Looking for some help on a strange old wrench I found while cleaning tack boxes left behind after my father passed. He came from a long farming family, used draft horses so im assuming its just a crappy wrench they had around.
never seen anything like it though until yesterday.
It looks like this patent, stillson. Stillson wrench, U.S. patent #95,744. There ar no casting marks on the handle, just stamps. Ste - Son, Boston MA and on the stuff on the other side. I didnt want to clean it up just to read it.
The upper jaw has casting indentations, one side a oblong diamond, the other a weird arrow shape, both of these stamped in the handle too.
its small like 6-8 inches and just looking for info. I like the spring mechanism that keeps the jaw open but closed when needed, never seen that before.
Thank you in advance, pictures included.
used it today, its awesome.
It was made by the Walworth Mfg. Co. in Boston, Massachusetts
they made some good tools.
It is a very common pipe wrench and originally made by Walworth on the Stillson patent. Read the story here- http://www.papawswrench.com/wrenches.htm (http://www.papawswrench.com/wrenches.htm) .
It is also one of the most copied and reproduced wrench I know of aside from the Crescent adjustable.
ok, but all pictures I have, have casted handles with casted information, this is stamped. By ste-son any information on stamping marks?
its a 10 dollar wrench, more interested in tracing family.
Those wrenches were not cast or stamped, they were forged.
The same link I posted above tells the Stillson story, or you can look here- http://www.bochynski.com/stillson/Walworth_excerpt.pdf (http://www.bochynski.com/stillson/Walworth_excerpt.pdf)
Or here-
so for someone trying to help me, its funny you keep sending me history articles, I read all of those prior to asking (and probably more than you know about those wrenches) and you provided ZERO answers to my specific questions. The handle is not cast like all the pictures or references to you provided (as I re-iterated). The handle is STAMPED WITH INSIGNIA, and is hand forged, not cast forged. I found out via family that my fathers grandfather knew Stillson.
Thanks for the absence of help.
Have a nice day..
P.S. fix your security questions, they suck.
No need to be offended. I have not been disrespectful to you, and my references are truthful. Yes, they are history, because the history of the Stillson wrench tells the whole story. I agree that the wrenches are not cast, but hand forged? How could we see so many identical wrenches since Walworth made the first? Wouldn't hand forging lend to differences in each wrench?
I don't care for the security questions myself, but few have trouble with them. They do keep spam and robots out.
goodbye
Kind of reminds me of the old saying:
"There are none so blind as those who will not see"
Mike
Maybe it was just overflow from the full moon the other day.
Quote from: mikeswrenches on July 24, 2016, 06:20:00 PM
Kind of reminds me of the old saying:
"There are none so blind as those who will not see"
Mike
You can also lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
"It is better to remain silent a be thought a fool than to open you mouth and remove all doubt".
I think Papaw has the right tack.
Let's all be tolerant and patient with one another.