Vintage Xcelite or other Nut Driver Sets

[MisterEd]

In the 1937 and 1948 Inestro Catalogs the Long Straight “Spinner Type” Wrench appears with this description: “The shafts are firmly fastened into the Socket as well as the fluted yellow enameled Wood Handle.”

391, 3/16; 395, 3/8; 396, 7/16 & 397, 1/2

They are quite basic, unlike Indestro’s “Spin Flex” Wrenches shown on the same pages in the Catalogs that had, “Handles of Special Moulded Black Material making them ‘Shock-Proof’.”

The enameled Wood Handles are not quite Yellow, but they're well preserved and I doubt they will ever smell bad.

Indestro Tools : 1937 Catalog : Indestro Manufacturing Corp. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

76 p., illus., 26.9 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

 

[LesserSon]

The enamelled Wood Handles are not quite Yellow

Ah - one of my favorite conundrums of the English language. I first encountered this more than a half-century ago, when an elementary teacher described a pumpkin as “yellow,” confusing the heck out of me. Over the years I encountered it a few more times. Turns out Chaucer never used it, and Shakespeare only to qualify “tawny,” unless he was referring specifically to the citrus fruit, which is what the word - borrowed into English when the fruit was introduced to Europe in the 1600s - originally meant (all the way back to Sanskrit & Dravidian).
Before that, English had no independent word for any color “betwixe yelow and reed” (Chaucer). Were all English speakers colorblind? I think not, because they distinguished geoluread (yellow-red) from geolucrog (yellow-crocus / saffron). Writers started with “orange-colored” and only began using “orange” alone as a color in the 1700s.
I think for many people (like my teacher) “yellow” continued to encompass hues right up to “red” through the twentieth century; I’ve seen printed dietary charts that include carrot, pumpkin, and sweet potato in a group termed “yellow vegetables,” illustrated with orange-colored examples.

 

[four.cycle]

Wow @MisterEd ! Those are really quite a find!
To your question about "yellow":
I don't own any of those, but I do have several copies of the Indestro 360 "Slip-on" driver (patent 111026) which appears in the 1948 Indestro catalog and is described as having an "orange enamel" handle.
Some are sort of a yellow-ish orange. Some are more orange-y.
I have one that any person with at least one functioning eyeball would tell you is RED.
(By 1959 they had gone to a yellow plastic handle.)
Go figure.

Those are really quite the find there.. and it looks like you got the whole set!

 

[bmwrd0]

I have one of those Orange/Yellow handled nut drivers, along with a full set of Spin-Flex drivers, and a couple of the Slip On drivers too.

Love them, like I love all woodie nut drivers.

 

[d42jeep]

Here are the Xcelite tools I found at a Carson City tool sale yesterday. I’ll probably add the nice square shank screwdriver to my user toolbox screwdriver drawer.
-Don

 

[username2]

Very cool. I had no idea Xcelite went back that far. I've got a couple off those clear plastic box sets liberated from a company that I worked for that shut down (they're kind of de rigueur for an electronics lab). My interesting sets are Apex-branded Wera and old-school hard handled Wiha, and naturally are never ever used. Unless I find myself with a garage full of pinball machines to work on, I expect it's a problem for an estate sale as the stuff really isn't worth selling on eBay between the hassle, the fees, and the customers.

(oh yeah, and one of those Felo metal cases with nutdriver blades and a handle which doubles as a t-handle. Honestly this is stupid, way too much stuff)

 

[d42jeep]

I found this Hanson marked nutdriver at a tool sale yesterday. First one I’ve run across.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

I found this Hanson marked nutdriver at a tool sale yesterday. First one I’ve run across.

I have three different "Hanson" entries in the list, and none of them look appropriate.
So... which "Hanson" made that nut driver?

 

[Oregon Dave]

The handle has a bit of Blackhawk DNA???

 

[LesserSon]

Can we rule out these guys?

 

[RTM]

I have three different "Hanson" entries in the list, and none of them look appropriate.
So... which "Hanson" made that nut driver?

American Tool Companies, Inc. : Full Line Catalog : American Tool Companies, Inc. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

310 p., illus., 27.9 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

American Tool Co, read the bit on Lexa Arkansas

 

[Private Lugnutz]

^ Not to be a party pooper, but reading that catalog front matter made me want to throw up!

From the headlines..."From a Single Tool...to Worldwide Presence"...to the fine print..."American Tool Companies has grown from a one-product, family owned business to a global, multi-facility organization"...it shamelessly attempts to weave a narrative of technical expansion that would describe a company that has grown in variety through internal design and tool and die expertise. How silly is it to write, "Founded in 1924 by William Petersen...American Tool Companies has grown to become a global leader in the hardware/home improvement industry" when several of the companies it acquired through M&A are MUCH OLDER than that?! Their IRWIN "brand" was founded in 1885. Their RECORD "brand" vises have been made in Sheffield, England since 1889. The MARPLES "brand" chisels even longer! Not to mention the cringe-y geopolitically challenging name.

This is not a rant against conglomeration and venture capitalism. (That would be foolishly naiive, and I have already written plenty on the subject where it's appropriate, e.g., Herbrand, Bonney and Utica->Triangle->Cooper->Apex-Bain, Blackhawk->NB->Litton->SBD, etc - with fancy schmancy timeline infographics to boot!) But I have never seen such a ham-handed blatant attempt to obscure it.

 

[four.cycle]

^
Marples / Wm. Marples & Sons Ltd., Hibernia Works, Sheffield, England / est. 1828 / edge tools / https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/William_Marples_and_Sons /

Everybody knows "Vise Grip".
Not everyone knows "Marples" or "Irwin" or "Record".

In sales and marketing you always aim for the lowest common denominator - that's why television commercials are so inane

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I don't disagree. That does not exempt them, in my opinion, from the way they handled the description of the history of the "company" in that catalog narrative. But I'm not looking to fight about it. Machts nichts to me.

 

[Etchase]

From a surviving management structure point of view, it was Irwin that survived, not vice grip. It was a good move by the Petersen family, to preserve wealth from a company that was doomed to restructuring from foreign competition. From an ownership perspective, the stockholders inventiveness can be realized thru internal or external expansion, it doesn’t matter

 

[four.cycle]

I don't disagree.

^ I'm not disagreeing with you on this one either - it looked to me like a half-cooked mash-up written by a college student.

 

[Cruzan80]

^ I'm not disagreeing with you on this one either - it looked to me like a half-cooked mash-up written by a college student using AI.

FIFY

 

[Private Lugnutz]

From an ownership perspective, the stockholders inventiveness can be realized thru internal or external expansion, it doesn’t matter

Agreed. Nobody should mistake anything I have said above as criticizing what transpired with Peterson gobbling up all these companies and brands. It's only the kooky, illogical and ridiculous narrative I criticized. It could have been (and has been, in many other conglomeration cases) written in way that more clearly acknowledges the companies and brands being acquired through M&A in a way that doesn't obscure that. It literally states that the company - called American Tool Companies, which includes brands made in other countries since the 1880's - was founded in 1924, and literally states that all its products came "from a single tool" (the implied vice grip).

No biggie. I just found it bemusingly shocking to read.

EDIT: Moving on, since it's also tangential to the thread.

 

[four.cycle]

^ we're on the same page.

 

[d42jeep]

I found quite a few Xcelite tools at a Minden, NV estate sale this morning.
-Don

 

[d42jeep]

Here is a pre-Walden Stevens nutdriver to be used on non-hex nuts. I sent one of these to Twertsy years ago.
-Don

 

[RDeMeyer]

Do the handles have that weird pukey smell?

I've had an Xcelite handle for about 40 years I can smell this thing even when it's in the case. No other tool I own stinks like this.

 

[MR.X]

Walden & Vlchek

 

[Private Lugnutz]

& Vlchek

I don't know if you just snapped that photo, you bought that lot, or you're still near it, but I need the following...

a No. ND-12 (3/16"), a No. ND-28 (7/16") and a No. ND-36 (9/16")

...to complete a set.

 

[MR.X]

I don't know if you just snapped that photo, you bought that lot, or you're still near it, but I need the following...

...to complete a set.

it was at a flea with overhead cover. It'll be there whenever I get a chance to go back. I'll check, but you know how surplus lots go...every Vlchek in there might be an 11/32 or whatever.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Yup. Thanks. If they're < $5 ea., please buy the models I need. I'd appreciate it. Every once in awhile an alert GJer will let me know one has shown up on eBay, but they always want $20-ish, and at those kinds of prices, I will wait to find one in the wild.

 

[KnurledNut]

Picked up this one that seems to be Xcelite sourced. Any idea on who C-A would be?
@CoogarXR

 

[CoogarXR]

Picked up this one that seems to be Xcelite sourced. Any idea on who C-A would be?
@CoogarXR

Yep, that's certainly Xcelite made. They made handles and/or whole drivers for so many other companies. I've never seen this brand though. I spotted a "Nicholson" driver on Harry Epstein's site the other day that was an Xcelite handle too:

 

[KnurledNut]

Yep, that's certainly Xcelite made. They made handles and/or whole drivers for so many other companies. I've never seen this brand though.

Thanks for the reply. I have seen a bunch over the years but this one was new to me.

 

[d42jeep]

I found a few Xcelite tools at today’s estate sale.
The nutdrivers were rusty but they all had black oxide shafts. I spent a little time cleaning them up.
The little screwdriver was unusual.
-Don

 

[Leviton]

Anyone recognize this one? No markings at all. The ferrule is just a ring (collar). Overall length is 9.6" and the hex opening is ~9/32".

 

[four.cycle]

^ it's not Bridgeport or Pexto. It is very different.

 

[INSP380]

Been growing my Xcelite set…. Time to start the next set.

Steve

 

[INSP380]

Picked up a few more doubles for my Snappy set too… I’m a fan of the old yellow handles

Steve

 

[d42jeep]

I like the Snap-on ones too. I just don’t see them very often. I think I only have a couple.
-Don

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Anyone recognize this one?

No, but it's a handsome tool and looks like it would be very comfortable in the hand.

No markings at all.

Welcome to the club! By discrete manufacturer (not total tally), I have just as many 'UNIDENTIFIED' nut drivers as branded nut drivers. All early like yours.

 

[CoogarXR]

-Don

Nice find on the Berylium screwdriver. It's a BR-101. They made them in black (like yours) and blue.

 

[CoogarXR]

Been growing my Xcelite set…. Time to start the next set.

Steve

Whoa, whoa, whoa there. It's not time for the "next" set until you finish this one, lol. You have the normal run, but there are way more to be had if you really want to go nuts. The HS Series runs 6-24, skipping only 21 and 23 (I don't think those sizes were made, but who knows). Then there's the magnetics, stubbies and longs too. Oh, and metrics!

Here's what my SAE Xcelite set looks like (pardon the one non-Xcelite on the top-right:

 

[Private Lugnutz]

@Leviton 's recent find prompted me to gather and take stock of my collection.

Here is a group shot.



Inside the roll-up



As you can see, my aesthetics tend to run toward the early, the wood handled, the different or unusual, and ALL but one (that itty bitty 1/8" yellow Xcelite pocket-clip jobbie) are in Don's titular "or Other" category!

From the LEFT:
- An early Walden-Worcester No. T-52 SPINTITE set in oilcloth roll-up.
- Two States Company drivers, both with a fixed opening (1/2") under those detachable male tang sockets (3/8", 5/16"), extra long composite handles, for electrical work, 1915-1920's, more details upthread here and here.
- The amber-handled double-ender (3/8" x 1/2") is an unbranded Bell System No. 216-C "can wrench".
- The aforementioned Xcelite P-9.

Down the MIDDLE:
- Partial set of Vlchek woodies: Nos. 16 (1/4"), 20 (5/16")(x2), 22 (11/32"), 24 (3/8"), and 32 (1/2")
- Early "MAC" (made by Park Metalware): ND-8 (1/4"), ND-10 (5/16")
- Much later Ivy Tool Co: 10mm, 13mm

On the RIGHT:
- Boxed partial set of Braunsdorf-Mueller woodies: Nos. 30 (1/4"), 32 (5/16"), 33 (11/32"), and 34 (3/8")
- The seven (7) woodies below the BMCo boxed set, are unidentified and all made by different mfgrs. The early stages of this corner of the industry remain largely unexplored outside of the major known mfgrs. Too many to linky-dink them all, but I think they're all posted on this thread somewhere...
> The first one with the round shank and extra long socket (3/8") is unmarked.
> The next one with the round shank, shorter socket, and shorter ferrule, is marked "MADE IN ENGLAND" on the ferrule, marked "BA" (doubtlessly for British Association) on the socket but number.
> The extra-long hex shank(1/4") is unmarked
> The shorter hex shank (5/16") is also unmarked, but has a completely different handle than the longer one
> The stubby one with the fat uniform shank with hex opening (5/16"), no socket, reddish patina on copper or brass, is unmarked
> The one under that (1/4") with the extremely short shank, long ferrule, has red stamping on the handle reading "JAN 1938" and "M.F.R.", smacking of Signal Corps to me.
> Lastly, my overall favorite - the antique beauty with the bulbous maple handle, brass ferrule, 3/8" socket, has a through-shaft to the close quarter nut driver (7/16") on the other end of the handle.

Tagging this for easier finding later: #LugzNutDriverCollection

 

[Steven 33]

This one's different. For me anyway.