My wife dragged me along to a Pampered Chef party last weekend. Ugh. Other than the food samples, the only bright spot was when my brother-in-law's mother-in-law gave me this wrench. She found it in a heap of junk out behind her father's barn. The old guy has been dead now for over twenty years, so who knows how long the wrench sat out there in the elements before she found it? There was a thick layer of brown gunk caked on it when she first handed it to me. I didn't hold out much hope for ever getting it to function. But lo and behold, the "gunk" was mostly old grease, which apparently did a pretty good job of protecting the steel. After letting it sit in the heated parts-washer tank at work all day, I had very little clean up to do. There was almost no rust at all. The lever and worm both function perfectly.

Now I want to go see what else is behind that barn...    

did she sing the song "out behind the barn" ?

that came out nicely, I have one that a guy gave me, due to the fact that
he pinched his hand a few times between the handles.

"ya gotta get behind the barn soon."

Sweet!

looks purty good to me.

Another great find for the man that has everything

For the curious here's the patent that goes along with that 2nd patent date on the UNIVERSAL -- it is the Canadian version of the the U.S. patent ( http://www.datamp.org/patents/advance.php?pn=191760&id=52485&set=10 ).
For those coming to York for the MVWC spring meet, I have a display in the library this month & a 6" UNIVERSAL is in among the pieces on display.

I'm diggin' it!

A couple of naïve questions from a plier man who knows very little about wrenches:

Are these Universal wrenches particularly rare?

And how difficult is it to find the other sizes? I only see two 8-inchers like mine in the upcoming MVWC auction, and Stan mentions a 6-inch model on display. This old 1921 ad from a Google Books scan says that they were built in sizes from 4-inch up to 18-inch. True?

That wrench cleaned up right good!

Quote from: Plyerman on April 01, 2015, 10:10:05 PM
A couple of naïve questions from a plier man who knows very little about wrenches:

Are these Universal wrenches particularly rare?

And how difficult is it to find the other sizes? I only see two 8-inchers like mine in the upcoming MVWC auction, and Stan mentions a 6-inch model on display. This old 1921 ad from a Google Books scan says that they were built in sizes from 4-inch up to 18-inch. True?

At least one 8" shows up in most collections I have sold. I have sold two 10" on past auctions and no 6". I have never seen any other sizes. I would really like to see a 4" or 18".

Quote from: Bus on April 02, 2015, 07:02:40 PM

Quote from: Plyerman on April 01, 2015, 10:10:05 PM
A couple of naïve questions from a plier man who knows very little about wrenches:

Are these Universal wrenches particularly rare?

And how difficult is it to find the other sizes? I only see two 8-inchers like mine in the upcoming MVWC auction, and Stan mentions a 6-inch model on display. This old 1921 ad from a Google Books scan says that they were built in sizes from 4-inch up to 18-inch. True?

At least one 8" shows up in most collections I have sold. I have sold two 10" on past auctions and no 6". I have never seen any other sizes. I would really like to see a 4" or 18".

+1