my 2017 flea market finds...

[maddawg308]

Mad dawg,

Did you get my PM about the Lincoln suction gun?

Thank you,
Henry

Yes I did, will send PM now.

[Hartofoak]

Here's a bit more information about your Lincoln suction gun and some variants in a motor-pool:
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=217579&hilit=suction

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[maddawg308]

That's a neat pic, thanks for posting it!

A few more items to show off from Sunday's flea market finds. I still have to go through a huge pile of goodies I got the previous weekend, will get to those soon.

Anyways, here's yesterday's finds:

Barcalo-Buffalo manifold/starter obstruction wrench, RP style
Duro-Chrome E69 ignition wrench, 1/2 x 7/16
Blackhawk 40119 1/2-drive socket, 19/32
Duro "D-I" 1218 1/2-drive socket, 9/16
Stanley No. 25 short electrician's screwdriver (will be a nice pair with the Stanley 5-inch flat screwdriver I already have in the GMTK)
Plomb WF-7 breaker bar, 9/32-drive
Utica 511-8 duckbill slip-joint pliers

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[maddawg308]

This weekend's finds - nothing fantastic, but a piece here and a piece there and soon I'll have an entire set!

-Walworth 10-inch pipe wrench, unfortunately it's a 1937 date code, so this will be a placeholder until something more time-appropriate comes along
-set of 1/4-drive midget stuff, most is S-K with a couple Plomb and New Britain thrown in, the box is shot
-Herbrand ignition wrench
-Craftsman 15/16 and 1-inch DBE wrench
-Vlchek 15/16 and 1-inch DBE wrench, WBH3032
-gas mask bag, with the chemical corps symbol, marked "Army Lightweight Service Mask". Inside tag is gone
-Oxygen regulator panel for aircraft, probably post-war but still kinda neat

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[maddawg308]

Hey all, been a couple weeks since I have been able to post anything I found, just been busy with stuff.

Saved a couple wrenches this morning at the flea market...

Duro-Chrome 2014A, 11/16 and 3/4
Herbrand 1723-A, 3/8 and 1/2

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[d42jeep]

I particularly like the Circle DC 2014A double box end wrench for a 41-W-603 since it comes quite close to the 10" length specified from 10/42 to 6/44. That's a very nice find!
-Don

[Wingnutt]

Ditto! Not to mention that it's not an easy one to find in many brands.

[AirMechanic]

I see old hand tools quite frequently at the flea market, but I am only familiar with a very few that are obviously military. I've probably picked up many old hand tools and not realized that they may have a served a military purpose. Are all the hand tools posted in this topic military, or are some posted just because they are a certain brand or vintage? Many people on this forum are quite knowledgeable about what tools belonged to certain vehicles, military tool sets, etc. Are there any good references or perhaps even WWII manuals that document which hand tools were used by the military during WWII?

[lt.luke]

I see old hand tools quite frequently at the flea market, but I am only familiar with a very few that are obviously military. I've probably picked up many old hand tools and not realized that they may have a served a military purpose. Are all the hand tools posted in this topic military, or are some posted just because they are a certain brand or vintage? Many people on this forum are quite knowledgeable about what tools belonged to certain vehicles, military tool sets, etc. Are there any good references or perhaps even WWII manuals that document which hand tools were used by the military during WWII?

Lot's of time there's not a DEFINITIVE answer to whether a tool was used/purchased by the military. If they aren't found wrapped in cosmolene or in a box with a stock or contract number, they are indistinquishable from one bought off shelf at the store.

What you're seeing posted here are tools which meet the criteria based on finish, date code, known period advertisements, material restrictions, known contract data and period photos to be "plausible" or "likely" to have been in the hands of a mechanic during the war.

Obviously, the "US" "USA" marked ones are military tools.

That help?

[AirMechanic]

Yes, thank you!

[Wingnutt]

Are there any good references or perhaps even WWII manuals that document which hand tools were used by the military during WWII?

If you mean which brands, yes, there are several references, manuals, and period photos that have, in aggregate, allowed us to verify the brands and models to look for. It is almost impossible to determine if an example of one of the verified brands meeting all the characteristics of being the correct style, model and vintage was actually used by the military.

One caveat on what Luke posted. Collectors are fond of NOS tools, and to a lesser extent, re-packs, but those conditions do not guarantee that the tool was used. In my opinion, a tool in cosmolene or NOS packaging has less chance of having been used in the war than tools meeting all the right conditions for wartime found in the wild. NOS and re-packs guarantee that the tool was bought by the military at one time. That's for sure.

Dawg,

- The "Gov. Stock #41-S-1076" has been tracked with very strong evidence to NET 1950.

Not familiar with what NET 1950 is, is that the name for a newer iteration of the GMTK? If so, what are the nomenclatures for the newer, post-war sets?

In re-reading your thread, I saw that I missed this question. My apologies. I use a lot of acronyms that I use in my job. NET is "No earlier than". NLT is "No later than".

[pjones]

I would only add based on my experience of cleaning cosmolene off of many wrenches I brought back from the repacks that most of them show signs of use whether it be lipping, bent, welded back together, or having owners marks or USA etched on them. In fact, the vast majority have owners marks or USA marked on them. In my opinion me these represent the best choice for a set. That is to say they are ww2 era, marked as "mine" by the mechanic they were issued to and have clear evidence of use. For guys new to the forum Repack does not equal ww2 era all of the time. Many tools found in the repacks were post war. Cosmolene doesn't equal ww2 either as it was used after the war.

phil

[Wingnutt]

That's good to know of your 51/53 Pueblo repacks, phil, as that was not true of the depot repack tools being sold by guys on eBay for many years, or from the 51/53 Pueblo repack tools being sold by Brian right here on the G, or of the repacks or tools caked in cosmolene in the Workpuppies lot (Frankford, Rossford, etc), which were all unused. Probably good provenance on those, since the other scenario (unused during the war, then used and repacked between 1946 and 1951/1953) seems less likely. It will be interesting to see how that plays out across all the tools (e.g., all those bucket wrenches) one day.

[pjones]

Greg,
As you know Brian's tools came from the same warehouse as mine. He cherry picked only the best wrenches leaving behind those with owner's marks or USA. He was interested in putting together the best looking sets he could to sell. In the end he sold those with evidence of use for scrap metal. The earliest boxes of tools I found in the repacks were dated '47. Of course by the time I got to the warehouse it had been picked for over 60 years which clearly influences my experience.

phil

[Wingnutt]

The earliest boxes of tools I found in the repacks were dated '47.

Sweet. That may be the earliest date I have ever seen on a repack.