I grew up about 5 blocks away from the Vulcan Street plant. I will never forget the sound of the drop forges running through the night. When we needed tools, we would dive their dumpster.
I bought a full set of Williams tools in the early 1970s working as a heavy equipment mechanic, they are "Super". The tools were considered the best buy at the time.
I'm 60 and my brothers took over our transmission shop from our dad ,he's 84 and the Williams offset wrenches have out lasted all of the other wrenches 5 to 1 my dad got them from his boss at the Chevrolet dealership in the early 60 s theas wrenches are almost 100 years old and are my favorite to use ❤ I've worked on cars since 1974
I received a nice little 1/4" Williams ratchet set as a gift from my much older brother when I was a very young man. He continued giving me tools when I was young. Good tools; Snap-On, Blue point, Craftsman, etc. They formed the nucleus of the tool collection I still use to this day.
I still have my Super Williams wrenches from when I worked my tools. I preferred them because they're longer. I have never broken or bent any Williams wrenches. Great video
I always thought a giant poster that showed all the best quality tool companies over time would be really cool. Envision a sort of sideways root to tree map, showing who merged, spun-off, and closed. The more I know these histories, like in this excellent video, the harder it is to wrap my head around it!
Great idea. I don't think I've scratched the surface yet. There's SOO many companies that I need to research. I'll start working on something like that though.
J.H.WILLIAMS tools were early super high quality products . They made the crescent wrenches for Craftsman . Phillips head screwdrivers for SNAP-ON among others . They made the first fine tooth ratchets I do believe . Never had any complaints about their way awesome quality tools .
I grew up in Buffalo, New York, when my grandfather died I inherited all of his tools and all the wrenches and most of the sockets were Williams. All standard SAE. I've worked as a heavy equipment mechanic, for almost 30 years now and I still have those tools in my box Williams. I remember so many Jokers making fun of me because I had William's tools but they were good tools still are!!!!!!!!
I'm one of those guys that just enjoyed a quality tool be it a wrench, a wristwatch, an automobile. One of my favourite wrenches, that always has a place on my mobile tool cart is a 1960's vintage 18" Superjustable (non-locking). It gets "borrowed" often and now has many apprentice marks. Perhaps one day I'll restore it. Thanks for sharing! I wasn't aware about the early "good days" of the company.
Caterpillar Tractor shipped new machines with Williams Tools in the 40's, 50's, 60's....maybe even earlier or later. That "Superector" pass thru socket wrench that you showed was shipped with cranes made by Link-Belt of Cedar Rapids, Iowa...it was used for counterweight bolt removal & installation.
I have a few Williams wrenches. I also have a Williams inside the diamond wrench. The super wrench is a great wrench. Thank you for the history of a great American company.
I have a full set of those flat shank combo wrenches from the 1960’s 1/4 through 1 1/4. They are my favorites. You can really crank on these and they won’t dig into your hand like others do.
They also had a plant in Columbus Ga. Closed at least 20 years ago. Needless to say if you grew up around Columbus and are of a certain age group you have Williams tools in your box.
we had williams tools in our tool crib when i worked in heavy industry and they were a step above everything on the market !! these were very nice tools in every respect !!
I have a lot of Williams tools...I love them... and proto... and have both old and new tools from both companies..I have some really nice Superrench line wrenches.Also my 3/8 drive impact sockets are all williams...and they are the finest quality IMO.
Good to know I've been looking at the 3/8 impact socket set I'm going to pull the trigger on buying them I have williams standard chrome sockets and they are the best identical to snapon
In the mid 80’s to early 90’s there was aa TRW Vulcan tool truck that drove around the Western suburbs Addison, Villa Park in the industrial parks. I bought a few Superwrench adjustable wrenches off the truck. The boxes shown in the video are identical to the Snap On KRA series boxes of the same years.
I have a wooden Vulcan creeper that says “Vulcan tools, the mechanic’s partner in Better service “. I polished it with transmission fluid to give it a really nice shine. It’s hanging up in my shop as garage art.
I enjoyed your video! I acquired both 6" and 8" J.H. Williams "Superjustable" wrenches in the early 70s, used. They've seen a lot of use over the years and are still in remarkably good condition today.
I have a socket set and a combo wrench set my grandfather gave me he had purchased after WW ll and there still in great shape. Thanks for sharing 👍👍🔧🔧🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
i have some williams wrenches in my tool chests a s a retired muscle car restorer i bought every used tool i could find starting out 50 years ago thanks for the vid every entertaining
we had a couple maintenance guys who worked at the buffalo plant working in our factory. one brought in an enormous socket that he had in his garage .about 6 inch inside . he said he had no use for it and was cleaning up. we got no use for it either but it's cool to look at.
I inherited some Williams Superwrenches from my father. They were large wrenches for working on heavy equipment as he was a logger on the west coast. First rate quality.
Love the tool lore. I have some Williams tools that I purchased but most of the Williams stuff I have is over 60yo and belonged to my great grandfather
I started out working for a railroad in 1975. The tools they gave us to work with were Williams. They are great tools and never had any problems with them.
I found a singular Superwrench at the local tool thrift store. It is truly a fabulous wrench, very thin compared with other wrenches from the era, extremely strong, and feels nice in the hand. Wish I had a complete set
I frequent flea markets, garage sales and pawn shops . I’ve bought all of my JH Williams tools this way for pennies on the dollar and I’ve completed multiple sets of wrenches and sockets this way and use them all of the time. The quality is so good I don’t worry about them ever failing me. They sure don’t make things like they used to.
My uncle worked for jh Williams in the 1970's, in Buffalo, NY. I played soccer on Williams field in the 80's. I inherited some of their tools from my grandfather. RIP Uncle Joel
Does anyone know who owned the company in the late 60's early 70's? It's nice that they still have the soccer fields. My grammar school was a few blocks away. We would run to practice as our warm up. I miss those times......
@@AndrewKiss-km2pl Greenfield owned it until '68, then TRW. It sounds like from some of the other comments I've received, that TRW operated the plant up until they sold it to Snap-on in '93.
@ballinator Thank you so much for the information. J H Williams was a part of my childhood. Many fond memories of my uncle working there and watching my grandfather use the tools he would buy. I still have many of them. My uncle passed away a few years ago. Every time I look in my tool box and see a "Superrench" I think of the good old days!
Thanks for the video. I have Williams, Snap-On, Craftsman and Indestro tools that I use almost daily. But, by far, my favorite wrenches are the Vulcan brand. They just feel good in my hands. I am always on the lookout for them to add to my toolbox. Now I know why they are hard to find as you stated they were only sold a few years by mobile tool trucks.
I still use older JH Wliiiams and Vulcan tools daily. They are probably my favorite brand of tools even though most of the ones that I use are well over 50 years old and they’ve been used hard. Their durability is outstanding. Every bit as good if not better than Snap On stuff.
I purchased a number of Williams tools 15 years ago when I found out snap on owned them. Many of the Williams tools are old discontinued Snap on designs pushed over to the Williams line. Most of the Williams tools I purchased were tools I don't use often so I didn't want to purchase from the Snap On truck.
I used these tools at a gas company. The company had the Williams tools at all locations then. I've always felt their tools were better than all others. Hard to find around my part of the country. Still think their the best. The history of Williams tool is very interesting. Thanx for the facts.
Thanks for the video, I love these explorations of the history of tool companies and all the cool old ads and catalogue pages. I have a WiIliams 1/4" long handle flex-head ratchet that I'm pretty fond of.
I have a variety of Williams tools, my father was a auto mechanic in the 30's and during WW2. After that he held many diffrent jobs doing mechanical work. I'll look closer now at the Williams wrenches, I think I have unplayed wrenches from the war years.
Lowes sold Williams tools for a while under their Kobalt Brand and I have a metric set of Kobalt fully polished combo wrenches that are every bit as well finished as Snap-On wrench sets....This was in the early 200's that I bought these wrenches.
Yes Loew's had them for a short time, beautiful chrome with a 4 sided open end & flank drive on the box end. I bought them before the Kobalt went to the imported junk.
There was a cartoon in the 70's. Hot-Rod Cartoons with a super hero called SuperWrench. He could snap a bolt with a single twist and his X-ray vision could melt an engine.
My daughter came across a bucket full of older sockets, up to 2 3/8" marked Husky, at first I thought they were the Home Depot Husky and I told her they were not worth a lot. But now that I think of it, they are the American Husky of many years ago. In my collection of tools being a Mechanic for 46 years, I have some Bonney and Billings tools, as well as Snap-on, Mac and S-K...
Great review, thanks. Had no idea that Williams was ever a part of TRW. Recently inherited my father's TRW tool set (from back in the '70s) which didn't include any Williams pieces. (Dad started collecting TRWs back in the early 1970s on the advice a bud who used them at NASA here in Houston. TRW left tool making sometime before the early '90s.) I get most of my Williams tools from eBay.
@@ballinator I have TRW chisels, punches, boxed-end wrenches, sockets (imperial and metric, deep and shallow), 1/2'" drive ratchet and breaker bar, needle nose plier, and electrician plier. When TRW closed its tools sale, dad went to PROTO. I've added to that collection through the years (have a "health presentation" of PROTO). I really enjoyed your PROTO history vid. Hope you will soon make a history of TRW hand tools, that would prove very interesting.
@@ballinatorI never knew trw and williams is the same There still is an old tool shop barely hanging on in detroit that has some NOS TRW tools scattered through the store I'm going to buy them and it's still owned by the original family it's like 100 years in business
I wonder if the Diamond one was from the Williams & Diamond era? There was also another company called Diamond Horseshoe that made tools. I need to do a video on them at some point too...
@@ballinatorI think that was all the same company they are made in Minnesota they made horseshoes and diamond tools like the adjustable wrenches and combination wrenches one of the finest
As a retired tech I have some Williams tools acquired over the years, I found the quality to be as good as any tool truck brand, also amazon sells Williams tools on line, they aren't as cheap as China stuff but a good lifetime tool to own.
Vulcan tools made it until the late 80's and even had a warehouse in Baltimore, Md. I have a couple tools bought in Va. from dealer in early 80's. TRW branded tools came out as a limited line of basic well made no frills tools to compete on price mainly in the automotive markets in my area. I still have metric sockets and some wrenches I got back in the 80's as well. They must have been ok as I use them daily today and never broke one. Williams was always pushed as a industrial brand and sold through the same supplier network and so they were very expensive and suffered when the economy would struggle and TRW tools were way more market priced and being a US tool it sold OK in my area through TRW stocking warehouses of other lines TRW sold back in the day before TRW sold off many lines and divested in one of the resections. Snap-on would have never kept that line as it would have competed against the Blue Point economy line in the automotive world. I was told when S-O bought Williams they moved product to Georgia and left behind almost all the production equipment in the Vulcan street plant and told Buffalo they could have it as it was all out of date obsolete tooling and lots of it was made in the floor and not worth moving but no way to know that for sure as before the internet and searches.
I have a number of Williams combo open end wrenches. I got them from my father. He got them at his work place, Harris-Seybold, a Dayton, O. manufacturer of offset lithographic printing presses.
I have a bunch of larger size Williams combination wrenches and a few odd sockets. I like them very much. Nice video. Will check out your other ones too.
Very cool video you should do more of them especially the usa manufacturers seeing how we are losing them every year. Like one of my favorites SK thank god we still got williams and wright tool
Thanks for the wonderful video, and a huge thanks for not ruining it with crappy background music. I don't know why some people feel compelled to add annoying background music throughout their videos.
enjoyed your video, you should do one on Billings & Spencer one of their direct competitors in the drop-fing business, Williams was so successful with its wrench lines that most other companies adopted their numbering standard for Industrial wrenches, thus Williams numbering being considered the industrial standard.
The average mechanic would be stunned to find out that many tools sold on tool trucks are not made by the companies whose name is on the side of the truck. There is no secret as to the composition of the material used to make some of these very very expensive wrenches and other tools. It's a matter of having the equipment to make that particular design and any company who does forging and has the material along with proprietary dies can make these wrenches. As a former tool distributor for American made tools, you would be hard-pressed to find anything that is proprietary with respect to design or even quality amongst the truck brands and quality American made products. The difference is one drives around in a truck and brings it to you and charges you for that along with interest and the other one is you go pick it up in a store. You can just order it online and it will be delivered in a few days. The business is changing.
@@darrenc3439 A former neighbor was a "industrial" tool salesman for Snapon. He didn't travel in a truck rather a car to industrial sites like steel mills. The same tools that came off the tool truck were 25% less for industry. Ask me how I know?
@@darrenc3439 For edification, a "Tool distributor" is an entity usually a business that buys tools directly from a/many manufacturers and sells them directly to the user or to another company that is in the business of selling tools. Distributors are not manufacturers they are the middleman. This is where the money is made.
I needed a set of angle wrenches for hydraulics. Those are so expensive from the tool trucks, I decided to try Harbor Freight, junk. Then I bought a full set of Williams, they've been great.
I find it's not that much more for williams tools as the harbor junk tools williams has a usa line and a taiwanez line but the usa stuff is not much more
Great video. Have quite a few Williams hand tools. The S-52 is probably my favorite 1/2” drive ratchet. As far as the drop forge line I don’t think any one ever made a better C-Clamp than Williams. Armstrong would be a close second but Williams will always be #1 in my book.
BTW - I had that chrome craftsman hacksaw I mentioned I was restoring. Ended up using brass wire wheel attachments from a walmart hypertough dremel accesories kit (they were cheapo & used up by this) and I just hammered away at the corrosion until it was knocked down to the chrome's level. Then I buffed with a wool(?) wheel from the same kit. I was lazy but some compound would have helped. Followed that up with ballistol + green scotchbrite just to even out the buffing marks. That didn;t really work, but it looks good enough for me haha. Its back to being shiny with just dull gray spots where the corrosion used to be (you know how that chrome pitting looks, to me this is much better but still shows the history).
Dang just had the idea to use a fallout/rust remover product for car paint on pitted chrome. Doubt I'll have an opportunity to try that anytime soon on chrome tho
That was great! Never purchased very many Williams tools new but have quite a few that I've inherited over the years. I guess I should gather them up and start a "museum"!
I have a 3/8 drive flex head Vulcan ratchet that is my favorite of all time. I use that and a 1/4 drive Blackhawk (Kilness patent New Britain ratchet ) from the 1960’s these are my go to tools. I use them daily.
the supply company my Dad worked for sold williams tools so he had some. i have a couple Williams c clamps that are drop forged so not like the cheap cast steel ones made these days. the williams c clamps won't bent or distort
I've picked up Williams wrenches here & there since the 60's & have used them heavily. A found rust/mud clod turned out to be a Williams 15/16 - 1" offset dbl box end. It got sandblasted 40 yrs ago & morphed into a great tool still in use. It hangs on the side of my mill in honored retirement, used occasionally on the mill head locking nuts. I have a ⅜ version of the Williams ratchet in my To Do pile. Need to make a 2 pin spanner so I can open the head up & fix the ratchet mech. Seems to me I want associate 'Arm Strong' w/ Williams, but it might just be an era competitor.
WF on Craftsman tools is for "Western Forge," a manufacturer that was located in Colorado until a few years ago. They made many of the tools for Sears until somewhere around 2015 or so. They were owned by Ideal Industries for a few years, but unfortunately they couldn't keep them afloat after losing all those Craftsman orders that made up a majority of their business.
Snap On around 1997 to 2003 or so used the Williams plant in Tennessee to produce tools for Lowes Stores under the Kobalt brand. Therefore, for about 5 or 6 years Kobalt tools were actually Snap On. But Lowe's dropped SnapOn and went to Taiwan for the Kobalt tools about 2005. Williams was a great tool.
When ever I’m at a swap meet or garage sale I mostly search for old tools. I buy any tool marked Williams good or bad finish because the functionality is still there and even if they want a premium price it’s worth the nostalgia value.
Williams does live on under Snap--On. It has long appeared to me that Snap-On makes product innovation and brands it Snap-On and passes the older version to the Williams brand. I have picked up several new Williams tools this way. When Snap-On came out with the black on red plastic dead blow series of hammers they seemed to have solved the old solid color handle plastic failure issues. I had red, orange and black Snap--On ded blows that all failed in time. Each were replaced under warranty with the newer version. In recent years I have been buying the yellow solid color Williams brand dead blow mallets for grandsons. They look exactly like the old Snap-On, but the color and logo is different. The plastic seems to be identical to the two tone color Snap-On tools. I own one Williams Super Wrench ratchet. I bought it before the Snap-On acquisition and before Snap-On offered any fine tooth ratchets. It is the round head (1/2 drive) that you pictured. It is a fine tool, but I prefer the pearhead Snap-On ratchets with the even finer tooth design. I have odd Williams wrenches, mostly vintage. I like their industrial C clamps. They rival Armstrong. My vintage Williams wrenches are too clunky for mechanic work, their adjustable wrenches are fine, but nothing special. Vintage Williams lathe tools and wrenches are still useful on vintage machine shop machines. I have their vintage lathe tool holder tools, and they are equivalent to Armstrong. I have been happy with their face and pin spanners. I have vintage Williams sockets that are well made, but aren't chromed. I used to use them until I filled ou my tool chests with Snap-On sockets. Interesed in the Williams and Husky partnership. I think of the modern Husky Home Depot junk brand and I am surprised that Willims was ever connected with that quality level. You indicated some partnership with Craftsman and Indestro, both of which seem inferior to Williams. Interested in the Corwell relationship. Cornwell has sold decent professional tools, but sub par to Snap-On. I only own a few Cornwell tools. Mine are okay, but are marginal quality.
@paulhunt598 Yeah I think when Snap-On comes out with a new design, they re-use the old design for Williams. Husky used to be a legit tool company before the Home Depot thing. I'll do a full video on Husky at some point. Williams did contract production for Craftsman, Indestro & Cornwell. Basically, Williams made the tools in their plant, and stamped the other company's name on them. Many are identical to the Williams version, like the adjustable wrench in the video. As I research these companies, sooo many of them made tools for other brands. Some are identical, some were made to different specs.
@@markusa5521 I do like Snap-On sockets. I think they're the best so anything like them is good too. Snap-On owns Williams today. So it's not surprising the Williams tools are like Snap-On. I think Williams is the Snap-On industrial line of tools. Pros but they're not wrenching on pit row for Formula 1. More these are good to use in the boiler room type of stuff.
I grew up about 5 blocks away from the Vulcan Street plant. I will never forget the sound of the drop forges running through the night. When we needed tools, we would dive their dumpster.
@@csinalabama73 cheaper that way!
I bought a full set of Williams tools in the early 1970s working as a heavy equipment mechanic, they are "Super". The tools were considered the best buy at the time.
I still have Williams tools from my father and grandfather. Great tools.
I'm 70 and have been using hand tools since I was 17. William's tools have always been among my favorites.
I am 71 and have been using tools since I was 8, and also like williams super slim spanners of which I still have a few.
I'm 60 and my brothers took over our transmission shop from our dad ,he's 84 and the Williams offset wrenches have out lasted all of the other wrenches 5 to 1 my dad got them from his boss at the Chevrolet dealership in the early 60 s theas wrenches are almost 100 years old and are my favorite to use ❤ I've worked on cars since 1974
40 year oil field mechanic and my best tools are Williams. Have some from my grandfather that were made in the 1920's. still use them today.
I worked at JH Williams on Vulcan St. back in the early 70's till the early 80's. I was a fork truck driver there.
Great wrenches. Made a living for 53 years on Williams Tools. Thanks Williams.
I received a nice little 1/4" Williams ratchet set as a gift from my much older brother when I was a very young man. He continued giving me tools when I was young. Good tools; Snap-On, Blue point, Craftsman, etc. They formed the nucleus of the tool collection I still use to this day.
Always cool when tools are passed on within the family.
What a nice brother ☺️
I still have my Super Williams wrenches from when I worked my tools. I preferred them because they're longer. I have never broken or bent any Williams wrenches. Great video
Thanks for watching!
I always thought a giant poster that showed all the best quality tool companies over time would be really cool. Envision a sort of sideways root to tree map, showing who merged, spun-off, and closed. The more I know these histories, like in this excellent video, the harder it is to wrap my head around it!
Great idea. I don't think I've scratched the surface yet. There's SOO many companies that I need to research. I'll start working on something like that though.
Somebody did one of these a while back. I saw it in a video.
l used to make Williams wrenches and sockets at T&W Forge in Alliance OH.
Very cool. Was T&W Transue & Williams?
@@ballinator Yes it was
J.H.WILLIAMS tools were early super high quality products . They made the crescent wrenches for Craftsman . Phillips head screwdrivers for SNAP-ON among others . They made the first fine tooth ratchets I do believe . Never had any complaints about their way awesome quality tools .
The S-52 ratchet had a dual pawl ratchet mechanism. I missed mentioning that in the video.
I grew up in Buffalo, New York, when my grandfather died I inherited all of his tools and all the wrenches and most of the sockets were Williams. All standard SAE.
I've worked as a heavy equipment mechanic, for almost 30 years now and I still have those tools in my box Williams.
I remember so many Jokers making fun of me because I had William's tools but they were good tools still are!!!!!!!!
Always nice to see older tools still in service. Yeah, nothing wrong with Williams.
My father bought a set of Williams in the 50s I still use em what a great quality set.
It's been cool to hear about all these old tools that are still in service today.
I'm one of those guys that just enjoyed a quality tool be it a wrench, a wristwatch, an automobile. One of my favourite wrenches, that always has a place on my mobile tool cart is a 1960's vintage 18" Superjustable (non-locking). It gets "borrowed" often and now has many apprentice marks. Perhaps one day I'll restore it.
Thanks for sharing! I wasn't aware about the early "good days" of the company.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
Caterpillar Tractor shipped new machines with Williams Tools in the 40's, 50's, 60's....maybe even earlier or later. That "Superector" pass thru socket wrench that you showed was shipped with cranes made by Link-Belt of Cedar Rapids, Iowa...it was used for counterweight bolt removal & installation.
Very cool. Thanks for the info!
I bought a 3/4 inch drive socket ser from Williams in the late 70s or early 80s. Great tools..
My dad bought me Williams tools in the early 80s excellent tools. Best rachets ever!
I have a few Williams wrenches. I also have a Williams inside the diamond wrench. The super wrench is a great wrench. Thank you for the history of a great American company.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
Williams was a great tool in the 70's and still is today.
The best tools ever made 💪
I’ve acquired a few “SuperWrenches along the way. They are beasts!
I have a full set of those flat shank combo wrenches from the 1960’s 1/4 through 1 1/4. They are my favorites. You can really crank on these and they won’t dig into your hand like others do.
My Williams tools are probably almost 100 years old and none of them have ever failed.
Williams made the very large spanner to remove the chuck nut on my 1957 vintage Cincinnati lathe.
They also had a plant in Columbus Ga. Closed at least 20 years ago. Needless to say if you grew up around Columbus and are of a certain age group you have Williams tools in your box.
Thanks for the info!
we had williams tools in our tool crib when i worked in heavy industry and they were a step above everything on the market !! these were very nice tools in every respect !!
I have a lot of Williams tools...I love them... and proto... and have both old and new tools from both companies..I have some really nice Superrench line wrenches.Also my 3/8 drive impact sockets are all williams...and they are the finest quality IMO.
Good to know I've been looking at the 3/8 impact socket set I'm going to pull the trigger on buying them I have williams standard chrome sockets and they are the best identical to snapon
In the mid 80’s to early 90’s there was aa TRW Vulcan tool truck that drove around the Western suburbs Addison, Villa Park in the industrial parks. I bought a few Superwrench adjustable wrenches off the truck. The boxes shown in the video are identical to the Snap On KRA series boxes of the same years.
Sounds like they might not have been as short lived as I originally thought. Thanks for the info!
I have a wooden Vulcan creeper that says “Vulcan tools, the mechanic’s partner in Better service “. I polished it with transmission fluid to give it a really nice shine. It’s hanging up in my shop as garage art.
@@MarcS-mp1je Very cool. I keep looking for an old wooden creeper to hang up on the wall.
my favorite line of tools ; heavy duty well made.
Thanks for watching. Yeah, they lived up to their "tools of industry" slogan.
I enjoyed your video! I acquired both 6" and 8" J.H. Williams "Superjustable" wrenches in the early 70s, used. They've seen a lot of use over the years and are still in remarkably good condition today.
Thanks for watching! The Superjustables are nice wrenches.
i have a 24" JH Williams adjustable wrench. Had it probably 40 years. It is a good one.
I have a socket set and a combo wrench set my grandfather gave me he had purchased after WW ll and there still in great shape. Thanks for sharing 👍👍🔧🔧🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
i have some williams wrenches in my tool chests a s a retired muscle car restorer i bought every used tool i could find starting out 50 years ago thanks for the vid every entertaining
You're welcome! Thanks for watching.
Love my old Williams tools. The old Goss printing presses used to come with a basic set of Williams stuff. Very HD.
we had a couple maintenance guys who worked at the buffalo plant working in our factory. one brought in an enormous socket that he had in his garage .about 6 inch inside . he said he had no use for it and was cleaning up. we got no use for it either but it's cool to look at.
Sounds like a cool display piece. At one time I had some axle nut sockets I was using as pencil holders, I think they were around 3" though.
I inherited some Williams Superwrenches from my father. They were large wrenches for working on heavy equipment as he was a logger on the west coast. First rate quality.
I own Williams Tools. I bought them in the 1079s. I still have them.
WOW, over a thousand years, they are good tools😁
@@johnoliver1145 Whoops, 1970s. But they are still good tools.
Thanks for the history on my super-wrenches👍
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Love the tool lore. I have some Williams tools that I purchased but most of the Williams stuff I have is over 60yo and belonged to my great grandfather
Thanks! Keep those tools in the family if you can. I still have some of my grandpa's tools that I use.
@@ballinator oh yea. All of the old tools. Snap on, Williams, proto, Mac, etc. staying in the fsm
I started out working for a railroad in 1975. The tools they gave us to work with were Williams. They are great tools and never had any problems with them.
Love the vintage williams open ended wrenches, especially the S shaped ones, I collect them. well presented and nicely put together video!!!
Thanks!
i have a 14 inch supejustable wrench. it's my favorite of all the adjustable wrenches. nothing compares. it's really heavy duty.
Fantastic video! So much information shared. I loved it!
Thanks! Glad you found it interesting.
I own one Williams tool, a 9/16" long combination Superwrench, and it is my favourite over the Crsftsman & Snap On wrenches I have!
I found a singular Superwrench at the local tool thrift store. It is truly a fabulous wrench, very thin compared with other wrenches from the era, extremely strong, and feels nice in the hand. Wish I had a complete set
I frequent flea markets, garage sales and pawn shops . I’ve bought all of my JH Williams tools this way for pennies on the dollar and I’ve completed multiple sets of wrenches and sockets this way and use them all of the time. The quality is so good I don’t worry about them ever failing me. They sure don’t make things like they used to.
Good tool never had one break.
I love your company history and lore series! Thanks for the video!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching.
My uncle worked for jh Williams in the 1970's, in Buffalo, NY. I played soccer on Williams field in the 80's. I inherited some of their tools from my grandfather. RIP Uncle Joel
Very cool. I saw the Williams Park on Google Maps. Looks like there's still some goalposts there.
Does anyone know who owned the company in the late 60's early 70's? It's nice that they still have the soccer fields. My grammar school was a few blocks away. We would run to practice as our warm up. I miss those times......
@@AndrewKiss-km2pl Greenfield owned it until '68, then TRW. It sounds like from some of the other comments I've received, that TRW operated the plant up until they sold it to Snap-on in '93.
@ballinator Thank you so much for the information. J H Williams was a part of my childhood. Many fond memories of my uncle working there and watching my grandfather use the tools he would buy. I still have many of them. My uncle passed away a few years ago. Every time I look in my tool box and see a "Superrench" I think of the good old days!
Thanks for the video. I have Williams, Snap-On, Craftsman and Indestro tools that I use almost daily. But, by far, my favorite wrenches are the Vulcan brand. They just feel good in my hands. I am always on the lookout for them to add to my toolbox. Now I know why they are hard to find as you stated they were only sold a few years by mobile tool trucks.
You're welcome! I've never seen a Vulcan wrench in the wild, but I'm def going to keep an eye out for them now.
I still use older JH Wliiiams and Vulcan tools daily. They are probably my favorite brand of tools even though most of the ones that I use are well over 50 years old and they’ve been used hard. Their durability is outstanding. Every bit as good if not better than Snap On stuff.
I purchased a number of Williams tools 15 years ago when I found out snap on owned them.
Many of the Williams tools are old discontinued Snap on designs pushed over to the Williams line.
Most of the Williams tools I purchased were tools I don't use often so I didn't want to purchase from the Snap On truck.
Really cool video I actually really appreciate this. Thank you.
You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.
We have some Williams brand wrenches in our shop. They were from the founder's tool hoard.
I used these tools at a gas company. The company had the Williams tools at all locations then. I've always felt their tools were better than all others. Hard to find around my part of the country. Still think their the best. The history of Williams tool is very interesting. Thanx for the facts.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the video, I love these explorations of the history of tool companies and all the cool old ads and catalogue pages. I have a WiIliams 1/4" long handle flex-head ratchet that I'm pretty fond of.
Thanks! Glad you're liking the series.
I have a variety of Williams tools, my father was a auto mechanic in the 30's and during WW2. After that he held many diffrent jobs doing mechanical work. I'll look closer now at the Williams wrenches, I think I have unplayed wrenches from the war years.
The war era wrenches are a neat piece of history.
Lowes sold Williams tools for a while under their Kobalt Brand and I have a metric set of Kobalt fully polished combo wrenches that are every bit as well finished as Snap-On wrench sets....This was in the early 200's that I bought these wrenches.
Yes Loew's had them for a short time, beautiful chrome with a 4 sided open end & flank drive on the box end. I bought them before the Kobalt went to the imported junk.
I remember that they are great tools
There was a cartoon in the 70's. Hot-Rod Cartoons with a super hero called SuperWrench. He could snap a bolt with a single twist and his X-ray vision could melt an engine.
I'll have to look that up.
Had some Vulcan since 1970 and have liked/loved them since then!
My daughter came across a bucket full of older sockets, up to 2 3/8" marked Husky, at first I thought they were the Home Depot
Husky and I told her they were not worth a lot. But now that I think of it, they are the American Husky of many years ago.
In my collection of tools being a Mechanic for 46 years, I have some Bonney and Billings tools, as well as Snap-on, Mac and S-K...
Yeah, the older Husky tools were legit.
Great review, thanks. Had no idea that Williams was ever a part of TRW. Recently inherited my father's TRW tool set (from back in the '70s) which didn't include any Williams pieces. (Dad started collecting TRWs back in the early 1970s on the advice a bud who used them at NASA here in Houston. TRW left tool making sometime before the early '90s.) I get most of my Williams tools from eBay.
Interesting about the NASA connection. I've never found a TRW marked tool in-person. I'll be keeping an eye out for them.
@@ballinator I have TRW chisels, punches, boxed-end wrenches, sockets (imperial and metric, deep and shallow), 1/2'" drive ratchet and breaker bar, needle nose plier, and electrician plier. When TRW closed its tools sale, dad went to PROTO. I've added to that collection through the years (have a "health presentation" of PROTO). I really enjoyed your PROTO history vid. Hope you will soon make a history of TRW hand tools, that would prove very interesting.
@@ballinatorI never knew trw and williams is the same There still is an old tool shop barely hanging on in detroit that has some NOS TRW tools scattered through the store I'm going to buy them and it's still owned by the original family it's like 100 years in business
@@markusa5521 Very cool. I still haven't encountered a TRW marked tool IRL. Looked through several bins at the flea market today and didn't find one..
Thank You for this awesome video !
I have a few older Williams wrenches, from my dad, as well a ‘railroad’ adjustable that says Diamond on it
I wonder if the Diamond one was from the Williams & Diamond era? There was also another company called Diamond Horseshoe that made tools. I need to do a video on them at some point too...
@@ballinatorI think that was all the same company they are made in Minnesota they made horseshoes and diamond tools like the adjustable wrenches and combination wrenches one of the finest
I still have piles of craftsman tools from the early 60s
Piles of tools are always good. Thanks for watching!
I’m super interested every time I see and old tool. Thanks
Same here! Thanks for watching.
Great info! I have a few old Williams wrenches in my box I occasionally use!
As a retired tech I have some Williams tools acquired over the years, I found the quality to be as good as any tool truck brand, also amazon sells Williams tools on line, they aren't as cheap as China stuff but a good lifetime tool to own.
Agreed. With them being available on Amazon they're easy to buy.
I found you can buy williams tools for a great price it's not as bad a people think it's not much more then the Chinese tools
Vulcan tools made it until the late 80's and even had a warehouse in Baltimore, Md. I have a couple tools bought in Va. from dealer in early 80's. TRW branded tools came out as a limited line of basic well made no frills tools to compete on price mainly in the automotive markets in my area. I still have metric sockets and some wrenches I got back in the 80's as well. They must have been ok as I use them daily today and never broke one. Williams was always pushed as a industrial brand and sold through the same supplier network and so they were very expensive and suffered when the economy would struggle and TRW tools were way more market priced and being a US tool it sold OK in my area through TRW stocking warehouses of other lines TRW sold back in the day before TRW sold off many lines and divested in one of the resections. Snap-on would have never kept that line as it would have competed against the Blue Point economy line in the automotive world. I was told when S-O bought Williams they moved product to Georgia and left behind almost all the production equipment in the Vulcan street plant and told Buffalo they could have it as it was all out of date obsolete tooling and lots of it was made in the floor and not worth moving but no way to know that for sure as before the internet and searches.
Thanks for all the info! It fills in some details. I'll have to keep an eye out for Vulcan tools, I don't think I've ever come across one in the wild.
I have a number of Williams combo open end wrenches. I got them from my father. He got them at his work place, Harris-Seybold, a Dayton, O. manufacturer of offset lithographic printing presses.
I have a bunch of larger size Williams combination wrenches and a few odd sockets. I like them very much. Nice video. Will check out your other ones too.
Thanks! I plan to keep this series going until I run out of tool companies to research.. Might be a long while.
Very cool video you should do more of them especially the usa manufacturers seeing how we are losing them every year. Like one of my favorites SK thank god we still got williams and wright tool
Thanks! I have a huge list of American tool companies to cover. Next one will be on Armstrong, another one that faded away.
I still have one Williams wrench in my tool kits. No idea where it came from, but it still looks near new.
Its funny how we acquire the tools but have no idea where we got them from. I have some Indestro breaker bars like that.
Thanks for the wonderful video, and a huge thanks for not ruining it with crappy background music.
I don't know why some people feel compelled to add annoying background music throughout their videos.
You're welcome! Yeah, the background music bothers me too. It's always too loud, and/or the wrong tone for the mood of the video...
I also have one of those adjustable wrenches, I inherited it from my great grandfather.
Thanks for watching. I got that wrench in the video from my grandpa too.
I have some Williams spud wrenches I got from my father. He used them, I used them, best wrenches
enjoyed your video, you should do one on Billings & Spencer one of their direct competitors in the drop-fing business, Williams was so successful with its wrench lines that most other companies adopted their numbering standard for Industrial wrenches, thus Williams numbering being considered the industrial standard.
Thanks. I'll add them to the list.
Agreed billings is another great brand
Bonney was another great tool company
@@markusa5521 I agree I own a few bonney tools
The average mechanic would be stunned to find out that many tools sold on tool trucks are not made by the companies whose name is on the side of the truck. There is no secret as to the composition of the material used to make some of these very very expensive wrenches and other tools. It's a matter of having the equipment to make that particular design and any company who does forging and has the material along with proprietary dies can make these wrenches. As a former tool distributor for American made tools, you would be hard-pressed to find anything that is proprietary with respect to design or even quality amongst the truck brands and quality American made products. The difference is one drives around in a truck and brings it to you and charges you for that along with interest and the other one is you go pick it up in a store. You can just order it online and it will be delivered in a few days. The business is changing.
The more I dig into these companies, with all the mergers & buyouts, and the contract manufacturing, they're almost all connected in some way.
lol, a tool "distributor" yea we know who that is and your former company doesnt make shit, just rebrands everyone else's stuff.
@@darrenc3439
A former neighbor was a "industrial" tool salesman for Snapon. He didn't travel in a truck rather a car to industrial sites like steel mills. The same tools that came off the tool truck were 25% less for industry. Ask me how I know?
@@darrenc3439
The average snap on tool salesman makes slightly less than $70,000 per year, again that's average .
@@darrenc3439
For edification, a "Tool distributor" is an entity usually a business that buys tools directly from a/many manufacturers and sells them directly to the user or to another company that is in the business of selling tools. Distributors are not manufacturers they are the middleman. This is where the money is made.
I needed a set of angle wrenches for hydraulics. Those are so expensive from the tool trucks, I decided to try Harbor Freight, junk. Then I bought a full set of Williams, they've been great.
I find it's not that much more for williams tools as the harbor junk tools williams has a usa line and a taiwanez line but the usa stuff is not much more
i started in tool and die in 1977 and remember all the bridgeport milling machines wrenches being williams brand
I have some Williams tools brand new and used from the 70s , nice quality.
Great video. Have quite a few Williams hand tools. The S-52 is probably my favorite 1/2” drive ratchet.
As far as the drop forge line I don’t think any one ever made a better C-Clamp than Williams. Armstrong would be a close second but Williams will always be #1 in my book.
Thanks! Yeah I want to try and track down one of those ratchets. An Armstrong history video is on my list too.
BTW - I had that chrome craftsman hacksaw I mentioned I was restoring. Ended up using brass wire wheel attachments from a walmart hypertough dremel accesories kit (they were cheapo & used up by this) and I just hammered away at the corrosion until it was knocked down to the chrome's level. Then I buffed with a wool(?) wheel from the same kit. I was lazy but some compound would have helped. Followed that up with ballistol + green scotchbrite just to even out the buffing marks. That didn;t really work, but it looks good enough for me haha. Its back to being shiny with just dull gray spots where the corrosion used to be (you know how that chrome pitting looks, to me this is much better but still shows the history).
Nice! Glad it worked out for you.
Dang just had the idea to use a fallout/rust remover product for car paint on pitted chrome. Doubt I'll have an opportunity to try that anytime soon on chrome tho
great video i love old vintage tools and have alot of williams tools
Thanks! I love collecting vintage tools as well.
I think I got one open-end wrench with their name on it and it seems really well-made
That was great! Never purchased very many Williams tools new but have quite a few that I've inherited over the years. I guess I should gather them up and start a "museum"!
Thanks! Yeah I have a lot of old tools sitting in bins, need to find some way to display them too.
Thank you for giving us great info on American tool Brands
You're welcome! Thanks for watching.
I have an S52 super ratchet fine tooth round head 1/2 “ drive! Love it!
Williams has the best ratchets of all time
I have a 3/8 drive flex head Vulcan ratchet that is my favorite of all time. I use that and a 1/4 drive Blackhawk (Kilness patent New Britain ratchet ) from the 1960’s these are my go to tools. I use them daily.
the supply company my Dad worked for sold williams tools so he had some. i have a couple Williams c clamps that are drop forged so not like the cheap cast steel ones made these days. the williams c clamps won't bent or distort
Yup. Forged clamps are way better. I always grab them up when I see them at garage sales & flea markets.
awwww yeah we got another one boys!!
I've picked up Williams wrenches here & there since the 60's & have used them heavily. A found rust/mud clod turned out to be a Williams 15/16 - 1" offset dbl box end. It got sandblasted 40 yrs ago & morphed into a great tool still in use. It hangs on the side of my mill in honored retirement, used occasionally on the mill head locking nuts.
I have a ⅜ version of the Williams ratchet in my To Do pile. Need to make a 2 pin spanner so I can open the head up & fix the ratchet mech.
Seems to me I want associate 'Arm Strong' w/ Williams, but it might just be an era competitor.
Armstrong was a competitor. I have a full video on them also:
ruclips.net/video/DN2CD6ga7fU/видео.html
I like to pick up old branded tools from yard sales.. I have a bunch of Williams tools, still use them definitely not wall hangers..
Same here. Have some that are wall hangers, and some that I use.
My uncle worked there (Buffalo area) after he returned from WWII.
Thanks for watching! Respect for your uncle.
Very cool. I have a bunch of old Williams wrenches in larger sizes.
Thanks! All the Williams tools I've encountered have been good quality.
I still own four specialty wrenches for adjusting valves on hydraulic extrusion presses!
Some U.S. made craftsman tools including pliers are marked "WF". I was told this was "Williams Forge". Can anyone verify or comment?
WF on Craftsman tools is for "Western Forge," a manufacturer that was located in Colorado until a few years ago. They made many of the tools for Sears until somewhere around 2015 or so. They were owned by Ideal Industries for a few years, but unfortunately they couldn't keep them afloat after losing all those Craftsman orders that made up a majority of their business.
I have a set of williams wrenchs that say war production on them from World war 2.
Cool pieces of history!
Snap On around 1997 to 2003 or so used the Williams plant in Tennessee to produce tools for Lowes Stores under the Kobalt brand. Therefore, for about 5 or 6 years Kobalt tools were actually Snap On. But Lowe's dropped SnapOn and went to Taiwan for the Kobalt tools about 2005. Williams was a great tool.
Thanks for the info!
When ever I’m at a swap meet or garage sale I mostly search for old tools. I buy any tool marked Williams good or bad finish because the functionality is still there and even if they want a premium price it’s worth the nostalgia value.
Yeah I'm a bit of a tool hunter at garage sales too. Always dig through that 25 cent bin, there's some gems in there every once in a while.
Nicely done
Thanks!
I have a slue of Williams tools. They are really great tools.
Agreed. Thanks for watching!
Muskegon Mich. also.
My 1/2-9/16 slim is copper plated. Heavy copper.
My fav of them all.
Very cool. I wonder if it was copper plated for a special purpose?
@@ballinator I would guess:
Anti-spark?
Aesthetics?
It is triple plated with heavy copper final coat.
Williams does live on under Snap--On. It has long appeared to me that Snap-On makes product innovation and brands it Snap-On and passes the older version to the Williams brand. I have picked up several new Williams tools this way. When Snap-On came out with the black on red plastic dead blow series of hammers they seemed to have solved the old solid color handle plastic failure issues. I had red, orange and black Snap--On ded blows that all failed in time. Each were replaced under warranty with the newer version. In recent years I have been buying the yellow solid color Williams brand dead blow mallets for grandsons. They look exactly like the old Snap-On, but the color and logo is different. The plastic seems to be identical to the two tone color Snap-On tools.
I own one Williams Super Wrench ratchet. I bought it before the Snap-On acquisition and before Snap-On offered any fine tooth ratchets. It is the round head (1/2 drive) that you pictured. It is a fine tool, but I prefer the pearhead Snap-On ratchets with the even finer tooth design. I have odd Williams wrenches, mostly vintage. I like their industrial C clamps. They rival Armstrong. My vintage Williams wrenches are too clunky for mechanic work, their adjustable wrenches are fine, but nothing special. Vintage Williams lathe tools and wrenches are still useful on vintage machine shop machines. I have their vintage lathe tool holder tools, and they are equivalent to Armstrong. I have been happy with their face and pin spanners. I have vintage Williams sockets that are well made, but aren't chromed. I used to use them until I filled ou my tool chests with Snap-On sockets.
Interesed in the Williams and Husky partnership. I think of the modern Husky Home Depot junk brand and I am surprised that Willims was ever connected with that quality level. You indicated some partnership with Craftsman and Indestro, both of which seem inferior to Williams. Interested in the Corwell relationship. Cornwell has sold decent professional tools, but sub par to Snap-On. I only own a few Cornwell tools. Mine are okay, but are marginal quality.
@paulhunt598 Yeah I think when Snap-On comes out with a new design, they re-use the old design for Williams. Husky used to be a legit tool company before the Home Depot thing. I'll do a full video on Husky at some point. Williams did contract production for Craftsman, Indestro & Cornwell. Basically, Williams made the tools in their plant, and stamped the other company's name on them. Many are identical to the Williams version, like the adjustable wrench in the video. As I research these companies, sooo many of them made tools for other brands. Some are identical, some were made to different specs.
Williams made good tools.
Agreed.
They still do the sockets chrome are almost identical to snapon
@@markusa5521 I do like Snap-On sockets. I think they're the best so anything like them is good too. Snap-On owns Williams today. So it's not surprising the Williams tools are like Snap-On. I think Williams is the Snap-On industrial line of tools. Pros but they're not wrenching on pit row for Formula 1. More these are good to use in the boiler room type of stuff.