this in a Diamond logo (TM 1932 until 57/58?)

S-K (No Tools)- Boxes had this in a Diamond logo

But those are for boxes - Not clear pt me is that applied to tools...

 

[d42jeep]

They used that early patent number on all the conventional 1/4” drive ratchets all the way through the Wayne era. I think the patent number is only important as information towards a starting date.
Outlaw, I try to avoid tools marked S-K Tools on the tool itself. They are usually too modern for the era I am most interested in.
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

Don, This is "SK Tools" inside a Diamond - Maybe that was just tool boxes?

 

[d42jeep]

When it comes to tool box emblems water transfer decals are wartime and prewar. In 1946 they transitioned to a riveted on metal tag. By 1958 or so the upper arrow on the metal tag was gone. The next style of tag was S-K Wayne.
There were some boxes marked S-K Lectrolite in there somewhere but I’m not exactly sure of the dates.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

I found some S-K tools at a hardware store that is going out of business. Quite a few were metric including the large full polish combo wrench.
-Don
These nutdrivers arrived from an eBay seller.

 

[d42jeep]

Slowly the S-K nutdrivers are coming together. Here are the ones sourced from Vaco.
I have no idea who was making these. They seem to be well made.
A little eye candy, cleaned up the 29mm metric combo.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Nice wrench grab, Todd!
I didn't feel like my S-K collection would be complete without a Frankenstein Ratchet so I picked this one up off of eBay. It arrived today.
-Don

I received a couple of S-K items in the mail today. The first was my second Frankenstein S-K ratchet, a 1/2” drive example. I found my 3/8” version shown above in January 2018..
Cleaned it up a little.
These knurled 1/4” drive sockets arrived as well.
-Don

 

[Chrome Vanadium Cody]

Apologies for being on the modern side for this thread but does anyone know/recognize who made these pliers for SK? They are one of my favorites but I’ve worn the teeth out and want to get a new pair.


6” long, bend is about 60 degrees, jaws are serrated and really thin. It seems like most brands make their bent nosed pliers thicker, or if they do make one this thin it’s not serrated. Here it is next to a newer Proto pair for comparison.


Sk now sells a thicker pair under this model number. Nos ones are still available online for now but I’d love to know who the oem is if they’re still in business. Both so I can support them and because this type of plier that can wear pretty quickly and I want to be able to keep getting more as time goes on.

 

[four.cycle]

^ your Protos were possibly made by ProAmerica (upper left in image).
Try looking at Japan-made: Tsunoda possibly ?

 

[d42jeep]

Apologies for being on the modern side for this thread but does anyone know/recognize who made these pliers for SK? They are one of my favorites but I’ve worn the teeth out and want to get a new pair.


6” long, bend is about 60 degrees, jaws are serrated and really thin. It seems like most brands make their bent nosed pliers thicker, or if they do make one this thin it’s not serrated. Here it is next to a newer Proto pair for comparison.


Sk now sells a thicker pair under this model number. Nos ones are still available online for now but I’d love to know who the oem is if they’re still in business. Both so I can support them and because this type of plier that can wear pretty quickly and I want to be able to keep getting more as time goes on.

Here is a pair of Camron bent nose longnoses that may be in my plier drawer. How do these compare?
-Don

 

[Chrome Vanadium Cody]

@four.cycle I'd believe it. I have a couple pairs of Proto straight needle nose pliers I was searching for the oem of for the same reason and I ended up thinking Proamerica was the most likely maker. They look just like the third one from the left in the second row of your photo but with shiny red grips like the pair I posted above/some others in your photo.

Enjoying your suggestion to check Japanese pliers brands. Haven't found anything quite right yet but have learned about some pliers I never would have imagined but now want, like these Igarashi HLB-300's:


@d42jeep those do look pretty similar. I hadn't heard of that brand so I looked it up and found another thread on here linking it back to... Proamerica! https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/camron-us-tools.473088/ So maybe Proamerica made these or ones like this with thinner jaws in the past.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Klein makes nice thin jaw pliers with serrated teeth. I don’t know if they produce for other brands, but perhaps are a viable choice.

 

[four.cycle]

@Chrome Vanadium Cody - "Camron" is where KAL/ProAmerica came from:

Cameron / Cameron Mfg. Co., Emporium, PA / "Cam-Ron" pliers / ( at some point became ProAmerica Premium Tools, Emporium, PA / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/camron-us-tools.473088/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...terprises-inc-emporium-forging-co-inc.491165/ /

my best guess would be that Don's have thinner jaws at the end simply as a matter of difference in finishing from one unit to the next.

The thinnest needle-noses I've had in my hand lately were Vampire's VT-001-5LN, but they aren't a "bent nose" type.

I'm thinking @Jeff in the "tools of Japan" thread might be a better source than me.

 

[four.cycle]

or this one - "Merry" - there are several Japanese makers of pliers. I just can't remember all of them off the top of my head:

Long nose pliers for intricate work?

I've already posted about these Merry L60-200 pliers a couple times, but not as its own thread. At first, I thought they would just fit a niche need here or there, but over the last couple months, I seem to be using them everywhere. The long thin reach and bent nature of them is like having...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[d42jeep]

The Crescent bent nose are too thick and the Kraeuter have a more rounded shape.
-Don

 

[Chrome Vanadium Cody]

@Ricky Joe yeah I was looking at Klein and they have some that are pretty similar both stylistically and functionally. I was wondering if they were the supplier just because both were Chicago based. Their D338-51 is a little smaller than I want but fits all my other requirements and it’s my top choice so far.

@four.cycle that’s a good point about possible variation in finish grinding from one unit to another. Pliers seem to be a lot less standardized on this than things like wrenches.

@d42jeep thanks, that’s helpful to see, and Crescent was another brand I wanted to look through. I’m planning to check out Utica and Diamond too. Cool to see the Kraueter because I know they were co-owned with SK at some point. May be some link in the pliers based on that.

 

[four.cycle]

Pliers seem to be a lot less standardized on this than things like wrenches.

Watching innumerable YouTube videos that have been posted here on the site over the last eight years has shown me that final fit and finish on the assembly line is done on what is essentially a belt sander by one guy standing at a machine all day long finishing pliers.
Unquestionably, the same man standing in the same place doing final fit and finish on the same pliers day after day would learn to be consistent in his work, but invariably there would be variances between one unit and the next.

The tightest work I've seen (in the "pliers" genre) has been the stuff coming out of Japan and Taiwan.

 

[d42jeep]

I was happy to find what I thought was a decent pair of 8” S-K pliers at a sale recently. When I took a closer look they turned out to be some sort of combination hose clamp and conventional slip joint pliers. Very disappointing.
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

Most hose clamp pliers I've seen and own are like that. Are those 6" or 8"? they ;look like 6 but the end # would indicate 8.

 

[d42jeep]

They are 8”. I would have preferred regular pliers. If I ever run across the style of clamps they are designed for I pitch them in the nearest garbage can and replace them with screw clamps! I still have a scar on the back of my hand from one of those clamps.
-Don

 

[Etchase]

Always good to punish hardware that is rebellious

 

[Outlawmws]

If I ever run across the style of clamps they are designed for I pitch them in the nearest garbage can

But you first have to remove them

 

[JohnDeere]

They are 8”. I would have preferred regular pliers. If I ever run across the style of clamps they are designed for I pitch them in the nearest garbage can and replace them with screw clamps! I still have a scar on the back of my hand from one of those clamps.
-Don

They really aren’t bad hose clamps if you have the pliers.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I did have the pliers, and every one I removed when working on a carburetor for warranty got thrown right into the trash and replaced with a worm-screw type clamp.
It only takes two or three of those flying 50 feet across the back room of a warehouse for one to figure out they're a hazard to property and human life.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

^ I did have the pliers, and every one I removed when working on a carburetor for warranty got thrown right into the trash and replaced with a worm-screw type clamp.
It only takes two or three of those flying 50 feet across the back room of a warehouse for one to figure out they're a hazard to property and human life.

I totally agree. I would like to meet the guy who pushed them in the equation.

 

[Outlawmws]

That would be the bean counters, as those are fast on the assembly line and cheap to buy.

 

[d42jeep]

Not only are they cheap, they aren’t even very good hose clamps. I use my pliers to remove them but never to put them back on.
Found an S-K socket today that I hadn’t seen before. It looks like a typical knurled spark plug socket except that it’s 3/4” rather than 13/16”.
All of today’s S-K finds.
Decent combo wrench cleaned up.
-Don

 

[Outlawmws]

I think some small engines use 3/4 spark plugs.

 

[S-K Tool Fanatic!]

You are correct, quite a few chainsaws use 3/4 plugs. Used mine quite a bit when I did wrenching on chainsaws. Sometimes they are a necessity due to the plug being in the loop of the handle where a ratchet and deep well won’t fit, you have to use a wrench and the hex, thats why they are shorter than a normal plug socket.


This old echo is an example you need one.

 

[four.cycle]

^ B&S and Tecumseh OEM plug (on the flathead engines) used a 13/16" hex socket.
The replacement Autolite/Motorcraft 255 "Peanut" plug uses a 3/4" hex socket.
As an odd coincidence, I recently discovered a 3/4" spark plug socket here about a week ago.

 

[d42jeep]

Thanks for the info on the 3/4” spark plugs. This shows the 4424 part number.
I got in three of hard to find 7/32” knurled 1/4” drive sockets today from eBay seller Shamata.
A partial cad plated wartime set with crossbar and a couple of more modern pieces.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

@d42jeep - as I recall, a lot of chainsaws use that smaller plug as well as other small 2-cycle engines. (I could be wrong - I am "four.cycle" because that's all I work on.)

 

[d42jeep]

Apparently someone really wanted these 1/4” drive beaver tails. Anybody here?
-Don

 

[mritchie77]

I bought an entire Chrome Alloy 1/4" set (minus three sockets) with the beavertail ratchet from a member here for like $50 (or less) last year....now if I can just find the missing chrome alloy sockets....