Moore & Wright Addiction?

Benobatman · Dec 24, 2015

Hey guys, im ben
24 years old, and wierdly addicted to collecting moore and wright items
(sorry for all the photos, just nice to finally be able to show my collection)

got a load my photos to put up!

merry christmas guys!

Benobatman · Dec 24, 2015

Benobatman · Dec 24, 2015

Ive more photos somewhere, any questions? please ask!

AD Design · Dec 24, 2015

I've a few squares from them, never seen any of the measuring instruments around the tool suppliers in Chicago. I must say that sharing the depths of your affliction in public is part of the road to recovery. Nice stuff, really liked the wooden chest. What species of wood? Dovetailed drawers? Thanks for posting photos.

billzweig · Dec 24, 2015

Certainly nice tools. I have a similar weakness when it comes to Mahr metrology instruments.

Blazemaster · Dec 24, 2015

Nice collection! When I first came into machining I had never heard of Moore & Wright. I purchased some tools from an estate and in the bunch was a 3 piece square set made by them. I use them quite often and wish I had a few more tools made by M&W.

PeteM · Dec 24, 2015

To my mind, the Moore & Wright (UK) and Starrett (US) product lines are almost identical; as if copying each other. And both of good quality. Given that Starrett is a bit older, it would be interesting to learn if that imitation was mostly one way or mutual?? Any idea?

One unique M&W feature I liked was the little pointer they affixed to the thimbles of their mics.

rivett608 · Dec 25, 2015

You are off to a great start for collecting M & W stuff! Very important to get the paper first, I mean catalogs and such, that way you know what to buy and have an idea of how rare something might be as in if only appeared once or was available for 50 years.

It would be interesting to know what they thought of Starrett, which also had a branch in the UK? Can you tell by comparison with Starrett catalogs who was more expensive?

Thanks for sharing and Happy Chirstmas

Benobatman · Dec 25, 2015

AD Design said:
I've a few squares from them, never seen any of the measuring instruments around the tool suppliers in Chicago. I must say that sharing the depths of your affliction in public is part of the road to recovery. Nice stuff, really liked the wooden chest. What species of wood? Dovetailed drawers? Thanks for posting photos.

Yes both the box's have dovetail joints and from one of my catalogues it says hard wood

only 1 more to collect then i have the full set of 3 (proving hard to find in good condition)

Benobatman · Dec 25, 2015

rivett608 said:
You are off to a great start for collecting M & W stuff! Very important to get the paper first, I mean catalogs and such, that way you know what to buy and have an idea of how rare something might be as in if only appeared once or was available for 50 years.

It would be interesting to know what they thought of Starrett, which also had a branch in the UK? Can you tell by comparison with Starrett catalogs who was more expensive?

Thanks for sharing and Happy Chirstmas

I agree on getting the catalogue, im addicted on them those pictures are a small ammount of the ones i have
one of the super rare items in the pictures is the circular punch holder, you only got one if you bought a dozen punches and only if you requested the item, moore and wright would never just gift one

and same with the technical data drawing which were only given to apprentices at certain uk factorys (this one being dunlop tyres)

Thanks for the intrest guys finally nice to meet people who appreciate tools as much as i do!

Tyrone Shoelaces · Dec 25, 2015

Hi Benobatman, only real engineers will be talking about old tools on Xmas day morning ! I always wanted a " Moore & Wright " toolbox but they were always a bit too expensive for me. I ended up with a reasonable copy made by " Union ".

I think they were Eastern European, maybe East German. I've still got it.

The one I really wanted was the " Starrett " toolbox but they were an arm and a leg. I only worked with one guy who had a " Starrett " box but quite a few with the " Moore & Wright " boxes. Some big companies had " Tool Clubs " were impoverished apprentices could buy tools and pay in instalments. I never worked at one of those places though.

I've got lots of " Moore & Wright " tools and not so many " Starrett " or " Brown & Sharpe ". For part of my career I was a marker out/Inspector. My favourite is the ball ended automatic centre punch that my late dad bought me when I first started life as an engineer. It's a bit of a gimmick as a tool , a centre punch and an 1/2 lb hammer is much better. I'd never sell that though. Lots of your photos brought back memories. I had plenty of those catalogues but they're all gone now. I bought those little tap wrenches as a lad, I've still got them. If I had a penny for all the holes they've tapped I been a wealthy man.

I've just retired now so all my stuff is up for sale. If you're interested PM me. I always bought good tools and I looked after them, no easy business in engineering. I could tell exactly you what I've lost in 50 years of work.

Where are you in the UK ?

Thanks for the photos, regards Tyrone.

Peter S · Dec 25, 2015

rivett608 said:
It would be interesting to know what they thought of Starrett, which also had a branch in the UK?

Rivett,

You might know this, but Starrett manufactured tools in Scotland, perhaps they still do. I bought a lot of Starrett in the late 1970's-early 1980's while an apprentice, they were all made in Scotland, e.g. micrometers, combination set, telescopic gauges, radius gauges etc. Might be of interest to US members.

FWIW, as an apprentice I did a test comparing my new Starrett combination set with an old Moore & Wright set. I set up a sine bar to check the fixed 45 degree angle, the M&W (probably from the 1960's) was more accurate than the Starrett. In my opinion the old M&W gear was very nicely made, for example I think their telescopic gauges were better than the Starrett equivalents. However, M&W did go through some changes, I am not sure their later offerings were quite as good (would welcome other opinions on this).

The M&W and Starrett wooden toolboxes were nice, but a bit small IMHO.

Benobatman,

Thanks for sharing photos of your catalogues and tools, very nice. M&W were once well-known in NZ.

The "New" style combination set is quite radical, I wonder how the market reacted to it? :scratchchin:

Tyrone Shoelaces · Dec 25, 2015

rivett608 said:
You are off to a great start for collecting M & W stuff! Very important to get the paper first, I mean catalogs and such, that way you know what to buy and have an idea of how rare something might be as in if only appeared once or was available for 50 years.

It would be interesting to know what they thought of Starrett, which also had a branch in the UK? Can you tell by comparison with Starrett catalogs who was more expensive?

Thanks for sharing and Happy Chirstmas

Hi Rivett, " Starrett " tools were certainly more expensive than " Moore & Wright " by a factor of about 25% I would guess. The quality of " Moore & Wright " was good but " Starett " was a bit better with most items I think. The " Starrett " feeler gauges were especially good in my opinion although I had a good set of " Blue Point " feelers.

Regards Tyrone.

Greg Menke · Dec 25, 2015

I like the design of the small bore gage, I'm a bit dubious of the Lufkin and B&S ones I have yet they do seem to work OK.

Do the micrometer thimbles have ratchets or a friction setup?

Love the pulls on the tool chests though, very pretty.

ps- oops just saw the paper says ratchet, I tend to like them rather than the friction systems.

Tyrone Shoelaces · Dec 25, 2015

Peter S said:
Rivett,

You might know this, but Starrett manufactured tools in Scotland, perhaps they still do. I bought a lot of Starrett in the late 1970's-early 1980's while an apprentice, they were all made in Scotland, e.g. micrometers, combination set, telescopic gauges, radius gauges etc. Might be of interest to US members.

FWIW, as an apprentice I did a test comparing my new Starrett combination set with an old Moore & Wright set. I set up a sine bar to check the fixed 45 degree angle, the M&W (probably from the 1960's) was more accurate than the Starrett. In my opinion the old M&W gear was very nicely made, for example I think their telescopic gauges were better than the Starrett equivalents. However, M&W did go through some changes, I am not sure their later offerings were quite as good (would welcome other opinions on this).

The M&W and Starrett wooden toolboxes were nice, but a bit small IMHO.

Benobatman,

Thanks for sharing photos of your catalogues and tools, very nice. M&W were once well-known in NZ.

The "New" style combination set is quite radical, I wonder how the market reacted to it?

The later " Moore & Wright " stuff isn't as good and the current gear can be really poor. At my last place we bought some odd legs, I compared them with my 1960's odd legs, chalk and cheese. The quality was embarrassingly poor. The later ones were probably made in China.

Regards Tyrone.

Benobatman · Dec 25, 2015

Hell yes tyrone im always looking to expanding the collection!
and located in doncaster not far from sheffield where the original factory was.

Yeah im pretty ashamed of what m&w has become, all squared come in little plastic bags not wooden boxes or sleeve. I suppose its all down to cost but if they'd kept the level of quality the same as it used to be maybe things would be better, i think things when down when the neill group took over moore & wright

Tyrone Shoelaces · Dec 25, 2015

Benobatman said:
Hell yes tyrone im always looking to expanding the collection!
and located in doncaster not far from sheffield where the original factory was.

Yeah im pretty ashamed of what m&w has become, all squared come in little plastic bags not wooden boxes or sleeve. I suppose its all down to cost but if they'd kept the level of quality the same as it used to be maybe things would be better, i think things when down when the neill group took over moore & wright

That's great I'd like them to go to a good home and I'm not greedy. Off the top of my head I've got an 18" square, several smallish squares, thread gauges, radius gauges, both styles of odd legs, dividers, a really nice little toolmakers square, small tap wrenches, angle gauge, scribers, calipers etc.

Quite a few mikes, but you seem to have plenty of those.

Let me know what you're short of. Apart from the automatic centre punch it all has to go.

Regarding the quality just compare the old combination set in those photos with the new one.

Anyone in the U.S. Fancy a nice little " Brown & Sharpe " die makers square ? Make me an offer.

Regards Tyrone

Benobatman · Dec 25, 2015

Id deffo be interested in looking at the squares radius and thread gauges please!
Yeah got a few mics and due to being a welder i barely use them i mainly have them because their m&w and i just want them to look at haha

rustytool · Dec 25, 2015

I've got one Moore & Wright tool.
I really like it. It's got a nice feel.

Benobatman · Dec 25, 2015

rustytool said:
View attachment 157940I've got one Moore & Wright tool.
I really like it. It's got a nice feel.

Nice piece of kit you got there!

Moore & Wright Addiction?

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