Craftsman Special Purpose? What for?

[kxxr]

Could it be a sharpening steel for putting a fine edge on a knife?

The blade doesn't look long enough to be a sharpening steel to me...

I don't see any sign of any other markings on the handle. The "Craftsman" name is marked into the plastic so that if the color was rubbed off, the name would still be visible in the right light. I don't see anything else on it.
The texture of the steel is such that it could be a burnisher. At first I thought it was just because it had been allowed to rust a little bit, but the rusting is only microscopic. A quick rub with steel wool would remove the rust but not the texture. I used it to sharpen some scissors and it seems to work well for that purpose. The shaft is shiny where the scissors were worked against it.

[kxxr]

Could be as simple as a phillips that never made it to the final grind. 
I have found the small insert type tips that didn't make the final grind either.

I thought it could be that too. But, given the diameter and weight of the steel, I would expect the shaft to be a good 6 inches longer and for the handle to be a little larger. Also, since the shaft is 'textured', doesn't appear to have been chromed and seems very hard, I think it was made this way on purpose.

[lauver]

Sears did have a sharpening steel, but this is only a few years ago.  I think it was WF.

Thanks for the photo and info... good work.

Do you have a catalog that shows this tool?  What catalog year,  and what section of the catalog was it in.  I need a starting point.

Also the photo supplied by kxxr has a handle style that is pretty old (pre 1960 I'm guessing).  I have old catalogs and can search them, but it helps to know where Sears would hide such a tool in their catalogs.  Would this tool be with screwdrivers, or with awls and reamers, or with kitchen knives, or with bar-b-que and back yard accessories?

Your thoughts please...

[kxxr]

The handle on the thing I have does lood the same as the "Super-Tuff" ones in the 1954 catalog, as suggested earlier. I sure don't see this one in there though. I looked at several catalogs, including power tools on the Rose site but didn't spot it anywhere. I only looked in the tool catalogs though. I went looking for the sharpening steel and found it as number 41625 in several places. It must be fairly recent. Harry Epstein's has it in stock.

[lauver]

kxxr & others interested,

After an exhaustive catalog search I finally found this tool.  It is not a screwdriver, or a burnisher, or a steel.  Are you ready for this?

It is a no. 6497 grinding wheel dresser.  It featured a diamond tip (don't know if yours still has the diamond) and was sold from 1944 - 1954.  The one you have with the narrow fluted handle with a ball on the end was sold from 1952-1954, and then this type of dresser was discontinued altogather.

Who would have guessed?

EDIT: A bit of trivia--  Why did this wheel dresser disappear?  We'll probably never know for sure, but I note that the diamond tipped dresser cost $4.25 while the more conventional two-wheel dresser cost $0.95 in 1954.  So it could be a case where it was just too expensive, and consequently, few were sold.  The conventional and less expensive two-wheel dresser design, on the other hand, is still being sold today.

[Branson]

>Who would have guessed?

I might have, if I'd known they made diamond dressers without a fence to guide them.  I used one
to dress the grindstones on my stone cutting  machines back in the '60s.

[lauver]

Branson,

I might have guessed too, had I known there was a diamond on the tip of tool.  But this information was not presented and it was not obvious from the photos. 

I think the catalogs described this tool as a "free-hand" wheel dresser.  I've never used one so I don't know how easy or effective it would be to use.

I do have a couple of grinding wheel that need a good dressing though.  Hey kxxr, could you send that bad boy over to my house so I can try it out?  I'll try not to knock the diamond out of its setting.

[kxxr]

  Well jeez boys, I might have guessed too had it said "grinding wheel dresser" on the handle or had I reason to suspect there was a diamond under that crud, but the way it looks in the picture is pretty much how it looked in real life - blunt. The dirt had filled in the crevices and made it look just like it had been machined that way ... at least to my untrained eye :)  No diamond was obvious even with the tool in hand.
  Thanks Lauver, for hunting it down and figuring it out. It was kind of driving me crazy that there was a Craftsman tool that couldn't be found. Were you able to find it listed in a catolog?
  It does sound expensive considering you could buy a whole collection of tools for $4.25 back then. Thanks again!


Yeah, I tried it out and scuffed it up. Definitely something very hard in there.

[Tool Pants]

Good detective work Lauver.  1/3 carat industrial diamond.

[lbgradwell]

Good work Gary!

[kxxr]

Good detective work Lauver.  1/3 carat industrial diamond.

damn! what book is that in?

[lauver]

kxxr,

It's in the 1945-1954 catalogs, but the handle went thru several variations.  This tool with your particular handle style was in the 1952-1954 catalogs.

[Branson]

I think the catalogs described this tool as a "free-hand" wheel dresser.  I've never used one so I don't know how easy or effective it would be to use.
I do have a couple of grinding wheel that need a good dressing though.  Hey kxxr, could you send that bad boy over to my house so I can try it out?  I'll try not to knock the diamond out of its setting.

I didn't have much luck with what I had, but I was young and impatient 50 years ago.  Might have better luck now.  Free-handing with one of these, however, would still give me a problem, I think.

[lauver]

Bransen,

Well, I'm about to find out how well these wheel dressers work.  I think I am going to buy a traditional model with 1 or 2 star wheels.  My grinder wheels are out of round and are no longer straight across the face.  This should be interesting. Wish me luck...

[Branson]

Bransen,

Well, I'm about to find out how well these wheel dressers work.  I think I am going to buy traditional model with 1 or 2 star wheels.  My grinder wheels are out of round and are no longer straight across the face.  This should be interesting. Wish me luck...

Just try to take as little off at a pass as possible.  That should help.  Tell us how it works out.