Lectrolite, Lectrolite Tru Fit

d42jeep · May 31, 2024

Probably late ‘40s at the earliest, unlikely to be newer than ‘60 when they quit supplying Dunlap wrenches to Sears.
-Don

ninosca9 · May 31, 2024

d42jeep said:
Probably late ‘40s at the earliest, unlikely to be newer than ‘60 when they quit supplying Dunlap wrenches to Sears.
-Don

Thanks so much!

Old Radar · Jun 24, 2024

Picked up this fairly minty Lectrolite No. 1711R combo roll at an estate sale this weekend. It only had minor spots of rust, most notably on the open end edge of the largest wrench. The roll contained a folded up 1961 MC361 joint S-K/Lectrolite abbreviated catalog so this must have been made just before the 1962 acquisition of both companies by Symington-Wayne.

d42jeep · Jun 24, 2024

I think that tools marked S-K Wayne actually started in ‘64. They must have had inventory to sell off plus they had to redo all the dies. That roll is in great shape, much better than mine, found at the late lamented Tahoe flea in 2017.

-Don

d42jeep · Jul 20, 2024

Found this little cad plated Lectrolite DBE wrench today at a yard sale. I cleaned it very carefully.

-Don

d42jeep · Oct 27, 2024

I found the bottom two Lectrolite short DBE wrenches today at a garage sale. These are all the Lectrolite wrenches I found this summer.

-Don

d42jeep · Nov 18, 2024

Among the rusty tools I found at a couple of sales on Saturday were these groove joint 16” Lectrolite pliers. After they came out of the evaporust I found that the spots on the handle were actually blobs of weld. I minimized those with the belt sander and die grinder. They are still kind of unattractive but fully functional.
-Don
As found

Cleaned up and blobs removed.

d42jeep · Feb 8, 2025

I found this metric DOE set at an Oakland sale this morning. They aren’t marked but are obviously Lectrolite wrenches.

-Don

d42jeep · Mar 28, 2025

I found some more Lectrolite wrenches at today’s estate sale. I liked the big DBE wrench, looking very S-K like.

These metric DOE wrenches are difficult for me to leave behind.

-Don

scottybk · Mar 30, 2025

In NJ the old Lectrolite DBE's pop up constantly at estate/yard sales and flea markets, usually dirt cheap. I think some of the early ones may have been japanned finished like the old sears Dunlops were?

Shelbylex · Mar 30, 2025

Scottybk, time to pick them up and share with us!

Farmer Phill · Apr 6, 2025

Long time listener first time poster. This wonderful Lectrolite thread motivated me to register. I have a special affection to the SK lineage of tools due to a former employer that, at one time, was a SK dealer and still had a little NOS inventory at the time.

While I am sure there is more around, these are a recent score of mine. The 2 larger ones have a better finish but more of an industrial chrome finish and the smallest is a little rougher finish with more of a mirror chrome finish like I'm used to seeing in the SK line. I am also waiting on a new canvas roll to come in so I can trade it for a decent condition Lectrolite roll.

Shelbylex · Apr 6, 2025

Nice!
Welcome to GJ, Farmer Phill!

scottybk · Apr 7, 2025

Shelbylex said:
Scottybk, time to pick them up and share with us!

I'm going to maybe hit some sales this weekend. Yesterday was raining and I fired up the wire wheel on my bench grinder to clean up some other old wrenches I'd forgotten I even had. I'm not a "tool polisher," I spend about 3 to 5 mins per wrench just to get them decent and back into service. I will say those old Lectrolite DBE wrenches are not easy to clean up. The wire wheel doesn't seem to improve them much. I might try an electrolysis bath for a couple days and see what happens. I'm pretty sure the handle parts were originally japanned just like the DOE Dunlaps were. Once in a blue moon I'd come across a Dunlap with a hint of the old japanning still on there.

When I was a hound for yard sales like 10- 15 years ago, the Lectrolite and Dunlap wrenches were everywhere. These old tools may not be as common "in the wild" anymore as the WW2 generation are now mostly already dead or in nursing care, so less yard sales with homes that have original 1940s/50s stuff around. But man was a ton of that stuff sold. I'd bet Dunlap and Lectrolite outsold C'Man by like a 20 to 1 ratio or more. Lot of old Billings stuff used to pop up around here too, esp. the big wrenches in 1" and up sizes. And for dirt cheap too. The pre-smartphone era was a golden age for cheap used stuff.

d42jeep · Apr 9, 2025

Farmer Phill said:
Long time listener first time poster. This wonderful Lectrolite thread motivated me to register. I have a special affection to the SK lineage of tools due to a former employer that, at one time, was a SK dealer and still had a little NOS inventory at the time.

While I am sure there is more around, these are a recent score of mine. The 2 larger ones have a better finish but more of an industrial chrome finish and the smallest is a little rougher finish with more of a mirror chrome finish like I'm used to seeing in the SK line. I am also waiting on a new canvas roll to come in so I can trade it for a decent condition Lectrolite roll.

Your large Lectrolite combos are very nice and not common. Here are my four that live in my user box. Mine only go from 13/16” up to 1”.

-Don

Farmer Phill · Apr 14, 2025

d42jeep said:
Your large Lectrolite combos are very nice and not common. Here are my four that live in my user box. Mine only go from 13/16” up to 1”.
-Don

Don, I'm guessing your collection is older since they have 4 digit part numbers. Mine have the 32nd numbering system like the SK line.

d42jeep · Apr 14, 2025

Dad’s Tools posted upthread about the variety of part numbers that Lectrolite used prior to their collaboration with S-K. I have quite a few wrenches with the S-K type numbering system posted earlier in the thread.

-Don

Provincial · Apr 28, 2025

Found quite a few Tru-Fit wrenches on the dollar tables at Sunday's auto swap meet.

3005 DBE 13/16 x 7/8
2005 DBE 13/16 x 7/8
2004 DBE 3/4 x 13/16
2003 DBE 5/8 X 11/16
5001 DBE short 3/8 x 7/16

Farmer Phill · Apr 29, 2025

I finally got my Lectrolite wrench roll traded for. I gave it a good cleaning and am happy with the results.

I happened across a few more Lectrolite wrenches in my garage when I was looking for something else so that was a bit of a surprise. I decided to put everything together. Now to scour garage sales and flea markets to fill in the rest.

chief770 · Jun 2, 2025

Lectrolite Stillson pattern pipe wrenches are cheap and plentiful on Ebay, but this set grabbed my attention and found its way into my collection. Came upon this thread while trying to date them.

four.cycle · Jun 2, 2025

^ Chrome pipe wrenches? :headscrat

RTM · Jun 2, 2025

four.cycle said:
^ Chrome pipe wrenches?

I'm guessing done after it left the factory. Any date code clues on those?

four.cycle · Jun 2, 2025

^ Or possibly one-offs made up for a trade show?

chief770 · Jun 2, 2025

The 1964 S-K Wayne catalog still shows the LC logo but in reality, the wrenches that were branded S-K Wayne did not have the LC logo. My guess is that were manufactured sometime before mid 60s.

chief770 · Jun 2, 2025

four.cycle said:
^ Chrome pipe wrenches?

Ridgid and Walworth made chrome “anniversary” wrenches as well, suitable for gifting or awarding for years of service.

scottybk · Jun 23, 2025

I see and have quite a few DBE Lectrolites. They are always brown and rusty in the wild. I was never into them as they seem just bleh to me. I like C'man and Proto and Williams, I leave the Lectrolite to other pickers. I choose not to pick Lectrolite. It just has zero appeal to me.

d42jeep · Jun 23, 2025

To each their own. Here is a Lectrolite TruFit DBE wrench found at a sale on Saturday.

These Lectrolite wrenches are quite attractive and similar in appearance to S-K wrenches since they were made in the same factory.

-Don

3baygarage · Jun 23, 2025

scottybk said:
I see and have quite a few DBE Lectrolites. They are always brown and rusty in the wild. I was never into them as they seem just bleh to me. I like C'man and Proto and Williams, I leave the Lectrolite to other pickers. I choose not to pick Lectrolite. It just has zero appeal to me.

I know what you mean about Lectrolite. Now don’t get me wrong, I sure buy my fair share of rusty tools. In fact, I just never really bought them because they seem so plain. Plain but well built. Lectrolite and brands like Duro, Indestro, Barcalo, Vlchek, and many others when it comes to wrenches, I kind of just left behind. For quite a while anyway.

Then we have guys like Don who bring all these brands to light. Sort of the underdog brands. I mean, not everyone needs to collect Snap-On (I do however think Snap-On has grown on Don as of late

). It’s what makes the hobby fun though. For the longest time most brands were dirt cheap, but I think some of the others, most all quality stuff anyway, started getting more and more attention and the market shifted a bit.

scottybk · Jun 26, 2025

3baygarage said:
I know what you mean about Lectrolite. Now don’t get me wrong, I sure buy my fair share of rusty tools. In fact, I just never really bought them because they seem so plain. Plain but well built. Lectrolite and brands like Duro, Indestro, Barcalo, Vlchek, and many others when it comes to wrenches, I kind of just left behind. For quite a while anyway.

Then we have guys like Don who bring all these brands to light. Sort of the underdog brands. I mean, not everyone needs to collect Snap-On (I do however think Snap-On has grown on Don as of late ). It’s what makes the hobby fun though. For the longest time most brands were dirt cheap, but I think some of the others, most all quality stuff anyway, started getting more and more attention and the market shifted a bit.

The font used on Lectrolite is so boring, on the chrome wrenches and those old brown ones. I would have made the letter "L" in a lightning bolt shape. It's such a cool name but the font and styling is just so blah.

Mintgrun · Jun 30, 2025

scottybk said:
The font used on Lectrolite is so boring, on the chrome wrenches and those old brown ones. I would have made the letter "L" in a lightning bolt shape. It's such a cool name but the font and styling is just so blah.

This L isn't fantsy enough for you?!

I've had these wrenches for a while and today I realized there's a funny one in the bunch.

LECTRLITE?

I like the long-top T and F in the TRU-FIT logo.
I also like the raised letters/numbers/panel style.
(I like brown tools too).

d42jeep · Jun 30, 2025

d42jeep said:
I finally found a picture of a misspelled Lectrolite DBE wrench I had quite a while back. I joked at the time that it needed to buy a vowel.
-Don

Buy a vowel wrench.
We are now up to three on the GJ.

-Don

Mintgrun · Jul 3, 2025

A few months ago I found a partial "set" of Tru Fit combination wrenches and bought them, even though they didn't exactly match each other. They're the pretty gray-brown style, although most of the brown washed off with a toothbrush and Lava soap.

I like the raised letter style the best and was happy to find that I already had a few at home to mix in, but the closer I looked the more variation I saw. Raised panels, sunken ones; raised letters/numbers, stamped ones. Fractions before or after the name; right hand slashes and left hand; Tru-Fit with-hyphens and without and that's just one side of the wrench!

I left half a dozen Tru-Fit wrenches at the store yesterday. Mostly long offset-DBEs, but also two combination wrenches in the style/vintage of this DOE. I added the Dunlap wrench to show the texture, which is like the ones I left behind.

That grainy looking surface is unappealing to me and the chrome plating is often quite thin. I've seen so many wrenches like that in these two brands that it'd tainted my opinion. It wasn't until I started finding/seeing the older ones that I began to appreciate them.