Western Forge Socket Set

[lzenglish]

In all my years of collecting, and researching Vintage Tools, this is a first find for me. This company made tools for about 30 companies, but I had never seen any branded with their own name, until now. If you look up their history, it "appears" they did not sell tools under their own name, as far as I could read into it?

Wayne

 

[n8n]

I know that they make a lot of stuff, I never knew that they ever sold tools under their own name. Interesting find!

 

[stage20]

Nice!

 

[thesilverone]

very cool!

 

[oak_park]

Call me crazy, but that looks like it was made by Wright. The holes in the sockets, the ratchet number, the thickness of the handle reminds me of Wright.

Can you take a pic of the other side of the ratchet?

 

[PowderKeg]

Call me crazy, but that looks like it was made by Wright. The holes in the sockets, the ratchet number, the thickness of the handle reminds me of Wright.

Can you take a pic of the other side of the ratchet?

That's what I'm thinkin' too, pic of the reverse side of the ratchet would certainly help.

Guess there's yet ANOTHER brand to put on (and watch for) the USA ratchet obsess... er, collection list!

 

[lzenglish]

I took a bunch more pictures but now having upload problems. Will edit this post later and add the rest of them when i figure it out. That's it folks, believe it or not.

Wayne

 

[oak_park]

Thanks. That's a Wright made ratchet and sockets. I suspect Wright made the set for Western Forge before they were making ratchets.

I don't know much history of Western Forge except they contracted with Sears, Home Depot, Ridgid and others to make screwdrivers, adjustable wrenches, etc.

 

[lzenglish]

Thanks. That's a Wright made ratchet and sockets.

That is a Very Bold Statement, now show me your proof! Until I see your proof, it is still a Western Forge Socket Set!

Wayne

 

[Conductor562]

The proof is that Western Forge never made socket sets and the ratchet has all the signs of a Wright.

That doesn't detract from the sets appeal though. Just being branded Western Forge is extremely cool.

 

[lzenglish]

The proof is that Western Forge never made socket sets and the ratchet has all the signs of a Wright.
.

Says here they did, read up and learn!

http://www.trademarkia.com/western-forge-73197606.html

 

[SMKS]

The first thing I thought when I saw the pics was that is a Wright-made set.

Yes, that's definitely a wright-made ratchet. I have had several over the years.

Vintage Wright ratchets have kind of distinctive head and reversing lever. You can see the same head on ratchets on the alloy artifacts page.
https://home.comcast.net/~alloy-artifacts/wright-tool-forge.html

Says here they did, read up and learn!

http://www.trademarkia.com/western-forge-73197606.html

That's just an aggregator that piles a bunch of keywords together. I don't put much faith in those types of things.

It now appears WF is possibly making ratchets for SK, now that SK owns them. It could also be that they just forge the bodies and the rest of the mechanism is made in other SK facilities.

But I too have never seen any actual evidence of a vintage ratchet made by Western Forge at their facility. Maybe they exist, but I've never seen anything.

Here's the official Ideal Industries page about WF. They don't claim WF ever made ratchets. They do claim they have made torque wrenches, but those would be bar-type torque wrenches, I believe.
https://www.idealindustries.com/companies/Western-Forge.aspx

Western Forge’s American-made hand tools include pliers, screwdrivers, adjustable wrenches, torque wrenches, screwdrivers, punches and chisels.

 

[SMKS]

Here's more evidence that the OP's kit is made by Wright.

The OP's kit has a Wright-made ratchet with a distinctinve two-piece handle. It appears the knurled part is made separately and pressed onto the shaft. My guess is that allows the same shaft to be used for knurled or tootsie-roll grip ratchets.

I thought I had a Wright ratchet of this style in the garage and it turns out I do. The reason the reversing lever is different on mine is because I had it rebuilt with a new kit a year or so ago. The kit in it now has the modern reversing lever. The original lever was like the OP's ratchet.

I'm not saying the OP's kit isn't cool because it was made by Wright. I like Wright tools. Perhaps they made some kind of trade and WF made punches for Wright while Wright made these ratchets for WF. Both companies have done lots and lots of private-label production.

 

[oak_park]

I think Western Forge did make some ratchets, I have some Companion's that are stamped WF. I'll post a pick of them tomorrow.

What makes his set unique is that its stamped Western Forge but its a Western Forge set made for them by Wright Tools. Very unique and first I've seen of it.

Wright made these style ratchets for Powr Kraft, Fairmount, Klein, etc.

 

[Conductor562]

Says here they did, read up and learn!

http://www.trademarkia.com/western-forge-73197606.html

Those are general words describing the categories of products WF offers similar to keywords. It is also a trademark, not a patent and certainly not a patent on ratchets or sockets.

I'll say this again. You have a Wright socket set that was re-branded by Western Forge. It was not made by Western Forge because Western Forge never made them. I do not need to "read up and learn" because I know for a fact the WF never made them.

Again, the set is still very cool, and very rare, so being made by Wright doesn't detract from it's value or overall apeal, but it was not MADE by Western Forge.

If Western Forge had made socket sets, then Sears, being part owner of WF for many years, would have sold Western Forge made sets instead of the Moore Drop Forge/Easco/Danaher made stuff the sold for 50 years.

 

[PowderKeg]

That is a Very Bold Statement, now show me your proof! Until I see your proof, it is still a Western Forge Socket Set!

Wayne

Says here they did, read up and learn!

http://www.trademarkia.com/western-forge-73197606.html

I think Western Forge did make some ratchets, I have some Companion's that are stamped WF. I'll post a pick of them tomorrow.

What makes his set unique is that its stamped Western Forge but its a Western Forge set made for them by Wright Tools. Very unique and first I've seen of it.

Wright made these style ratchets for Powr Kraft, Fairmount, Klein, etc.

Yup, Conductor, Oak, and SMKS are all dead on about Wright as the actual source. And nothing "bold" about it either, just simple facts and knowledge of patents, designs, and actual manufacturers versus contracted. No one else (in the US) made or makes a round head ratchet like your Western Forge one.

Like Oak, I've got an open head Companion ratchet with a "WF" stamp that appears different enough from other open head manufacturers (Thorsen, Indestro, P&C/Pendleton to name the most common) that I'm thinking like Oak that Western Forge may have actually made it.

 

[stage20]

did wright make "western auto" ratchets? ive seen some sockets labeled western, not sure if they were higher or lower than the wizard line or just a different time period, but the 2 lines around the socket and the print are the same.

i picked up a western auto brand ratchet that looks very similar to the wright above, but it has a black selector. i also have a powrkraft labled wright that has a black lever.

is that one deep well a different brand? the neck of it looks different than the rest.

 

[rmille90]

I know that this is an old thread so pardon me please if I'm breaking the rules by posting to it this long after the last post. I googled Western Forge socket set to see if I had a complete set and to see if there were any other sockets to be had. This thread was the only thing that came up about WF sockets. I've been reading a fair number of posts lately so I thought I join and share something I've had for a 20+ years.

I have a 1/4" set of Western Forge sockets that my grandmother's last husband gave to me back in the late 90s. note: she married him when she was 70 - he died when she was 90!. RIP Larry

Anyway, I've been cleaning up a bunch of socket, wrenches, etc lately and wanted to clean the case of this set. I hit it with some penetrating oil and steelwool. I scratched some of the WF label off the case - stupid me. See picks - all of the sockets are stamped WF, one of them is a powerkraft. The nutdriver, extensions and ratchet are all stamped WF.

Just thought you guys would want to see this.

 

[MAD]

Pretty cool set!

This ad was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph, Colorado Springs, Colorado • Sun, May 21, 1978 Page 37

 

[rmille90]

Look at that! That makes a lot of sense. The guy who gave them to me lived in Colorado Springs for the longest time.

He worked on the railroad but I'm not sure in what capacity. He could fix just about anything!

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[genog]

That's a really Cool little set

 

[Oldtuleguy]

They made these companion sets for sears

 

[genog]

A Seller at the Flea Market had this Companion ratchet, several Companion 1/2 drive sockets and a few 3/8" sockets.
No 3/8 drive Companion ratchet and not enough sockets to get close enough to a set....
So, they're left for someone else