I got a new wrench in the mail today and want to know who made it.

But more importantly I would like to know where to go to find this info for myself.

I can always come here, but it would be nice to be a bit more self sufficient.

Books? any in particular?

websites?

I guess auction results, but with no name to start with they are a tough slog

anyone?

Thanks

Skip

feb159 by Skip Albright, on Flickr



feb158 by Skip Albright, on Flickr

Tower and Lyons, sorry I don't know where to look except everywhere.  The fact that I have a couple helps.

Copes book, American Wrench Makers 1830 - 1930 is a good resource as well as Schulz book Antique & Unusual Wrenches, both are out of print and semi difficult to find copies. Stan Schulz has a flicker page that has his father's book posted. I'll have to look up the link info. I use both as well as  the Shockley 3 book set that is almost impossible to find. The Shockley set is a pictorial set of the wrench patent images from 1830-1905. 

Stan put his father's book on flicker because somebody made re-prints of his father's book and was selling them on eBay. Several stories on what happened with that but to counter the sellers profits Stan offered it for free. The flicker version has Stan's updates and added notations. The re-print issue obviously ruined the resale value of the original copies of the book.

Here is the link.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mvwcnews/with/31123581788/

Hope it works, there is a wealth of info here.

Alloy Artifacts is good for some tools: http://alloy-artifacts.org/mfg-index.html

Back to "skipskip"'s orginal question -- where to go for info depends on what clues the item itself provides, and where those clues take you in the mass of information you have access to.
My perspective is really skewed by over two decades editing the MVWC Newsletter, all the resources I've pulled together & in part "published" in the MVWC Newsletters, FLICKR, etc.
Just this weekend, I received an e-mail from one of the DATAMP founders which enabled me to flesh out  what use was of made of an 1871 wrench patent  (J.W. Mahlon patent # 118,619) & a 2nd e-mail (a query to DATAMP forwarded to me) about Alva Worden patent #415,761 which provided proof of existence of a tire bolt wrench "not previously known to have been produced."
My personal copies of Cope, Antique & Unusual Wrenches, and the back file of the MVWC Newsletters are full of notes & I have that unique "spreadsheet" which helps tie all these resources together.
Several of the members here are possibly world experts in their area of interest.
Having said all that -- these online forums are tough to beat as resources, because of the cumulative expertise they pull together.

^ Hey, thanks for the tips. What / where is "MVWC Newsletter" ? Is that something I can find online?

Quote from: Lewill2 on February 14, 2021, 08:09:55 AM
Here is the link.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mvwcnews/with/31123581788/

Hope it works, there is a wealth of info here.

WOW! Quite an eclectic bunch of information all in one place! I know it is an older post but what the hell. I thought it is worth a bump for a second look for those that may have passed over it too quickly the first time. You can open it up and just page through all day if you're not careful. Kind of like binge watching a Netflix series instead of doing whatever you actually had planned for the day. Thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks to the original curator. Nice diversion for these times!