Vintage S-K Tools

[Oldtuleguy]

Tiger was a gambles brand. Gambles sold spark plugs, oil and tools from various suppliers branded tiger.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

The "chrome alloy" is S-K ? I did not know that.

Is this an SK brand?

Note that we have a second SK thread here on the VB started by Drivesitfar dedicated exclusively to the topic of the multitude of SK brands and third-party branding. He uses post #1 to keep a running list (including Chrome-Alloy and TIGER) and the rest of the thread is for discussion and new contributions etc. That's not a nudge or in any way to suggest it's not appropriate for discussion here. Just a reminder for those who may have forgotten, and a tip for those who don't know, that it's a very good thread for future reference. See Index in Sticky. The 'S-K Main' link is to this thread. The 'S-K Contract Production' link is to the thread I am talking about.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here is some chrome alloy 1/2" drive stuff

 

[four.cycle]

^ I don't suppose anything on that box (or on any of the components) gives any indication as to who was selling the "Chrome Alloy" product at the retail level?
The other thread gives no indication as to the "who" part.

 

[d42jeep]

Alloy Artifacts covers it pretty well here.

Sherman-Klove and S-K Tools

An article on the Sherman-Klove Company and S-K Tools from the 1930s through 1960s.

alloy-artifacts.org

-Don
Some items that I have.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

I have seen ads. It seems sk provided them for sale to anyone. My bazil sets have them, the only identifying marking is a decal on the box. Here are a couple, one with no decal.

 

[four.cycle]

just when you get to that point where you think you might have it all figured out....



wonder what the "Z" is all about?

 

[saukit]

Here are a few SK and SK adjacent pieces: The satin based 1/2" sockets are in really nice shape and I found a few more in my stash so I think I have from 9/16 all the way up to 1 1/8, just missing the 7/8. Would happily trade for one if anyone has an extra laying around!

Below the sockets are a Tru Fit DBE, two SK Wayne combos, two SK branded offset DBEs and two Lectrolite Defiance DBEs.

 

[d42jeep]

I might have an extra 7/8“ socket. I’ll check tomorrow. The Lectrolite and Tru Fit were made before Lectrolite’s marriage of convenience with S-K.
This arrived in the mail from Roy today and will be a perfect addition to the Brazil carry box. It’s very unusual to see a 1/2” ratchet with the early patent number.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

saukit, I checked and I don’t have an extra 7/8” socket. Sorry.
-Don

 

[Jr5]

These are mine. 1/4” my dad gave me when I was a kid (I’m 55)

he gave me the entire set, green SK diamond box and all. Unfortunately it didn’t travel through time with me.

I recently refurbished it with a DT paul (the old one is just fine and I kept it)

i added the rotohead which I bought as NOS. I don’t think it’s as old as the ratchet and breaker bar, but I wanted it as a tribute to my dad. He had ALL the drives and sockets.

 

[saukit]

saukit, I checked and I don’t have an extra 7/8” socket. Sorry.
-Don

No worries, thanks for checking! I'm sure I'll find one eventually.

 

[JjKk40]

Won this online. Pre-War or War-time? Would this set have come with a ratchet? Pics are screenshots from the listing.

 

[d42jeep]

Based on the pictures, I would say that they are cad plated so very likely wartime. The sliding Tee that comes apart and beefy shaft on the spinner are unusual and pretty cool. Here are a couple of mine. The spinner in the lower set is probably postwar.
-Don

 

[Kdaniel8601]

This is what your set probably looked like, from 1943 S-K catalog, page 8

Won this online. Pre-War or War-time? Would this set have come with a ratchet? Pics are screenshots from the listing.

 

[JjKk40]

Thanks guys! I'll post more pics when I get it in hand!

 

[JjKk40]

So I recieved that set and its definitely awesome! Very clean! The sliding Tee is really cool and I've never seen another like it, yet... 1 side of the Tommy Bar has a spring loaded detent ball and the other is just a stop, just like a normal bar. The business end of the tool has a detent ball to keep pressure on the Tommy Bar and hold it centered in the middle of the bar. Very cool and heres some pics.

 

[d42jeep]

Your new set is quite unique and started me on a catalog search for a listing of an S-K 1/4” drive sliding Tee. I looked through all of the available Sherman Klove catalogs and couldn’t find any conventional listings. The only exception was this Carb O Mang set shown as unavailable at the back of the 1943 Wartime catalog and that sliding Tee doesn’t bear much resemblance to your new one.


My question for you is about the spinner. All of my amber handle S-K spinners have the brand and part numbers cast into the handle. Can you take a close look at your new spinner with the large shaft and see if you see any markings? I assume that the extensions don’t have any part numbers which is to be expected with prewar or wartime examples.

-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

That spinner and sliding tee were not made by SK. They were made by the Philadelphia Mfg Co. They are wartime and fairly rare. The only sets I know of are mine, OTG's, and a friend in the UK. Don has a partial set and I'm a little surprised he didn't recognize them. Or else he did and just stopped at "unusual." Ironically, and tellingly, the spinner and sliding tee in his set were found by me with a miscellaneous mess of other midget pieces at a flea market 5 or 6 years ago. No sockets or case. Like your eBay acquisition, I suspect there may be more out there that got mixed up in other sets in the postwar surplus years and just go unidentified. They were mystery items for the longest time until a complete set showed up.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Hi Don. X-posting again! That was in reply to JjKk. You have that spinner and tee. You're probably just not used to recognizing them yet!

 

[d42jeep]

If I had ever noticed that the sliding Tee came apart, I probably wouldn’t have spent all the time searching for an S-K example. I’ll check it when it gets light outside.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Ahh yes, that feature has probably been overshadowed by everything else about the set (unique mfgr, extra beefy shanks, oddly forged sockets, sameness with Plomb Navy sets, etc...). Sorry! The beefiness has always been my tell because it was the first thing that I noticed about them when I found them.

 

[d42jeep]

Don’t be sorry, I appreciate the contributions! Well JjKk40, it looks like you have the start of your own rare Philadelphia 1/4” drive set.
In terms of trying to complete the cad plated S-K set, it looks like you are missing the ratchet, short extension, breaker and crossbar, 1/4” 8 point socket and the EXTREMELY elusive cad plated 7/32” 6 point socket.-Don

 

[d42jeep]

These little S-K 1/4” drive knurled sockets arrived yesterday as part of a Barcalo trade. I find these two sizes the most difficult to find. Unfortunately, none of them are wartime.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Don’t be sorry, I appreciate the contributions!

Of course, and thanks. I only meant the fact that I haven't called more attention to the removable sliding tee head. It might've saved you that time.

 

[JjKk40]

Wow thanks for all that info guys! D42 I looked in the available catalogs online as well to no avail! Thank the Lord for Lugz for coming to the rescue!!! I remember reading that thread on the Philadelphia set. Now I have some searching to do for SK cad stuff and maybe to complete the Philly set!!!

 

[d42jeep]

So I recieved that set and its definitely awesome! Very clean! The sliding Tee is really cool and I've never seen another like it, yet... 1 side of the Tommy Bar has a spring loaded detent ball and the other is just a stop, just like a normal bar. The business end of the tool has a detent ball to keep pressure on the Tommy Bar and hold it centered in the middle of the bar. Very cool and heres some pics.

Sure enough, it comes apart just as described. Lugz bailed me out. Again.
-Don

 

[Kdaniel8601]

These little S-K 1/4” drive knurled sockets arrived yesterday as part of a Barcalo trade. I find these two sizes the most difficult to find. Unfortunately, none of them are wartime.
-Don

How hard is it to find 3/16” and 7/32” in black oxide? I got a 3/16” cadmium when I bought this spinner, it’s the only one I have ever seen until I saw yours.

 

[JjKk40]

How hard is it to find 3/16” and 7/32” in black oxide? I got a 3/16” cadmium when I bought this spinner, it’s the only one I have ever seen until I saw yours.

Mine has the 3/16 as well but no 7/32. In already looking for one! Lol!

 

[d42jeep]

The 7/32” wartime sockets are almost impossible to find, whether plain steel, cad plated or black oxide. The wartime 3/16“ sockets are difficult but can be found occasionally. I think that during WW2 most of the sets sold were ones that only went down to 1/4” as shown in this wartime photo and the wartime S-K catalog.
-Don

 

[Kdaniel8601]

Mine has the 3/16 as well but no 7/32. In already looking for one! Lol!

I was watching that set on eBay too, mainly for the box, it's in really good condition. I just counted nine sockets and thought it was a complete set, I went back on eBay and looked and there it was.

 

[Kdaniel8601]

The 7/32” wartime sockets are almost impossible to find, whether plain steel, cad plated or black oxide. The wartime 3/16“ sockets are difficult but can be found occasionally. I think that during WW2 most of the sets sold were ones that only went down to 1/4” as shown in this wartime photo and the wartime S-K catalog.
-Don

That is exactly the kind of box I put my cad sockets in, Thanks for the info.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, Ordnance Dept specs for the 41-W-2615 midget socket set in the GMTK included 3/16" and 7/32" 6-point sockets, especially late war, when there were eleven (11) sockets, as opposed to early war, when there were only nine (9), and we regularly find them in other brands (Walden, DI, NB, etc). Don knows that. I just want to make sure that nobody misreads the SK box and set that Don is circling in that inspection photo as representative on that subject.

Wartime SK 40906 (3/16"-6) and 40907 (7/32"-6) are rare and extremely rare, respectively, and I have always tended to agree with the implication Don is making above that it could be related to SK not making those sizes for their regular commercial 1/4-drive production, whereas other suppliers (again, e.g., Walden, etc) were making them for theirs, prewar and wartime. They do exist, though. Don and UNIAU may remember that I had one 7/32"-6 black ox socket and I sold it in the set it was in a long time ago. I'd have to dig really really hard for photos.

And, what's odder, is that SK was clearly tooled to make them and was making them, for their economy line cad-plated Carb-O-Mang sets, advertised in the same 1943 catalog.

 

[d42jeep]

In post #3174 I showed two sets, one black oxide the other cad plated, both complete with sockets down to 3/16”. S-K definitely made the sockets, it’s just that the 7/32” examples are extremely difficult to find.
-Don

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, Ordnance Dept specs for the 41-W-2615 midget socket set in the GMTK included 3/16" and 7/32" 6-point sockets, especially late war, when there were eleven (11) sockets, as opposed to early war, when there were only nine (9), and we regularly find them in other brands (Walden, DI, NB, etc). Don knows that. I just want to make sure that nobody misreads the SK box and set that Don is circling in that inspection photo as representative on that subject.

Wartime SK 40906 (3/16"-6) and 40907 (7/32"-6) are rare and extremely rare, respectively, and I have always tended to agree with the implication Don is making above that it could be related to SK not making those sizes for their regular commercial 1/4-drive production, whereas other suppliers (again, e.g., Walden, etc) were making them for theirs, prewar and wartime. They do exist, though. Don and UNIAU may remember that I had one 7/32"-6 black ox socket and I sold it in the set it was in a long time ago. I'd have to dig really really hard for photos.

And, what's odder, is that SK was clearly tooled to make them and was making them, for their economy line cad-plated Carb-O-Mang sets, advertised in the same 1943 catalog.

Not relevant to your discussion, but my brain does a full stop when confronted with “Carb-o-mang”. The mang part leaves part of me flapping in the slipstream saying what??? Please send help….what does that mean? In today’s world advertising fortunes hinge on minuscule details smaller than a gnats ***, but here we have a large ad with a made-up word in it?

 

[four.cycle]

makes perfectly good sense to me!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

but my brain does a full stop when confronted with “Carb-o-mang”. The mang part leaves part of me flapping in the slipstream saying what??? Please send help….what does that mean?

Manganese. Very probably AISI 1340. It was a popular economy line composition especially as a replacement along with "New Emergency" triple alloy formulas for precious alloys that were either severely restricted (nickel, chromium, and molybdenum) or outright forbidden (vanadium) during WWII.

makes perfectly good sense to me!

Wow. I wasn't aware you had one. That set is more vivid than mine!

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Manganese

 

[d42jeep]

My take on the brand is that it was a price line designed to offload prewar inventory because S-K had upgraded their steel alloy. Others may disagree.
-Don

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Manganese

So they thought it made sense to name a tool set to be sold to knuckle-draggers who likely have so little edumacation that they can’t spell carburetor even on a good day, and so much brain damage from tetra-ethyl lead poisoning that they are lucky to find a 9/16 wrench in the garage to know why a set of tools has the (very weird and personally offensive) word in it?