Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Gordon_M » Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:06 am

I thought it was the same on first look, but the layout of the top and the way the caddy fits is different. Same finish, same sticker though. :D
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by gpw_42 » Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:10 am

mudbox wrote:
Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:23 am
Gordon, there is another box on the auction site here in the U.S. I'm trying hard to stop looking at it!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-CRAFTS ... SwaNVe-iyo

:lol:
-Jason
Hubba hubba! That's sure easy to look at....Not sure that I want to dive off that deep into Craftsman gear, but wow!

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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Gordon_M » Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:43 am

gpw_42 wrote:
Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:10 am
mudbox wrote:
Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:23 am
Gordon, there is another box on the auction site here in the U.S. I'm trying hard to stop looking at it!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-CRAFTS ... SwaNVe-iyo

:lol:
-Jason
Hubba hubba! That's sure easy to look at....Not sure that I want to dive off that deep into Craftsman gear, but wow!
Well I reckon you all have so many bits from so many manufacturers lying around you could fill it easily. My box is getting Craftsman BE and underline Craftsman accessories, usually CI code wrenches and whatever. I'm aware that New Britain and None Better contemporary stuff is very similar, so I may buy anything in those makes that passes by really cheaply too.
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Gordon_M » Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:23 am

CRAFTSMAN_4368.jpg
Just arrived from that auction site, a Craftsman 1/4" BE 4368 set in original box, complete with decal, absolutely complete except it is missing the BE ratchet.

Now where did I put that extra 1/4" BE Ratchet that came with the purchase of my smaller 4406 set, it's around here somewhere?
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by d42jeep » Mon Sep 07, 2020 4:08 am

Here is my set, finally complete with a correct spinner. My box is smaller than yours, possibly because it may have come with the open gear ratchet.
-Don
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Gordon_M » Mon Sep 07, 2020 4:44 am

That's all nice stuff Don, but I think you jumped to the same wrong conclusion that I did.
shot.png
The 4368 set is in a bigger box, and comes with a ratchet, the 4406 set is in the smaller box and came with no ratchet, as per catalogue image.

I have two ratchets and put one in each set, but the smaller box does get very crowded with a ratchet in it on top of everything else.
I have no idea how all the extra original BE parts got into my smaller box before I found it, but I'm not complaining, since the listing of 1/4" parts in the DeLuxe set is basically a 4406 set less box but plus ratchet
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by d42jeep » Mon Sep 07, 2020 5:31 am

I think that you are right. The tools are a tight fit in the box, although not much tighter than a complete Walden set. I’ll be on the lookout for the larger box since I have all of the tools for the set. The smaller set should be pretty easy to fill out and then I’ll have both.
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Gordon_M » Mon Sep 07, 2020 6:04 am

d42jeep wrote:
Mon Sep 07, 2020 5:31 am
... and then I’ll have both. - Don
That would be the ideal solution. The socket and wrench contents of the DeLuxe box are coming along nicely, I think I'm short one wrench and maybe four of the rarer extensions, but then not all the extensions were in the DeLuxe set anyway.

Universal swivel joints are proving a problem though, I need a 3/8" and a 1/2" and I haven't seen a BE-marked one anywhere. Of course the later swivels, and even the BE-marked swivel sockets, are everywhere, but not the plain swivels, so if you run across a box ... :mrgreen:
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Gordon_M » Sun Sep 27, 2020 9:37 am

These things still keep turning up.
4406_2.jpg
Another 12 piece 4406 set from that auction site, only bid, too cheap to ignore and all BE, with just a fragment of the original Craftsman decal in the lid.

The odd thing is the presence of what we would call a 1/4" drive plug from a female ratchet, exactly the same as the other two I have. Craftsman called them "adapters' and only the 1/2" size appears in the 1942 catalogue, so the female push-through 1/4" drive ratchet must have appeared 1942-45 some time.

As purchased there were a bunch of other rubbish 1/4" drive sockets in the box, all of which got closely examined then thrown in the metal recycling for one reason or another - terrible quality, plating falling off, marked as 'NUBO' (apparently a British company that sourced some tools in the US) or 'FOREIGN' - a compulsory origin mark like BRITISH MADE but generally indicating the cheapest of the cheap.

As regards sockets, I just need to find 1/2" and 3/8" BE-marked universal swivels now. Later ones are all over the auction site, but all he BE ones have vanished. I do have a NEW BRITAIN 3/8" swivel and might buy a NEW BRITAIN 1/2" swivel too as placeholders till I find BE ones.

... and finally, I can't find a contemporary Craftsman 8" Adjustable Wrench either, later ones with single line or double line markings are common, but nothing older. Anyone have any hints, or even good images of a wartime Craftsman 8" Adjustable?
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by d42jeep » Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:02 pm

After looking for a while, I found out that the larger 1/4” drive boxes are fairly hard to find. I contacted a couple of early Craftsman collectors and pried this box loose from one of them as part of a trade. I’ll refinish it and add a decal since the original is almost totally gone.
-Don
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Gordon_M » Fri Oct 02, 2020 9:55 pm

I think no-one would argue with re-finishing that one Don. Let me know if you can help with an image of two of a wartime 8" Craftsman adjustable, or maybe your contact could?

It would be equally irritating to buy the wrong thing, or pass u on the right one, just because I didn't know what to look for. At the minute plain with underline Craftsman logo is all I have to go on.
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Silly's MB » Sat Oct 03, 2020 1:34 am

Gordon,
The only Craftsman adjustable wrenches that I would say are wartime are this style made by Danielson. Marked up Vanadium , I have a 10" and 12" that I can find, I possibly have a 8" but I might have to look a little deeper. These seem to be dated 1940 and 41. I don't know when they stopped this style but Vanadium marking would suggest only early war.
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Gordon_M » Sat Oct 03, 2020 2:12 am

Thanks for that. I didn't realise till today I should be looking for the bi-hex stamped hanging hole, that will narrow it down a bit.

The catalogue illustration from the '42 catalogue shows one patterned exactly like yours, but without the VANADIUM marking. However it is just airbrushed art so the possibility exists that they only made the CRAFTSMAN VANADIUM marking. Those are difficult to find, but no-one I've spoken to has seen one without the VANADIUM addition.

Of course, if you run across one and don't need it, I'll take it off your hands. I should probably buy the first one I see even with the VANADIUM marking.

BE-marked swivel joints are another problem, in both 3/8" and 1/2". The similar BE swivel sockets aren't that uncommon, so why they should be available and the ordinary universal swivels not is a bit puzzling. I have bought both sizes as NEW BRITAIN items as placeholders meantime.
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by d42jeep » Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:22 am

Here is an image from AA and a listing from the ‘42 catalog. Danielson made with a Diamond-like jaw shape.
-Don
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Re: Craftsman Deluxe Toolbox, a new home for the BE tools

Post by Gordon_M » Sat Oct 03, 2020 7:57 am

Thanks Don. That's the only image without VANADIUM
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