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Another Who made it

Froneck

Titanium
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Location
McClure, PA 17059
I have a tap wrench, don't know where it came from just found it in my toolbox. I probably put there thinking it was one of my Starretts. I don't who made it nor is there any name on it. It's 3-7/8" long shown next to a Starrett 91A Anyone have any idea who could have made it? CIMG1943.jpg
 
It is nothing special in the way of machine work, and the design is simple enough. My guess is it could have been made as a shop project in a school shop. It could also have been made by an apprentice or someone simply wanting to make their own tap wrench. It was quite common for apprentices and journeymen machinists and toolmakers to make some of their own tools. I've got a number of tools in my various chests that bear initials stamped into end-milled pockets along with dates made. This was done on hardened and ground tools like a surface gauge, and some 1-2-3 blocks. I've also got some factory made surface gauges, following the basic design used by Starrett or Brown and Sharpe, but no name on them. Not even a country of origin. If the tap wrench in this photo was not shop-made, it could have come from one of countless manufacturers in the USA or overseas. Sometimes, imported tools had a tiny stamping with country of origin, but no other information. Possibly, the tap wrench came from a country that was "unpopular" or "suspect" at the time it was sold in the USA. Remember when tools made in Japan were looked down upon ? Or, the tap wrench was made to be sold by any number of retailers, so was made without a brand label or name on it. Plenty of possibilities as to where that tap wrench came from and who made it.
 
Looks shop made to me, not commercial. I base this on the dozens I have from almost all the major makers. Often shop made examples copy features of factory made examples.

Nice piece, I often use my shop made ones as it makes me think of who might of made them, where they worked and what they did.
 
I thought it could be homemade but the surface finish is flawless slightly better than the 91A. Also has a teardrop hole similar to the 91 style. Plus the hole is perfect looks to have been broached, the inside finish is as good as the outside. Someone had to spend a lot of time making it. I have a few made by my father that are smaller and fit only one tap size having a square opening for the tap. Nice work well made surface finish good but not mirror like the one in the photo.
 
I've got a little beat up one in my tool box of the same design. I always thought it was a shop made piece. I think sometimes they would include a difficult feature in the design (like the tear-drop hole) as a personal "test" of sorts. Mass producing those features isn't really an issue, but being able to do them with drills, milling, and lots of file work can be done. When a tool like that is home-made, the time it takes to complete isn't quite as important as CAN you do it.

I wouldn't be surprised if the machinist teaching them would ask them to do tasks just so they would learn how long it would take and how hard it would be compared to other methods. A teachable shop hand is x10 more useful than one who is afraid of a task, or knows everything and can't be told otherwise.
 
I agree, someone needing a smaller than 91A made it to the utmost perfection. I like it so much it's my go to tap wrench when tapping small holes. I do have the complete set of Starrett 91 series plus most of the tap wrenches made by Greenfield. The attention to detail is impressive. I doubt very much it would have been made by someone in a teachable shop program. I do agree it's easier to teach someone that knows little to nothing than some that thinks they know it all.
 
Back "in the day", hand filing was something taught to machinist and toolmaker apprentices. Various filing exercises were required of apprentices. One such exercise was to file a male hexagon to given dimensions, and then file a female hexagonal opening in a piece of steel. The male hex had to enter the female hex opening in any of the 6 positions with no daylight and no perceptible play. I had to chip and then file a cube 2" x 2" x 2" from cast iron bar stock when I was a kid working in a machine shop. I had dared to ask the foreman when I'd be allowed to run an engine lathe. His response, the next morning, was to order me to stop work on my regular jobs and get busy making the cube. I passed that exercise and moved onto a job in an engine lathe.

In HS, I had to file an octagon from a piece of round 1090 steel stock. This was a quick little project to make a center punch (still in my chest to this day, 50 + years later). The teacher checked our octagons with a 1" mike. I got a grade of 100 % on my filing of that octagon.

Making a little tap wrench and filing out the teardrop shaped opening would be the kind of exercise an apprentice might be asked to do as part of their training.
Or, a journeyman simply decided to make a nice small tap wrench for their own chest.

I've seen some incredible tools made by men during apprenticeships, some of which became heirlooms and were passed along to family members. Making the little tap wrench might have been one of those types of things an apprentice was encouraged to do, even if not part of the formal training. It is a pity that the maker's name is lost to the ages.
 
.. things an apprentice was encouraged to do, even if not part of the formal training. It is a pity that the maker's name is lost to the ages.

The greater loss - machines and tools, or any OTHER field of endeavour - is the developmental attitude and "mentoring" expertise of the Grand Old Craftsmen who managed the development of each new generation so expertly as a matter of pride and routine.

Human thing, brain and attitude approach. A commitment not only to solving problems, but also as to fitting your own best skills into a useful niche in the fabric of a whole cooperative team effort. Wasn't just the "shop floor". Applied to Engineering, Purchasing, Shipping, Accounting, Service, Sales - or General Management - every bit as much.

That smooth integration, mutual respect, optimizing of strengths, shared covering for differences was every bit as important as the increasing manual, analytical, or decision-making skills it rode on the back of.

Folks stayed long years in a team more because they were comfortable with their mates, took pride in their portion of the overall contribution to value delivered, not so much in how fancy a house or car or multimedia studio room a paycheck bought.

Despite that? Folks ate well, dressed well, had sound homes, if modestly sized, and raised happy families.

"The money" seemed to always "be there" and was "enough", given less greed, low or no debt, more patience, closer family and community ties, and wiser planning as to the spending of it.

Half a cent's worth.

Earbud generation has wasted the other penny and a half on collitch loans as chased useless majors, credit card interest charges for eye-candy toys.... and perhaps even so-called "recreational" drugs? Or worse?

:(
 
The greater loss - machines and tools, or any OTHER field of endeavour - is the developmental attitude and "mentoring" expertise of the Grand Old Craftsmen who managed the development of each new generation so expertly as a matter of pride and routine.

Human thing, brain and attitude approach. A commitment not only to solving problems, but also as to fitting your own best skills into a useful niche in the fabric of a whole cooperative team effort. Wasn't just the "shop floor". Applied to Engineering, Purchasing, Shipping, Accounting, Service, Sales - or General Management - every bit as much.

That smooth integration, mutual respect, optimizing of strengths, shared covering for differences was every bit as important as the increasing manual, analytical, or decision-making skills it rode on the back of.

Folks stayed long years in a team more because they were comfortable with their mates, took pride in their portion of the overall contribution to value delivered, not so much in how fancy a house or car or multimedia studio room a paycheck bought.

Despite that? Folks ate well, dressed well, had sound homes, if modestly sized, and raised happy families.

"The money" seemed to always "be there" and was "enough", given less greed, low or no debt, more patience, closer family and community ties, and wiser planning as to the spending of it.

Half a cent's worth.

Earbud generation has wasted the other penny and a half on collitch loans as chased useless majors, credit card interest charges for eye-candy toys.... and perhaps even so-called "recreational" drugs? Or worse?

:(
Can't simply reply to a narrative of this weight. Gosh it heavy and imagine if we lost it.
 
No disrespect to Thermite, who always writes a thought provoking post that requires some re-reading and digesting (or more likely: ruminating). We started with a thread about a tap wrench a person could hold in their palm, and have progressed to discussing macro or global social issues. Amazing !

I do my part to try to bring some of the upcoming generation(s) along, and this has evolved into my being asked to put together a course and teach it at the local community college. The course is a sort of introduction to machine work and manufacturing and starts with the basis of precision measurement, why it's needed, how it evolved. Students will begin by being given some history of measurement, how it evolved from Biblical times (remember Noah: he was handed a set of specs to build an Ark, 40 cubits long, pitched within and without, made of gopherwood...). I suppose a lot of what I will touch upon is politically incorrect these days, mentioning the Bible (never mind Who imparted the specs for the Ark to Noah), and the work of James Watt, Maudslay, Whitworth, and the firearms industry in the US in Revolutionary times (interchangeability of parts, use of jigs and fixtures).

The course will start with the use of a 6" machinist rule, progress to using a "real" micrometer (not digital, requiring people to add 3 numbers in their heads), screw pitch gauge, and the vernier. It will include what I call a "treasure hunt", where I will dump a pile of parts- socket head screws, dowel pins, bearings, and some machined parts- on the table, hand the class a drawing and tell them to find the parts in the pile to build what's on my drawing. A couple of shrink fits, to make life interesting, will be included, as will matching up coarse and fine threaded fasteners to different mating parts.

The course will include quite a bit of introduction to the concept of becoming a machinist or toolmaker, and why it is necessary to understand the basis of measurement and reading of drawings before getting around to what I call "the Star Wars stuff"- the CNC and CAD. The folks who have asked me to put together and present this course are both educators and members of our local manufacturing community. They also asked me, half in jest, half for real, if I could teach "the work ethic". At some point, I am going to also be teaching basic manual machine shop to get people in the frame of mind of understanding how metals are cut, speeds, feeds, setups, reference surfaces, and much more.

Whether I can include any time at the bench with the files is another matter. Teaching the students to make a simple job on a manual engine lathe and Bridgeport is where it's at so far.
 








 
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