Vintage S-K Tools

[outofbounds]

Picked this up recently but just got around to taking pictures.

Forgive my ignorance....are those Owner's Marks? S-KANE?

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nope. Sk made them.

 

[r_olson_06]

Forgive my ignorance....are those Owner's Marks? S-KANE?

Kane was a contract production made by SK. There was a thread on it a while back. I want to say they were a chain store production.

Looking for the following Plomb Pebbles Wrench 3061

 

[outofbounds]

Nope. Sk made them.

I read that wrong in the picture anyway! I thought I saw "S-KANE" instead of just KANE

 

[sixfootfive]

Nice Kane's. I have only 1 those are very rare.
Did you get a ratchet with it?

Nope, no ratchet. Just sockets 7/16"-1 1/8".

 

[bmwrd0]

A while back I picked up a couple unmarked boxes, thinking they would be easy to ID. No such luck on the black one, but the other one is I think a pre-war SK.


Color is OK for that, but the latch was what was always throwing me off.


but the other day I was looking through the '41 cat and what to I see


The first thing I have seen with a matching latch. Nowhere on mine is a decale or any type of badge, but the insides seem to match and it fits an SK speeder.
(it has Thorsen in the pic, but that was my first thought on maker)

So, what does everyone here say? Am I on the right track?

 

[d42jeep]

It looks likely to me. Often even if the decal is missing, there are traces of the adhesive left but sometimes you just can’t tell. Other than the hasp the layout is the same as the postwar 4517 boxes.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a wartime 4517 box that belongs to mrbill that he posted on another site. It looks the same as yours to me, right down to the little notch in the lid for the hasp.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

TH12 and TH14 3/8" drive SAE "Junior" socket sets
1939 Thorsen catalog No. 3839 pp 3



inside divider for sockets appears to be on the other end of the box.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That looks sk for sure. Any pics of the inside of the black one?

 

[bmwrd0]

Thanks guys, SK it is then. The pic of the latch on Mr. Bills seals it, although if I could get dimensions I would be even happier.

4C, those pics are why I was thinking Thorsen, but the socket divider threw me off. I don't have any pics of the second box (lazy) but I will get some soon.

 

[four.cycle]

Best I can come up with on the Thorsen - I think the next year I have anything for is 1955.

Thorsen did put sets in black boxes, but I'm not exactly sure about vintage on those - I believe it was later.... d42jeep might have greater insight on that than me.

 

[d42jeep]

Most of my Thorsen boxes are either green or red but I don’t have any really early black ones. I barely have any of the really early TT marked tools at all.
I think the length of the wartime 3/8” drive speeder in MrBill’s box kind of indicates the rough dimensions.
-Don

 

[bmwrd0]

I have a blac 3/4 box which I am pretty sure is Thorsen from what little remains of the label

 

[four.cycle]

re: Thorsen boxes:

I believe the black boxes came after the teal green and red boxes. (This should be in a Thorsen thread!)

(The more I think about it, the more positive I am that the black box was the last iteration of the Thorsen steel box for socket sets, many of which I've seen listed on Ebay labeled "Dallas")

 

[bmwrd0]

Yes, lets not muddy the SK waters any more!

 

[misterbill]

Thanks guys, SK it is then. The pic of the latch on Mr. Bills seals it, although if I could get dimensions I would be even happier.
...

Be happy beemer. Life can be very short. The size of the box I have is 17-1/2 x 5-3/8 x 1-1/2

Bill

 

[bmwrd0]

Winner, winner, chicken dinner. It matches perfectly. Thank you Mr. Bill!

 

[d42jeep]

We found some S-K items at an estate sale in Novato, CA today. I was really jazzed to find a complete cad plated early DBE set that matches the 1943 catalog. They are spending the night in the evaporust. The S-K Tools socket set box will be useful as well.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

The S-K box I found last Friday allowed me to upgrade the appearance of this set some. The plastic tray is still pretty worn.
-Don

 

[lardy1]

A little late......but congrats on those DBE's, Don.

 

[d42jeep]

A little late......but congrats on those DBE's, Don.

Thanks, here they are cleaned up. They are numbered 1 through 6.
-Don

 

[lardy1]

Even nicer. The site needs an "I'm jealous as hell" emoticon.

Thanks for sharing them.

 

[damon18]

The S-K box I found last Friday allowed me to upgrade the appearance of this set some. The plastic tray is still pretty worn.
-Don

Had no idea those metal boxes had plastic inserts. Although I just realized it was the DBE wrenches that are from the 40's and not the green box. I've got a box like that with a paper advertising insert, can you tell how old it is? With metric included I figured it was newer. Would it have also had a plastic tray for the sockets?

 

[lardy1]

The copyright is 1987. I have a similar insert that says Dresser on it. Slightly before yours I think.

 

[damon18]

The copyright is 1987.

LOL, should have mentioned that I wasn't positive the paper insert is original to the box since I don't know how they were supposed to fit. This one curls up a bit to fit inside.

 

[d42jeep]

We found some S-K tools at a Berkeley estate sale yesterday. A mix of metric and SAE sockets. The metrics will fill in some holes in a set. Here are before and after pictures.
-Don

 

[Old Radar]

Scored this S-K 3/8" Roto-Ratchet this week. It was thrown in free as a sweetener for a CM Crown roller and top box I bought.



It looks almost new. The drive square has no marks on it. The head has a couple of mars from tool box storage.

Since it is marked S-K without the diamond and without Wayne, I believe it was manufactured between 1959 and 1963.

 

[47jlk]

Last weekend I picked up a SK Box with assorted sockets.

Trying to identify what set came in the box, internal dimensions are: 4.25" x 10.5" x 1.75" deep. Any idea's?

 

[d42jeep]

It look as if the box still has original paint. Check the side edges of the box to see if there are any numbers painted on in yellow paint or stickers. S-K often put the set numbers there. Check out set 4810 at the bottom right of the catalog page. That box has the correct shape.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

When I bought this early S-K 1/2” drive set the tools and box were pretty rusty. Yesterday I spent some time making them more presentable.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice clean up job!

 

[bmwrd0]

It look as if the box still has original paint. Check the side edges of the box to see if there are any numbers painted on in yellow paint or stickers. S-K often put the set numbers there. Check out set 4810 at the bottom right of the catalog page. That box has the correct shape.
-Don

I just checked my boxed deeps and the length is too short. I had the same idea but it didn't check out.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That's an interesting box bmw. I wonder if it is for a set of wrenches or something.

 

[47jlk]

Yes, the paint appears to be the original green 'krinkle' finish. There isn't any evidence of dividers having been installed/removed. No stickers or ink stamped part numbers on the ends.

I've added more pictures . . . by chance does the latch style/design help date what 'era' it was made?

Thanks,
John

 

[d42jeep]

I meant to do this earlier in the day but it slipped my mind. Here is my set of early ‘50s 1/2” drive spark plug sockets with the Ell handle. It looks as if mine is about 1/4” longer at 10-3/4” which may have been to provide space for the Ell. A little later in the decade they did away with the holes in the sockets and that may be what came in the 10-1/2” box.

 

[47jlk]

D42Jeep Thanks, looks like a match to me . . . now to fill it

 

[outofbounds]

Not a bad little $3 thrift store purchase.....Old, and quite sturdy Dremel box that produced a nice little handful of 7 x 3/8" SK-Wayne sockets, a 1/4" SK Wayne socket driver, and some sockets and ext. to match, a Snap-On 3/8" extension, and a couple of vintage Craftsman pieces, along with a very old 3/8" unmarked ratchet, and a wood handled stubby screwdriver yet to be IDed.

 

[d42jeep]

I had been wanting a roto ratchet for a while and spotted this kind of rusty one on eBay. It’ll never look brand new again but it’s cleaner and works just fine.
-Don

 

[Old Radar]

I picked these S-K combos up today as a loose group and need some help understanding when they may have been produced.



This group is sequential from C-32 (1") down to C-22 (11/16) then skips to C-18, then skips again to C-14 (six sided closed end) and finishes with a 10mm. I'm thinking the C-18 thru C-32 may have been part of a set (possibly #1711)--the last two are obviously not part of the same set so let's ignore them for now.

The research into my Roto-Ratchet last week (post 1960) on Alloy Artifacts led me to believe it was manufactured between 1959 and 1963 since it is marked S-K without the diamond and without Wayne. These wrenches are marked the same way. Looking at the catalogs posted on archive.org is more confusing than helpful in this case because the catalogs that aren't strictly socket sets are S-K Wayne or Dresser--and the combo illustrations in the Dresser catalogs actually depict S-K Wayne on the wrenches! I don't how Dresser era wrenches were marked.

So, does '59-'63 sound about right or am I missing something?