Nobody, huh? (Where are you, benjy?!) OK, I'll fill you in...
I recognized the Britool logo on the small box on the bottom and confirmed with the seller that the large box top left was also Britool. It turned out the guy was a fellow Newfie who was selling his daughter's FIL's tools. He had not bothered trying to sort the sets and could not say how many of the tools in the boxes were actually Britool, but I decided it was worth the 20-minute drive to take a look since Britool was a brand not represented in my collection and I never see any (which is a bit surprising here in the colonies given how many older English ex-pats are here).
Also, the fellow would not entertain any offers for just the two Britool boxes; I had to buy it all or none. I took a quick look in the fellow's garage and saw enough Britool pieces that I thought it was worth it, so home they came with me.
After much sorting and cleaning, here is what I have:
The tools are a mixture of AF (which is British nomenclature for "Across the Flats"; that is, SAE), Whitworth/BSF and BA (British Association). The SAE stuff has been well-used, but the other stuff, while used, is in very good condition and has likely not seen much use in decades.
The larger box is mostly 3/8"-drive, with a few 1/2"-drive sockets mixed in.
Everything in the box is Britool except for the eight sockets bottom centre and the sliding t-bar to the left of the ratchet. All those tools are yet another famous old British brand called Bedford!
I thought the smaller box was 1/4"-drive, but it turned out to be a very nice 9/32"-drive set of small AF and BA sizes! I had quite a decent collection of Whitworth stuff already, but I had none of these small ignition sizes, so I am well-pleased to now have a complete set down to 8BA. That 8BA now has the distinction of being the smallest socket I own; it is smaller than 3/32" at 2.2mm!
This small set is in much better condition that the larger one and features a ratchet, a breaker bar, a sliding t-handle and an 8" extension - all in pristine condition.
Also included in this box was a 1/4"-drive vintage Bahco ratchet and extension along with 3 more BA sockets! These are actual Swedish-made Bahco:
And finally, here are the three new ratchets that have entered my collection:
So, all said, I am very happy to have added three "new" brands to my collection!
Besides the above, there was also a smattering of other brands - about 10 Gray sockets, and singles of Duro-Chrome, Kraeuter, MAC, Herbrand and something else. One of the Gray sockets completed a set for me.
Even though I am a frugal man, I would have been happy to pay the $50 for this stuff, but I repackaged the other 3 sets of junk - very poor quality Japanese stuff from the 1970s - and re-listed it on kijiji the same day. Two of the sets sold for $20 on Friday and I have no doubt the other will fetch an additional $10 soon!
Sweet. :)
