Author Topic: Interesting "Fits-All" Dogbone Wrench with Swastika  (Read 3331 times)

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Offline mikeswrenches

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Interesting "Fits-All" Dogbone Wrench with Swastika
« on: September 09, 2012, 07:36:00 PM »
This is a rather interesting wrench in that it has a swastika logo on it.  Prior to this, I thought that only the Buffum Tool Co. used a swastika logo.  Obviously I was wrong.  Anybody know of any other companies to use it?

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Offline Frank

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Re: Interesting "Fits-All" Dogbone Wrench with Swastika
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2012, 08:56:15 PM »
The swastika is an extremely powerful symbol. The Nazis used it to murder millions of people, but for centuries it had positive meanings. What is the history of the swastika? Does it now represent good or evil?

The Oldest Known Symbol

The swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for over 3,000 years. (That even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol, the Ankh!) Artifacts such as pottery and coins from ancient Troy show that the swastika was a commonly used symbol as far back as 1000 BCE.
During the following thousand years, the image of the swastika was used by many cultures around the world, including in China, Japan, India, and southern Europe. By the Middle Ages, the swastika was a well known, if not commonly used, symbol but was called by many different names:

China - wan
England - fylfot
Germany - Hakenkreuz
Greece - tetraskelion and gammadion
India - swastika

Offline EVILDR235

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Re: Interesting "Fits-All" Dogbone Wrench with Swastika
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2012, 01:24:50 AM »
Native Americans  also used it.
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Offline rusty

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Re: Interesting "Fits-All" Dogbone Wrench with Swastika
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2012, 12:04:13 PM »

It is not possible to totally rule out the possability that Buffum made it for the Fits All wrench company, the timeframe (early 1920's) is about right, and Fits-all was rather small, Inc'd with only $5k of capitol, probably barely enough to buy the necessary machines to make such a thing, but possible.

Or it could just be a whimsical good luck symbol, in the 20's it was *very* popular....

It appears on buildings, was painted in the propeller socket of the Spirit of St Louis, and was used by printers as a typographical border decoration.....

(In a strange bit of irony, it was a squadron symbol of the RAF at one point...)
Just a weathered light rust/WD40 mix patina.

Offline Wrenchmensch

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Re: Interesting "Fits-All" Dogbone Wrench with Swastika
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2012, 05:13:38 PM »
All the Buffum tools I have are decorated with Swastikas, as is my Fits-All dogbone.  It took time for the Swastika to go out of favor as a decoration on U.S. made tools. It's a safe bet these tools were produced before the early 1940s.