does anyone remember what is needed to inject oil in that spring loaded ball orifice? Some special oil can?
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
I pulled 3 socket wrenches out of a tool box I got at an estate sale last year, it's amazing how many Craftsman tools were in it. And I found something interesting I'd never noticed about 3/8th wrenches before. An oil fitting
does anyone remember what is needed to inject oil in that spring loaded ball orifice? Some special oil can?
Back when we had a small SEARS store they would have those 3/8th drives and sockets in a small hard plastic case on sale for $100.00. I would buy one SAE and one metric set. I probably have at least two sets of each. Hard to beat that.
ReplyDeleteThe rumor I recall was that Craftsman used to higher out some of their production. A regional machine shop would be hired to produce Xthousand units. I don't know if award was based on lowest bidder or experience based. Since Craftsman had such a good reputation (until corporatism/venture capital took ahold) I'd imagine there were just a handful trusted producers and each had their own bit of flair.
ReplyDeleteSears / Craftsman absolutely contracted out some of their production, I've posted about that about 10 years ago (in the tools, tool kit archive) , Proto made some stuff for them, and a hundred other tool companies I'd never heard of in the midwest, back in the 50s when EVERYONE had a great small company that made QUALITY tools, or lawnmowers, or shovels or whatever.
DeleteBack when America was focused on cars, car parts, and all the factories that made alternators, spark plugs, tires, brakes, etc. A foundry or machine shop sure can make a wide variety of things with basic supplies.
Anyway tool boxes etc were just farmed out to anyone that could fill the contract order. Learning those origins is FUN, and really makes me look forward to swap meets or estate sales, in hopes I can score something awesome that most people take for face value