Central FL CL listing - interesting tool, I sure dont know what is was used for.
But figured someone here might be interested.

Vintage Reed Pipe & Die Kit

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/tls/2846743992.html

I have no affiliation with the seller. Will help out with shipping if requested.

Brian L.

It looks to be a tool that would extrude something (a shaped mold not a thread) to me.

It's a pipe threader; a ratcheting handle with dies of different sizes.

It has nothing to do with telephone poles!

I happen to have the exact same model that was my grandfather's...

The set was actually red when issued & had a quite nice decal on the holder that I have admired. No idea how this set came to be black...

Are those really ordinary pipe threading dies?  I have rigid ratcheting pipe threader that is old and looks to be very much the same as the one pictured, but the dies are much much different.

I think so. They look like normal block dies to me...

I'd check, but mine are halfway across the continent in Newfoundland in my cousin's garage!

Anyone else care to weigh in?

Are those really ordinary pipe threading dies?

Yup, early dies were square because it's a lot easier for someone to cut a square chunk of plate and drill the holes in it than to make it some more complicated shape like circular or hexagonal. However, the square shape makes them a bit fragile..

The really unusual thing about the craigslist one is that it has it's set of inside reverse dies (aka taps). Most people have no clue what those are and loose them

The seller may be correct , the taps have no visible taper, they may be conduit dies....(which the telephone company would use occasionally...)

Thanks for the education, Rusty.  I had no idea early dies were square, nor that taps were ever packaged with them.  I may now need to go take a second look at my late g'pas shop.

Rusty,
I think the pieces you are calling inside reverse dies are the pipe guides, one for each size pipe the dies fit (with one size missing). I have had a Craftsman set for years that looks identical with the same holder and must of been made by Reed.

Hmm, score one for Bus ; P

They did look slightly odd....

I have seen them with taps, but they look a little different....

Here's a set from an ended eBay auction I had been watching...

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/160702445105

Page 46 of the 1960 Craftsman catalog has a set

A (I believe complete) Craftsman pipe threading set I picked up today.

Nice set!  I'm just getting into threading tool collecting myself.  Got a pair of Ridgid threaders (one was my Great Grandfathers), a Ridgid reamer, a Toledo Pipe Company threader that appears close to your Craftsman set in style, and a NYE Tool and Machine Works threader that looks more like a radial engine than a threader (it holds 3 square dies at one time).  Do you plan on restoring it, or flipping it for profit? 

Heres a set that I have, I believe its from the 60's and not sure if its complete.

Quote from: HeelSpur on July 12, 2012, 02:20:46 PM
Heres a set that I have, I believe its from the 60's and not sure if its complete.

Are there any clues on the labels on the box that might confirm Reed as the manufacturer?