Vintage S-K Tools

[r_olson_06]

Yes. I don't see many of them around at flea markets and sales. I'm seeking a 5/8" and a 13/16", I would be interested in filling in my blanks. I'd die for a matching ratchet.

A 5/8" and 1/2" drive ratchet. Both appears to be Black Oxide.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

 

[drivesitfar]

OTG: i've never heard of ARTISAN and didn't know it was made by SK, but I like the look. BTW are those new old stock or just you spiffing them up to look that way?

so evaporust and a buffer or do tell your secret method of spiffing up cause I have more than a few to do in the near future?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

These are as I got them, but evaporust is good for rust, solvent tank for oily stuff, lot of guys here use simple green.

 

[drivesitfar]

OTG: any wire wheeling or did I just have a few of you guys shake your heads for mentioning it? buffer or dremel or anything else?

what do you think of using BLO (boiled linseed oil) on your hand tools that are just going to sit around for a few years?

I haven't used Evaporust yet, but one member just got a 5 gallon bucket from his kids for his birthday. simple green yes i have, but I have a ton of them to spiff up after I get my bride's Honey Do list done (fence, deck, kitchen...)

thanks

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Wire wheel will remove any remaining finish, as well as potentially releasing toxins into the air. Wear a mask if necessary to wire wheel.

 

[lardy1]

A 5/8" and 1/2" drive ratchet. Both appears to be Black Oxide.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

I think you have just what I'm looking for. Now...…...about the dying for for part?

 

[d42jeep]

Here are my S-K estate sale finds from yesterday. The DOE wrenches are in nice condition and the evaporust is working on the sockets.
-Don

They came out of the evaporust tonight. They aren’t perfect but they look better. I was happy to have found the 1-3/16” knurled socket as I haven’t seen many of those.
-Don

 

[r_olson_06]

They came out of the evaporust tonight. They aren’t perfect but they look better. I was happy to have found the 1-3/16” knurled socket as I haven’t seen many of those.
-Don

The 1-3/16" is a rare bird. Do you have any 31/32" and 21/32" in just standard SK and not SK Chrome? I have only ever seen 2 of the 31s and 1 of the 21s.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

 

[lardy1]

The only 1 3/16" I've been able to find is an SK Wayne. My set is unknurled so it works for me. $3.00 at the flea market.

 

[drivesitfar]

Don: just curious can you leave chrome or anything in Evaporust TOO LONG? about how long is the norm for cleaning up a rusty bunch of sockets and wrenches or do you just check and see and if they look good take them out and if not leave them in for a bit longer?

any clean up more than wiping off like water or oil or ?

the do look quite a bit better that is for certain.

 

[d42jeep]

Don: just curious can you leave chrome or anything in Evaporust TOO LONG? about how long is the norm for cleaning up a rusty bunch of sockets and wrenches or do you just check and see and if they look good take them out and if not leave them in for a bit longer?

any clean up more than wiping off like water or oil or ?

the do look quite a bit better that is for certain.

I generally try to leave them in around 24 hours but I’ve been known to forget about them for an extra day. First I rinse them off with plain water. Wherever the plain rusty steel is exposed leaves a dark colored residue that I remove with a small wire brush. I usually spray them off with brake cleaner and to resist rust on the plain steel tools I use a product called “Fluid Film” that Lugz turned me onto. I’ve been known to put them back in the evaporust for another day if the rust was so bad that the first dip didn’t completely do the job. I don’t know what would happen if they were left in for several days in a row. Here are before and after shots on a rusty Union hacksaw.
-Don

 

[drivesitfar]

Don: thanks for the 411. i was going to buy a case of Fluid Film a few years ago when I first heard of it and then I had to move out of my shop cause my landlord was getting a divorce and had to sell so restoring things got put on the back burner. glad you like FF and i'll probably just get a can or so, but i've had some pretty good luck with BLO. also if you try BLO make sure to shake the can good especially if it's been sitting and do it when you can maybe set your stuff in the sun and over 70 degrees or it does take a while to cure. some guys own shop ovens and bake the BLO on which seems to work great, but I guess smells like ****.

keep finding great stuff and sharing all your knowledge you already know and that you're learning cause I for one really appreciate it even though I don't get on these tool talks all the time I do enjoy my old tools.

ALL: i'll post up more of my SK and did anybody have a list of all the companies SK made tools for and put those names on their tools too?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here are a few. Kraeuter, penny's , sears, western auto and gambles sold sk products at various times and under various brands. Sk used other brand names, such as brazil, chrome alloy ,and carbomang, to market their products. Sears sold some as fulton, gambles under the tiger and artisan names, western auto under the western giant brand, penny's just as jcpenneys. Kraeuter was more of wrench company that sold sk socket sets under there name. Mac tools for a time sold sk beavertail ratchets as mac. There are probably more.

 

[d42jeep]

That is a pretty thorough list. I would add Craftsman Circle K, though.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice catch don. Bottom line here is sk was a notorious contract supplier, sold tools under many names, which makes them even more fun to collect!

 

[drivesitfar]

Don: thanks for adding to the list that LUG posted a few days ago.

OTG: wow thanks for all the added names and history. As I read a while ago doesn't SK Tools still make tools in a USA factory? how many other tool companies that you (or anybody else) know of that still make tools in the USA and that don't import them?

 

[StillTooManyHobbies]

Don't forget Lectrolite and the famous "Forged in USA".

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Yes there was the sk-Wayne era as well as sk-lectrolite.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Don: thanks for adding to the list that LUG posted a few days ago.

? That list was on the New Britian thread.

 

[raiderhillbilly]

Here are a few. Kraeuter, penny's , sears, western auto and gambles sold sk products at various times and under various brands. Sk used other brand names, such as brazil, chrome alloy ,and carbomang, to market their products. Sears sold some as fulton, gambles under the tiger and artisan names, western auto under the western giant brand, penny's just as jcpenneys. Kraeuter was more of wrench company that sold sk socket sets under there name. Mac tools for a time sold sk beavertail ratchets as mac. There are probably more.

Klein socket sets were SK produced for a while and don't forget Hinsdale's socket sets were made by SK.

 

[drivesitfar]

LUG: I might read more threads than most members and I do have a good idea on how to search, but not sure i'd figure out looking in the NEW BRITIAN THREAD for SK tool company information.

ALL: SO I did the next best thing and I'm moving this conversation over to a new thread cause I haven't started a thread in quite a while and hosting one where I can learn something too sounds like a win win to me. It's already got a few posts and here's the link:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=433244

Radar and others if you have any more information on who SK made tools for or who made tools for them or if you want to share any variations of markings on my new thread I'll try to keep things alphabatized in the first post of the thread with continual editing and if i get up to 5,000 words in that post or whatever the limit is i'll add another post later in the thread and refer to that post # in the 1st post to make things a bit easier to find.

ok?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

LUG: I might read more threads than most members and I do have a good idea on how to search, but not sure i'd figure out looking in the NEW BRITIAN THREAD for SK tool company information.

? Now I am totally confused. You thanked Don for adding to a list that I posted a few days ago. I am informing you that the only list I posted a few days ago was in the New Britain thread, and it was a list of New Britain brands, or tools New Britain made for other brands. I did not post any SK info list a few days ago.

 

[Username already in use]

That is a pretty thorough list. I would add Craftsman Circle K, though.
-Don

And Craftsman BM

 

[Oldtuleguy]

They definately stuck to hand tools

 

[d42jeep]

S-K is currently making tools in the US and still standing behind their earliest products in terms of warranty. They were a supplier to the military during WW2. How many of those other “real” tool companies can make those two claims? Only Snap-on comes to mind. Here are a few of their products besides sockets and wrenches.
-Don

 

[RubiconJK]

Don, I'm a fan of the green and white screwdrivers. When I find them I buy them.

 

[d42jeep]

I tried to buy a green and white S-K spinner with some other tools recently on eBay and the seller said my money was no good.
-Don

 

[r_olson_06]

S-K was good at what they did, but, to me, a real tool company made tools for specific purposes, such as Herbrand, Bonney, Plomb/Proto, Snap-On, New Britain, and Blackhawk, among others. S-K didn't make anything but wrenches and sockets, primarily, whereas the real tool companies made specific tools for specific jobs. Miller, Kent-Moore, and KR Wilson carried that to extremes, making only specialized tools, or having them made for them, as Kent-Moore did Bonney.

SK did make some speciality tools as Don said but not as many other brands. They did make some Buick spark plugs sockets, wheel knockers and some other Don has mentioned.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

 

[d42jeep]

The 1-3/16" is a rare bird. Do you have any 31/32" and 21/32" in just standard SK and not SK Chrome? I have only ever seen 2 of the 31s and 1 of the 21s.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

Roy,
I checked my old S-K pictures and found that I have one of each.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

They definately stuck to hand tools

S-K is currently making tools in the US and still standing behind their earliest products in terms of warranty. They were a supplier to the military during WW2. How many of those other “real” tool companies can make those two claims? Only Snap-on comes to mind. Here are a few of their products besides sockets and wrenches.
-Don

Completely ignoring the use of the inferiority-implied not "real" adjective in this discussion, and linking your two thoughts, Otg, and Don, one could very easily attribute SK's continued success to their narrower focus.

But the most ironic part of this topic to me is the fact that most of the early end or socket wrench makers did not make any of the other typical tools found in a mechanics kit. They either completely ignored those sectors of the market (show me a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, or a ball-pein hammer marked with a prewar Blackhawk logo and I'll send you my next paycheck) or they were made for them and re-branded until such time as they added the manufacturing capability and expertise in-house - and most of the time that was achieved through acquisition, which can hardly be credited to the OEM's supposedly superior tool-making capability.

Plomb, for example, bought their pliers, pipe wrenches and adjustable crescent wrenches from Utica, from their inception in the early 1920's through 1946, when they acquired J.P. Danielson as their new sudden source for those tools.

While Bonney and Herbrand had prolific forge capabilities and contract services, they didn't bother to make their own pliers, which came from multiple sources including Utica and Crescent, and their screwdrivers came from Stanley, a specialty maker that enlarged their capability with the purchase of North Brothers years earlier, an even more specialty maker.

All of Snap-on's expansions beyond a basic socket wrench set can be attributed to deals or acquisitions. The entire Blue-Point brand and line was started through association with MTF or Forged Steel Products as suppliers. All of Snap-on's pliers were made by Forged Steel Products until FSP was "merged" into Snap-on (edit: in fact, FSP had bailed them out and in return FSP's founder and president was named the new VP of Snap-on).

 

[drivesitfar]

ALL: great discussion guys and i'm reading everything and trying to learn it well enough so maybe I can pass on some of the CORRECT AND TRUE information.

Lug: I'm guessing you figured out that I started a new thread cause you already made a post over there and if you know where that list is on the "NEW BRITIAN" thread please post that link over on the new thread and i'll make note of it in the 1st post of that thread that i'm setting up as sort of an index.

great post on the SK tools and of course all the other companies you just mentioned!

also if you'd like to cut and paste this last post to the new thread i'm sure others might like it there too, but I'll let you make that call.

here's the link to the new thread I started that is getting a lot of information about WHO DID SK TOOLS MAKE TOOLS FOR:

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=433244

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Great point lugz, I think the take away is that while other tool companies offered a wider line of tools, they did not necessarily make them.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Lug: ...if you know where that list is on the "NEW BRITIAN" thread please post that link over on the new thread and i'll make note of it in the 1st post of that thread that i'm setting up as sort of an index.

That wouldn't make any sense, Drives. The list I started on the NB thread is for NB. It has nothing to do with SK. Again, I am sorry for the continuing confusion, but I just wanted to make sure you understood that I haven't created any SK list.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Great point lugz, I think the take away is that while other tool companies offered a wider line of tools, they did not necessarily make them.

Yes, that is my point exactly.

 

[drivesitfar]

LUG: I was asking who SK tools made tools for and with the few responses I got I decided to start a thread so I could make an Index on that thread from all the posts/comments that are coming in so I (we) would have a good place to just check. AND so the new guys and gals might know more information about off brand name tools and they won't throw away good tools just cause they don't recognize the name on it.

you mentioned that a list was already made on the New Britian thread so maybe you were talking about something else. in any case the new thread is started and you are aware of it if you have any more information to post over there I'm sure you will.

i'm trying to get up to speed on my tool knowledge that has been on hold for a while now while i'm getting Organized and moved out of my shop and storage units.

ALL: i'm asking for catalog pages, pictures of examples like are already posted and I hope more to come and any information. the thread is getting a lot of posts so far and those might stop as soon as I get the index on Post #1 up to speed, but any of you are welcome to post items over there too if you think they haven't been posted or if you have a story or fact to post please do.

 

[paulm12]

I went through my "extra" sockets from the various garage sale finds, does anyone want/need any of these? Just cover shipping, and maybe 1 beer.

I can get better pics if needed.
.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

LUG: you mentioned that a list was already made on the New Britian thread so maybe you were talking about something else.

I was talking about a New Britain list pertaining to New Britain. And I mentioned it specifically because you said, in post #1664 on this thread, which is an SK thread...

Don: thanks for adding to the list that LUG posted a few days ago.

Again, the only list I have posted recently is on the NB thread. Either you are confusing the two lists and two threads, or you're talking about someone else who posted an SK list. You posting on an SK thread that I posted a list that was about NB is what is confusing. I am trying to make sure you're not confused about a list I posted. NB, on NB thread. Not SK. Not on SK thread.

 

[drivesitfar]

? Now I am totally confused. You thanked Don for adding to a list that I posted a few days ago. I am informing you that the only list I posted a few days ago was in the New Britain thread, and it was a list of New Britain brands, or tools New Britain made for other brands. I did not post any SK info list a few days ago.

LUG: this isn't that big of a deal and here's what you wrote and in a post or two earlier when I asked the question for the first time you posted about 4 names including Craftsman hence me calling that "THE LIST".

now if this SK TOOLS thread gets more good posts and I can keep up with the secretarial part of being the host maybe we could start other threads about Plvmb and others and even give New Britian it's own thread.

or do it in reverse and say which tool companies made tools for Snap on, Craftsman and others that we know of.

I gotta run cause the sun won't be shining for long cause we'll be getting the rain soon from that awful Typhoon that hit Japan.

speaking of which I hope any members from Japan are ok and sending prayers cause that looks like it a well established community and not a bunch of beach shacks.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

when I asked the question for the first time you posted about 4 names including Craftsman hence me calling that "THE LIST".

Thanks for adding this sentence, Drives, which helps resolve any and all confusion! That most assuredly WAS NOT ME. I think you're giving credit to me that someone else deserves. I have NOT posted a list, in any way shape or form, of SK customers in this SK thread. It's not a big deal or small deal - just trying to correct your understanding of who has contributed names!

 

[1982fxr]

Were there ever SK roller toolboxes? Or large top boxes?

I've only ever seen small 2 drawer intermediate style boxes of theirs...