Description: The story of Indestro Manufacturing, a former bottle capper maker, and Duro Metal Products is well worth reading (http://alloy-artifacts.org/duro-indestro.html#history), but not if you want to determine when one of their tools was produced. The 1930s, when Indestro and Duro became a single company in fact, if not in name, is part of the age of highly competitive growth of tool manufacturing in America. Duro was known for its high quality and Indestro became known for it’s value despite the reality that there was little substantive difference between the tools each produced. Early 20th century did not produce tools with future collectors in mind. Competition and demand were fierce especially as the automobile industry grew. Some manufacturers made it relatively easy to determine when a tool was produced by adding date-codes. Some companies forged different versions of their names onto their tools and did so in a consistent manner. Others . . . not so much. One money-saving decision by Indestro in the mid-1930s was the use of a carbon-manganese steel. It is arguably an alloy steel, but is cheaper and not usually considered equivalent to “true” alloy-steel. Indestro chose to name tools made with carbon-manganese steel, “Select” and because of the high quality of their manufacturing techniques the tool proved to be equivalent to, or nearly so, to more expensive alloys of steel. Select Steel was used into at least the early 1960s and beyond that with no indication of the “Select Steel” name into the 1970s. This Wrench matches the general characteristics of Select Steel Wrenches produced during the latter part of World War II. There is no Indestro name, but the Wrench maintains the distinctive, “streamlined”, indented panel first implemented in 1937. The no-name, generic labeling was typical on wartime production and also made it possible to modify the tools to bear names of contracting companies without having to remove the Indestro name. Because of the design of this Wrench and the use of an industry standard model number we think this matches the Wrench as produced between 1944 and 1945. The Wrench is in good condition. It should clean-up well. It is straight and true. It bears no evidence of significant misuse and no abuse. The Wrench could serve as an everyday working tool or a respected piece of mid-century quality production. We will ship the Wrench by USPS 1st Class Mail on the next regular business day following receipt of payment.
Price: 20 USD
Location: Gainesville, Florida
End Time: 2023-11-23T19:57:29.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Brand: Indestro Manufacturing
