The Stubbies. What can I say about the Stubbies other than they’re stubby. They are made to get into tight, hard to reach places. These first appeared in the 1997 – 1998 Craftsman Tool Catalog right below the “huge” wrenches in Reply #37. They were smooth, full polish, shorter versions of their Long Pattern cousins, the Gen1. The word “Professional” is not stamped anywhere on them, but the pouch they come in says “Professional” and the page in the catalog says “PRO” at the top. Maybe there just wasn’t room because they’re, well, they're stubby. They were sold in sets: the 7-piece set for $29.99, SAE from 3/8” to 3/4" and metric from 10mm to 18mm minus the 11mm. And then there was the 4-piece larger sizes, also for $29.99, 13/16” to 1” and 19mm to 22mm. There was also an open stock list. Each set came in a plastic pouch with the word “professional” like I mentioned. Although the wrenches were Guarantied “Forever”, I don’t think the pouches were. They got beat up, torn and cracked pretty fast. In the 1997 “Special Holiday” catalog they offered a full 11-piece set, also in a “reusable storage pouch”. I have never seen the 11-piece pouch. Only the 7 and the 4-piece. This is when Craftsman started color coding their display/organizers, black for SAE and grey for metric.
All the wrenches were stamped U.S.A. and also had the sideways “K” to indicate they were made by S-K tools and the open end was on the left, just like the Gen 1. So, all is right with the world. Hold on. One year later, 1998 – 1999 catalog, “NEW”, “Stubby Wrench Sets”. But they were “New” last year. Upon closer examination you’ll find they are not the same as last year’s model. They now have a raised panel on the handle but are still fully polished and, the open end is now on the right. The size is stamped on both sides where the previous ones only had it stamped on the front. But the biggest difference of all is the sideways “K” is gone and has been replaced with -VV-. These were made by Danaher Tool Corporation. (reply #16)
There was one thing that didn’t change on these newer wrenches. The part numbers. Craftsman used the same part numbers even though they were made by a different company. These newer wrenches also came in a 7-piece set with the same part numbers as the old 7-piece sets. If you ordered one of these sets back in 1998, who knows what you might get. The wrenches no longer came in the flimsy vinyl pouch. Now, the 7-piece set came in a rather substantial plastic holder with clips for each wrench. The 4-piece, large wrench set is completely gone but you could buy all of them in a new 11-piece set. The 11-piece set came in the same, semi flimsy, plastic display/organizer as the Gen 1 wrenches, complete with the clear plastic, flimsy keeper with all the structural integrity of a potato chip.
The stubby wrench would remain unchanged for at least the next 13 years until, well…..I’m not sure. I found them in my 2009 – 2010 catalog, then I have a gap in my catalog collection. I have nothing from 2011. I have a 2012 – 2013 catalog and I searched through all the Craftsman, Evolve, GearWrench, Viper, Max Axsess, S-curved, Half Moon crap and found nothing but a ratcheting Stubby by GearWrench. But wait, all is not lost, Craftsman Industrial made and sold them for a few years longer. And if you’re really desperate, Craftsman is currently selling stubby wrenches made in China (but I would pick up a good set on eBay, they're still out there).
Thanks for reading.
Todd F.
(If they managed to fit “Craftsman Industrial” on the stubby wrench , how come they couldn’t fit “Craftsman Professional”?)
