Old tool I.D.

[Steve G]

I went out to Grandma's house to get some old stuff she didn't want/need anymore and found some older tools. There is a 8" adjustable wrench from the "Diamond Calk Horse Shoe Co. Duluth Minn." Also 2 "Scioto works" wooden planes, one #3 and one#15. A "Herbrand" 1-5/16", 1" open end wrench, A Stanley #260 torpedo level wood body, A Stanley #220 plane. I Also received a Zenith console radio (from 1938, after searching the internet) that my mother recalls in my Great Grandparent's house around 1949. Anyway some of these brands are new to me and I would like to find out how old they are. Maybe someone has the same brand in thier toolbox or bought it new. Thanks for any discussion.

[pieter]

I would like to find out how old they are. Maybe someone has the same brand in thier toolbox or bought it new.

Might want to be careful in asking who would have bought some of them tools new ;o)

And don't let that scare you as some might say they bought a particular tool newas some Dinosaurs exist around here ;o)).

Pieter

[Cheyenne Dave]

I went out to Grandma's house to get some old stuff she didn't want/need anymore and found some older tools. There is a 8" adjustable wrench from the "Diamond Calk Horse Shoe Co. Duluth Minn." Also 2 "Scioto works" wooden planes, one #3 and one#15. A "Herbrand" 1-5/16", 1" open end wrench, A Stanley #260 torpedo level wood body, A Stanley #220 plane. I Also received a Zenith console radio (from 1938, after searching the internet) that my mother recalls in my Great Grandparent's house around 1949. Anyway some of these brands are new to me and I would like to find out how old they are. Maybe someone has the same brand in thier toolbox or bought it new. Thanks for any discussion.

Diamond was a major horse shoe manufacturer back in the day. Work shoes had the option of being fitted with various "studs" or "caulks" depending on the chore at hand. There were blade type caulks for use on ice and snow and often were used in conjuntion with blade-headed horse shoe nails. There were also various other types of studs that worked well in mud or hard pan. Rubber caulks were available for street use.

Some caulks had a tappered shank requiring a tool simular to a pickle fork to remove them, while others were threaded and used a wrench. Looks like you have one of these wrenches. It would date to anywhere post 1906.

C.D.

[Paul Cook]

Second wrench

I went out and checked my "working" tool bag. The second wrench I touched was a Diamond Caulk, 12" adjustable. Flip it over and it says "Diamalloy" - I guess that tells us that it was a special steel alloy. I grabbed another box wrench - made by Armstrong and made of "Armalloy".

From a tool collector web site - "Stanley Rule & Level No. 220: Adjustable Block Plane. Hardwood Knob. Fine Cond, Orig. Box. Length: 7.00 Inches. A clean and essentially unused example of Stanley's basic screw-adjust block plane in its original box. The box is missing one side, but the plane is perfect. Nice. (GOOD+). $65.00." Others started at $35.00

I have a Stanley 10 1/2 in better shape than the one shown for $145.00. I was going to give it away.

You can ID almost any old tool on the internet. You will be surprised by some of the prices they are bringing. I have started inventorying and cataloging all the old tools I have. My daughter-in-law says forget the good stuff and leave her all my JUNK. She figures she can put it on e-bay and pay for all my grandkids' college education costs.

[MoparNorm]

Ha!Ha!
I have a Diamond wrench also Paul, always wondered about it, thanks for the info.

[BobbyMike]

A trade name adopted by the Ohio Tool Company of Columbus, Ohio, the brand "Scioto Works" is suspected of having been developed to obscure the fact that these tools were produced by prison convict labor. The concept of using convict labor to produce goods for sale in competition with citizens rightly fell out of favor in the mid-Nineteenth Century

Planes are an interesting subject. There seems to be two kinds of collectors. guys like me that like to use them, and the other kind that likes to look at them. "Collectors" tend to like them in great shape, while "Users" will buy one that's missing something and fix it. Mostly "users" tend to look for more specific types, like rabbeting planes, or filletster planes as there aren't that many new ones being made.

If you like the way the look you could always keep 'em on the wall of your den, or shop.

I have a similar Stanley torpedo level. It's not good for using, but I keep it because it was well made and I like it. My kids will have to decide what to do with it (and all my other tools) when I'm gone.

[MoparNorm]

I have a pre Stanley, "Yankee" screw driver, dated 1923. Still use it in lieu of a screw gun on soft brass screws so that I can "feel" the head strength. Great tool!

[Steve G]

I think that most of the tools I got handed down will be more of a conversation piece than used, especially the 2 man saw and scythe that came from my wife's side.
I was working at an elderly guy's house running electric and he asked me if we did any threading and i said we sometimes run rigid pipe and need to do some threading. (I thought he wanted me to thread something for him) So he brings out this old threading kit in a wood box and said I could have it. He said he bought it at an auction a long time ago and none of his kids or grandkids wanted it. Its a Little Giant #5 assortment of taps and dies, 1/4 to 3/4 in 7 sizes. On the tag it reads:
Wells Brothers company division
Greenfield tap and die corporation
Greenfield, Massachusetts
Use plenty of lard oil

It is a really neat set and I looked online and the Wells brothers were bought out by Greenfield around 1912 so it could be from around that era because the later sets only say Greenfield Little Giant. I guess this is my "sitting on the tailgate" fascination with old tools that find thier way to my house.