Do we have a resident king dick expert?

[GraemeVW]

Picked up this little set today. I know nothing about king dick stuff, i tend to favour britool, but this caught my eye and i couldnt leave it behind.

Box has very little external paint but is blue wrinkle inside.
Lid doesn't shut so not all the contents should be in it. Some items don't say king dick, but even some of the parts that deffinately look like king dick, aren't stamped. So I've no idea.
I guess it's 9/32, not 1/4. (Edit, I think it may be 1/4". Need to check 100% though.
It's BA mostly, it some witworth too.
What should be in this box, and what shouldn't be?

What's the ratchet? It's very nice, and fits perfectly in the box, but I suspect it's not KD.

Also, what are the tiny double ended box wrenches? How are you ment to turn them? I assume they are part of a set and had a center bar keeping them together that you also turned them with?

Also, one socket stamped Jason and nothing else!

The screwdriver bit and two double square sockets are interesting too.

Any idea on date? 1940s? 1950s?
Box is 5 1/4" across.

Zinc plated?

Thanks.

 

[Dee J]

The pair of box spanners just need a Tommy bar to turn, but I can't see that they're part of the boxed set.

 

[tom2207]

king dick stuff is really quite good , the Army used to use a lot of King Dick at one point.
If its squaddie proof ,,, its good.

 

[GraemeVW]

The pair of box spanners just need a Tommy bar to turn, but I can't see that they're part of the boxed set.

That's what I figured. They aren't marked bit are presumably BA too. Probably were always kept together.
The hole in them is small, only 1/8", so any Tommy bar would be very small.

 

[Dee J]

That's what I figured. They aren't marked bit are presumably BA too. Probably were always kept together.
The hole in them is small, only 1/8", so any Tommy bar would be very small.

I've got several similar box spanners in with a lot of telecoms tools. BA of those sizes don't need a heavy Tommy bar - the thread would strip or the screw shear long before the Tommy bar would bend.

 

[GraemeVW]

I've got several similar box spanners in with a lot of telecoms tools. BA of those sizes don't need a heavy Tommy bar - the thread would strip or the screw shear long before the Tommy bar would bend.

True.

I don't know what sizes these are. Only have a tape measure to hand. Smallest is 1/8" across the flats, largest is 3/16"

 

[GraemeVW]

Just had a closet look at this socket stamped Jason

This is home made!
You can see the metal inside where both the square end, and hex end, have been broached. The 'removed' metal is still inside.
I wonder if the owner of this set made it. Why would you bother!
It seems to just be a 2ba.

 

[GraemeVW]

Flash of inspiration, check the 1953 buck hickman catalogue!
It's all king dick, even the 7,8,9,10 ba tubular spanners, apart from the ratchet and the hex to 1/4 drive adapter.
It seems it's set tks 411.

I wonder if Jason made the ratchet too.

It could have been set tks414 and the ratchet has been swapped.

Not sure how it's all ment to fit in this box!

Edit, you can see the missing Tommy bar for the tubular spanners in the illustration.

 

[graffian]

The broached one with the curled up bits is what a lot of my small britool sockets are like.
The square sockets are usefull.

 

[Munkul]

Just had a closet look at this socket stamped Jason
View attachment 389029

This is home made!
You can see the metal inside where both the square end, and hex end, have been broached. The 'removed' metal is still inside.
I wonder if the owner of this set made it. Why would you bother!
It seems to just be a 2ba.
View attachment 389030

I imagine it was made as part of an apprenticeship training. Quite a few of skills needed to make a decent socket - turning, broaching, indexing, hardening (hopefully)

 

[GraemeVW]

I imagine it was made as part of an apprenticeship training. Quite a few of skills needed to make a decent socket - turning, broaching, indexing, hardening (hopefully)

I think the ratchet is diy too.

 

[winchman]

It is King Dick, Winchboy may be along later incase he knows any more, the Poorly broached socket this was just left as to remove it was another machining operation or some times the tooling is approaching end of use so may not clear the broaching properly but the socket still works.
They do remind me of something else possibly Plomb from the US I will give it some thought

 

[GraemeVW]

It is King Dick, Winchboy may be along later incase he knows any more, the Poorly broached socket this was just left as to remove it was another machining operation or some times the tooling is approaching end of use so may not clear the broaching properly but the socket still works.
They do remind me of something else possibly Plomb from the US I will give it some thought

What is king dick, the ratchet?

On the KD sockets you can still see the remains from where they broached the hex end, but the square ends are cleared out.

 

[winchman]

What is king dick, the ratchet?

On the KD sockets you can still see the remains from where they broached the hex end, but the square ends are cleared out.

Never seen a King Dick ratchet like that, the sockets are all like King Dick I have seen before, I checked Plomb but can't see any matches

Plomb Tool Company

An article on the Plomb Tool Company from the early to mid 20th century.

alloy-artifacts.org

I have seen this Straight Knurl on sockets before, remember some of this stuff sold in the 50's might be left overs from the war when as an example many foundry's manufactured Record branded stuff but it was all sold as record, a lot of stuff was imported from the US too if you think about it clearing the broaching and stamping a manufactured is not required during the war years. A chap we know is tool mad he tells me in the 70's the military surplus stores had pallets of 1/4 and 5/32 drive sets with no ratchet ( Not really essential in war time), so you would but the socket set then look for a ratchet Britool sold the 1/4 to 5/32 adaptors and they still pop up new old stock
Try a post on Garage journal
Any new Beach stuff?

 

[Munkul]

The KD sockets i bought for my last workplace all had the straight knurl on and look just the same. I imagine KD didn't change the socket design much in the last 40 years...

The other range of shiny chrome stuff they do nowadays is not uk made iirc and is totally different.

 

[Erie Fred]

I imagine it was made as part of an apprenticeship training. Quite a few of skills needed to make a decent socket - turning, broaching, indexing, hardening (hopefully)

I've have several commercially made sockets that are broached like that, the "entrails" are left in place.

 

[GraemeVW]

Never seen a King Dick ratchet like that, the sockets are all like King Dick I have seen before, I checked Plomb but can't see any matches

Plomb Tool Company

An article on the Plomb Tool Company from the early to mid 20th century.

alloy-artifacts.org

I have seen this Straight Knurl on sockets before, remember some of this stuff sold in the 50's might be left overs from the war when as an example many foundry's manufactured Record branded stuff but it was all sold as record, a lot of stuff was imported from the US too if you think about it clearing the broaching and stamping a manufactured is not required during the war years. A chap we know is tool mad he tells me in the 70's the military surplus stores had pallets of 1/4 and 5/32 drive sets with no ratchet ( Not really essential in war time), so you would but the socket set then look for a ratchet Britool sold the 1/4 to 5/32 adaptors and they still pop up new old stock
Try a post on Garage journal
Any new Beach stuff?

No new beach, although I've seen a few bits recently, but all too far away. Prices seem high right now too!

 

[winchman]

No new beach, although I've seen a few bits recently, but all too far away. Prices seem high right now too!

One in stockport but missing the bottom 3 draws and very tatty, I didn't once buy three like it but paid about £100 for the lot and made two nice ones from them. Let me know if its too far as I might be prepared to travel for the right box

 

[GraemeVW]

A bottom box the same as mine was for sale a few weeks back, think it was £120, might have been £200. Was in good condition though.
Seen a 6 draw, but tatty and over £100.
Think I saw a 9 draw that I would have bought, so it must have been too expensive, South coast, or both.

Still not seen another 2 draw mid box though!

 

[winchman]

A bottom box the same as mine was for sale a few weeks back, think it was £120, might have been £200. Was in good condition though.
Seen a 6 draw, but tatty and over £100.
Think I saw a 9 draw that I would have bought, so it must have been too expensive, South coast, or both.

Still not seen another 2 draw mid box though!

I have two two draw mid sections like the one in your picture but need the full depth one that fits under the large top box B29
Heres some bed time reading for you

1971 Beach Tool Box Catalogue in PDF

1971 Beach Tool Box Catalogue in PDF

papawswrench.com

I will test you in the morning!