Williams BSW wrenches

[Sleipnir]

I inherited a bunch of these wrenches from my grandpa, a set of open end wrenches and deep offset box end wrenches. Also, there are a few sockets like this, they're all old Williams, which makes it kinda extra neat to me.

I did a little bit of google fu, I think they're just one size up? Any specific use for these or anything I should know about?


Thanks

 

[Xenocide]

BSW is whitworth, a completely different standard again.

Buy a Land Rover and take the gearbox apart and you'll be very thankful you own them.

 

[Unmarked Bill]

That's a great score if you're into pre-1970 English made stuff. If not, someone will definitely be interested. BSW measures the shaft of a bolt rather than the hex, so a 3/8W socket is for a Whitworth bolt with a 3/8 shaft.

Photos would be great.

 

[3baygarage]

Please do put some pics up Sleipnir.

 

[Sleipnir]

I'm at my fiances house for the weekend. Will do when I get home

 

[Sleipnir]

 

[Sleipnir]

Sorry the pictures seem to be so big, first time posting pictures on the forum

 

[Dave455]

Those old Williams wrenches look nice! Not surprised they have quite a following! I have a few Williams sockets from the same era. Few wrenches though!

BSW stands for British Stndard Whitworth (British equivalent of U.S. National Coarse) and BSF for British Standard Fine (equivalent to National Fine). The sizes quoted relate to the thread size rather than the bolt head size!

Pre war, BSW bolts used one size bigger than BSF, hence the dual marking on the wrenches! Post war, both thread pitches used the smaller hex, so you use the wrench on the size marked BSF!

 

[3baygarage]

Very nice Sleipnir. Thanks for putting the pics up. Do you know what vehicle they were used on?

 

[Sleipnir]

The weird thing is I got a bunch of tools from my grandpa and I can't ever recall him being handy or doing mechanical things. He had a few snap on stuff (like 2 items, lol).. Not sure how he got them.

As far as I've lived, he's only had like lincoln town cars..

 

[Unmarked Bill]

If you aren't going to hang onto them, English motorcycle people in your area will want them a lot. Or maybe this is the beginning of your Vincent restoration career?

 

[2oolhound]

Nice sets of Williams tools there!

I'd love to have them for working on my older British MC's. Let me know if you decide to sell them.

 

[Sleipnir]

Curious, if I was to sell them to buy other tools to use via his memory, what would a fair price be for the two sets?

 

[2oolhound]

Tough for me to say the value because I'm a buyer. There's 2 kinds of prices, buyers and sellers. If you look at the garage sale threads there are lots of give away deals being found but often enough on ebay guys pay astronomical prices for things. Generally whitworth tools go fairly cheap unless it's snap-on which usually gets a good buck and craftsman often fetches higher prices too just because they were such a household name. I'd rather have Williams than craftsman any day myself. What sockets do you have and are they 1/2 or 3/8 drive?

I'm in Canada so would be looking at a $40 bill just to ship. So if anyone else wants to step in with an offer I don't expect 1st dibs, no worries here as I'll have to come in low on an offer. 3/8 drive sockets would perk my interest a bit more.

 

[devoncoolman]

Looks nice. Tough to put a price on whitworth tools. They can bring big bucks or very little. Whitworth tools have a small following because of the limited use and limited market. Ive had tons of oportunitys to buy whitworth tools for cheap. Mostly snapon. But i always pass. I just dont want/need them.

 

[Sleipnir]

I only have 2 1/2" drive sockets, 3/8 bsw and 1/4bsw I believe.


Just piquing some interest