I put these two sets together from 3 ebay auctions over the last few weeks. Both sets, 5499, the big set and 5493, the medium set were made by Greenfield Tool & Die for Sears. The newest catalog I could find them in is the 1948 Hand Tool Book that m_fumich posted last week. Thanks again Matt!
This is absolutely the best tap and die sets that I have ever seen. They use a chaser system that you can adjust to control the thread diameter. Tighter or looser. There is a set of chasers and a threaded cast iron guide bushing for each thread size. The chasers drop into tapered pockets in the handle and then the guide bushing threads in after to hold them in. There are little set screws in the side to fine tune thee thread diameter. The large handle in the 5499 set is 22 inches long! I bought the 5493 Medium sized set complete. It will thread from 1/4-20 to 1/2-13. The larger 5499 set goes from 1/4-20 to 3/4-18.
The boxes are in great condition with the logos mostly there. The cases are machined from large slabs of mahogany
I am still looking for a medium sized handle and a 14 1/2 in tap wrench to complete the big set.
Does anyone know when Sears quit using the C-underlined logo?
