Walden wrench for what??

[coolford]

Picked up this wrench which is either 3/8 or 13/32 inch square female.  It is marked Walden Worcester made in USA in one place and in another is Sawoods Mach. Co., Boston Mass USA and the number 32.  I suppose it was a special order and might be fairly uncommon, that is unless Sawoods bought many of them for machines they manufactured.  Any ideas??

[bill300d]

There was a woodworking machine co named S. A. Woods in Boston. Could be from them and if so I would suspect either a shop tool marked so no one walks off with it or provided to the customer with the machine.

[bill300d]

http://www.vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/imagedetail.aspx?id=8743
on the left side of this machine in this ad are some tools for it. Can't quite tell if yours is hanging there but if not it wouldn't be a stretch to think yours came from one of their machines

[coolford]

Oh me, much thanks, that is some machine and with the S.A.Woods name on the wrench it is obvious that it was for one of their machines.  Kind of interesting that Walden made wrenches for other than the automotive field.  Maybe the 32 on the wrench matched one of their machines.

[gibsontool]

Woods is a well know name in the sawmill industry. I have seen many of there wood planers still in use. Your tool looks like it was most likley used to tighten the bolts that hold the cutting knives on the rotating heads.These machines had 4 heads or rotating drums,bottom sides and top that have anywhere from 4 to 20 cutters set into the drum. Very similar to an electric hand planer. Todays planers run up to at least 1600 feet per minute and the knives must be kept sharp to do the job properly.
 I been retired for 10 years so feed speeds could now be well above 1600 FPM

[coolford]

Gibson-tool-----Thanks for the information, it is appreciated.