Thread: I need a reasonably priced 1/4" speed handle

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Originally Posted by roofcam

Sears.com shows a 1/4 drive speed handle/wrench for $16.99

Thanks - but got a $12 S-K

Originally Posted by IC2

Thanks for looking - we have a swap meet coming up at Stafford Speedway in CT in early April - that's assuming the snow has gone. As usual I'll be looking for more tools - and with my luck, there will be several good $2 speed handles.

Oh yeah - beat and rusty tools......not my thing

You would really have enjoyed the ball peen hammer with the welded on re-bar for a handle....

My source for old tools is a beat up wooden tool chest I inherited from my Dad and it includes a lot of stuff from my GrandDad. Most of the tools are for woodworking but some are universal like cold chisels and pipe wrenches. This cache of old stuff included a big 6" bench vise so I have only had to buy a new Craftsman torque wrench and some metric sockets to build three VW engines and a craftsman 3/8" drive set to rebuld a Pinto 2000 and now to assemble the SBC 350. My experience with Craftsman tools is humorous since on one of the VW engines I used the 3/8" ratchet to tighten the flywheel gland nut which requires about 215 ft. lb. so I put a 6' pipe on the handle to tighten the nut. You need to understand that on an earlier VW-Dune Buggy with an engine I did not build that nut came off and the flywheel came off while driving so I know it needs to stay on! Well the nut stayed on but the 3/8" ratchet was stripped so I went to Sears and asked for the Craftsman replacement. The Sears guy went into the back room and replaced the mechanism and the ratchet was as good as new, but for what it is worth we now know the 3/8" drive will fail somewhere around 200 ft. lb.! I am only chiming in here to say that in some cases really rusty stuff comes out looking almost like new using WD40 and steel wool. In particular a large 24" square was very rusty and you could not even see the inch marks on it but after about 15 min of the WD40-steel wool treatment it looked like new and I have used it a lot for checking the frame and measuring perpendicular distances from a flat surface as well as checking for level surfaces. Of course this is meaningful to me because I remember my Dad using some of these same tools. I guess I am admitting "crudesmanship" but I find a use for the old pipe wrenches when the visegrip is too small and I recall my Dad rearranging the pipes in the cellar of my boyhood home to move the kitchen plumbing from the front of the house to the rear, so these tools are old family friends and a source of nostalgia for me. I only wish I had at least a few gennie pieces of original 1929 Ford metal on my roadster but so far every piece is reproduction and the only stuff circa 1929 in my garage is in the tool chest!

Don Shillady
Retired Scinetist/teen rodder

I have to say that the S-K speed handle is not the quality of what they used to manufacture/sell, but for $12, what can you say - it'll do the job just fine.

Don, I really hope you have a few more tools then the ol' wooden box for your automotive hobby. But then not all car guys are tool freaks. I would like a nice big 6" vise tho. Two of the three Chinese clunkers I have are doing their job, while the third is only taking space on one of my 3 work benches. Hmmmm - gives me an idea of something to do with my Lowes gift cards (if they have any good ones, Made in the USA)