Wrench ID

[Papaw]

In the photo below, I have indicated marks I see on the shaft that suggest the rod was twisted while red hot, using a bar or possibly a monkey wrench.


Like this-

[Art Rafael]

There is something about this wrench that draws me back time and again as though I have a past acquaintance with it, though I know (I think) that I don't know anything about it.
Yet I find it more than hypnotically interesting and am compelled to try to build one (miniature of course 1/4 scale).   Ralph

Thanks for the idea, Papaw.

I can visualize it and can see its component parts three dimensionally.  And I've got a good start:


 

[Papaw]

Art- be aware that the diagonal jaw is offset from the centerline. Maybe you can see it in this out of focus shot.

[Papaw]

Here is a better look at it-

[Art Rafael]

Oh.  I hadn't seen that from the first picture but can see it more clearly now.  That does give it different dimension.  Thanks.  I'll proceed.   Ralph

[HeelSpur]

Protecting the threads while twisting, how will that be done?

[Art Rafael]

Hi, HeelSpur.   
I thought about that long and hard and decided that the best way for me to twist it without damaging the threaded area was to twist it first then cut the threads on one leg before the "wish bone" bend is completed.  I wonder how they actually did do it initially.





Now the task will be to bend a perfect "U" shape with both legs so that they are exactly the same distance apart and perfectly parallel all the way up and as far apart as the holes on both cross members so that it travels freely without binding.  Drilling those tiny holes ( 0.0825) for 2-56 threaded leg was a trick. That's a long way to drill without straying so that the holes on top and bottom end up in the center of the cross member.    Ralph

[bonneyman]

Wow! Amazing that you can get the turns so even like that.
Two thumbs way up!

[turnnut]

I believe that Art could make 1 or 2 threaded tubes to screw over the threads,
such as a coupling.

[Art Rafael]

Now that's another idea that I hadn't considered, turnnut.  And it's at the heart of the fun in this hobby - figuring out how to achieve a particular end or trying to imagine how it was done initially.  It seems that tool makers have always developed ingenious ways to accomplish complex simplicity that works well.  In building miniature tools I find that the complexity is magnified inversely as the scale decreases.  I just keep having fun replecating old tools and maybe reinventing fabrication procedures.   Ralph

[mvwcnews]

Hilary Klein made some 3" ACME miniatures, but he used brass for all the parts, and the twist was not bi-laterally symmetrical  ( see photo no. 20 in Les Williams'  compilation of the Hilary Klein miniatures ).

Dad also had photos of some where someone had used bicycle spoke wire (annealed) for the rod, and the resulting "working key chain miniatures" were about one inch long.  He shows some other examples in no. 291 of "Antique & Unusual Wrenches" as well.

[Chillylulu]

I believe that Art could make 1 or 2 threaded tubes to screw over the threads,
such as a coupling.

Good idea.  Would they even need to be threaded?  Tubes, like those brass displays  would fit tight.

I have been to Tolco hanger's factory. They don't cut rod, they roll it.  It comes on a coil, it is straightened and cut to length.  The next machine rolls the thread and spits it out the end.

I once got a 10'-0" length of 3/8" all thread rod when I was an apprentice. I cut off a piece and filed the end.  I spent the next 5 or so minutes trying to screw it into a top beam clamp.  The foreman came over and tried it too.  No one could make it thread on. We even re-cut the rod, but it still didn't work.  Finally we figured out the rod had concentric rings instead of threads.

I can't imagine how they made that one.

Chilly (old guy reminiscing)

[Art Rafael]

A little progress every day.

Since the parts were already cut and fitted (made to fit right?) before I realized that the diagonal jaw was offset, I proceeded with the build as it was, and rather than remove a part of it, I decided that I'd keep it as is with a right and a left offset (surely they did build one such as that back then).  I'll build another one more exactly like the picture.  The first one is finished and shown here in its rough state.   Notice the same kind or construction marks as Papaw pointed out near the loop on the original suggesting that mine was built very much the same way as the original.  Papaw, I do believe that you got that right.  Ralph





And in the polished sterling silver state.


 


And with a black patina in keeping with the original.





Another comparable size scale.  It is 1/4 scale as my standard scale and therefore it is 2 inches long.

[Papaw]

Another masterful job! Our hats are off to you sir!

[HeelSpur]

Truly amazing work.