McKaig Hatch 11" adjustable

[Alasdair Brass]

Hi guys,
Amongst my collection, I have an 11" McKaig Hatch adjustable wrench that fits the specifications (and the socket) perfectly. Because MH were an established supplier to Ford, could this be considered correct for a GPW? If so, I was thinking it might be a nice match to my McKaig Hatch pliers.

Regards
Al

[lucas]

My opinion-----nice match!!!!! (but a photo at your convenience would also be nice)......

[Alasdair Brass]

I'll take some pics tonite Lucas, should have thought about that!

Al

[Alasdair Brass]

Photos

[Roger]

Nice Al...Not sure i have ever seen one in the 11" size. Lots of them out there in 9".......Great find!

[lucas]

Good find; I also have never seen a 11" MH.....

[Alasdair Brass]

Thanks guys! What do you think about it being OK for a GPW?

Al

[lucas]

My vote is OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>nice rare wrench..................Waiting for others to vote.....

[lucakiki]

Please do not blame me for saying something so pathetically obvious: all Auto type adjustables are similar, and " families" of very similar ones can be seen...
I seem to remember how in the past someone expressed the thought that some might actually come from a same plant.
It does make sense.

Al, this nice MC Kaigh you show is very similar to some Fairmount Cleveland's and to a BHM of which I had posted a picture in the past already.Also very similar to the Barcalo Buffalo seldom seen one.







Outside of some 100% safe bets I think that many other adjustables fall in a kind of "why not ?" category.
Definitely this is what I would say for the BHM, for the Barcalo Buffalo, for your Mc Kaigh, etc.
The lack of information is even worse for the crescent type 8" adjustables.
I would welcome any further constructive discussion.
The alloy artifacts site is not helping that much, unfortunately.

[Alasdair Brass]

Thanks guys, I've started to restore it. Luca, I've even seen British made wrenches that are all but identical too so the "Monkey Wrench" design went worldwide.

Some comments about this MH wrench. The worm wheel pin is not threaded, it is a plain pin fitted and the hole is simply peined to stop it escaping. The two main parts of the wrench have been dipped in black prior to assembly. No paint visible on the worm wheel or pin. The moving jaw is very soft, not sure why but I was able to hammer much of the jaw damage flat. It opens to 3" 1/4. Apart from the MH name on the handle, there appears to be an "4" or "A" cast into the valley of the handle close to the head end.

I'll put a pic up when done.

Regards
Al

[lucakiki]

Al, if it does make a little of sense, I would divide the aspect of adjustables according to the aspect of the handle at the top.
The ones like your one and the others that I posted: no enclosure of sort at the top of the scallop/ valley/ whatever we decide to call that... The famous Moore 12" has the same treatment.
Then there are those with an enclosure of sort, like the Billings & Spencer as pictured in the WOA Drawing, and a bunch of others, including Fairmounts, Crescent,etc.

I have a guts feeling that the open scallop was an earlier design, but that is possibly just my idea.

Will gladly see your wrench once restored!

[Roger]

If so, I was thinking it might be a nice match to my McKaig Hatch pliers.

Or a nice threesome for an early Jeep.

[Alasdair Brass]

It's all finished now and looks pretty good I reckon. All three would look good together but I do have a very nice 8" Crescent, probably unused.

Al

[Chuck Lutz]

The McKaig=Hatch 11" Adj. is not verified as a Ford-purchase for the GPW.

Having said that, we don't have much info that is DEFINITIVE and the best clue so far is the Bizal late-war tool kit which has a MOORE in it. We do know that MH was a prewar supplier to Ford and that is worthy of SOME consideration, but many tool companies that supplies Ford in the prewar years are not guaranteed to have been suppliers to them (at least for the GPW) and accepted by the g503 so as was mentioned, it has no REAL link to the GPW beyond the MH/Ford prewar connection.

I believe that Jim Gilmore made the BHM connection to Ford tool kits but that was for 1 1/2 ton trucks so you have to take that connection at that value also.

The fact that the number of 11' MHs we know of is....probably counted on less digits than most people have...kind of says that they were NOT used in GPWs or at least not in any quantity it would seem.

I think at this point in time the "matching" mfger concept of tool kits has been less and less accepted, bar the five wrenches being from ONE company. The MH pliers design is pretty cheesy compared to Danielson and others and would have been CHEAP and that would have been fine for Henry's prewar car tool kits so it is a decent choice for a GPW kit.

I'd say that if you did not have a MOORE for the kit which has a better pedigree, then the MH would be another choice similar to your Fire Extinguisher which you chose just to mess with the Ford owners heads. Luca's investigation into the possibility of dating the 11" Adj by the characteristics of the OPEN handle or OPEN head GROOVE is one that is interesting and may very well be correct, but we just don't have enough data to confimr that, I myself am following that concept but it may only be correct for a particular mfger and not have the same dates of change for other mgers. Still, it holds promise to aid in dating each mfgers' 11" Adj.

As for the 8" Adj. I would think the link to Barcalo via the wrenches would be a better choice than Crescent Tool Company for a GPW. (see Roger's pic as that style is probably a winner!)

Here is the layout of the tag from the Bizel kit:

John_Bizals_Spare_Parts-Tool_Kit_Photos_3.jpg (85.79 KiB) Viewed 479 times

PS...there are some repops of this tag with an incorrect layout/font, etc.!

[lucakiki]

Al, i am sure you knew that your McKaigh would be not accepted as a 100% safe bet!
If we read old posts, something I do often because I think it is both entertaining and educational, we can see that not even the Moore 12" at first was very welcome, and even pooh poohed as " prewar leftover they had around when they snapped the picture": no, I kid you not.
The merit for the "discovery" of the Moore goes to Sean, and that was way before the Bizal kit.
By the way, it was Kevin Monahan who observed how the pliers in the famous "Ford" picture look very much like Mc Kaigh.

Al, before someone misunderstands me, let me clarify that my idea of open grove as an indicator of age is merely a "guts feeling" mainly based on observing Fairmounts.Nothing more than that.

As for the 8", I really have no clue on which brand might be a correct choice, but I do not think this thread is the perfect place to do so. I had started a specific thread for 8", but the success was not overwhelming.

viewtopic.php?f=48&t=180964

One could legitimately ask why if Barcalo's supplier status for wrenches would suggest Barcalo 8", the same would not apply to the auto 11"adjustable.
But we now know that all matching brand is not a must at all, and more of a Willys thing, if ever...