Wrenches 356 AT2

[Enry Altoe]

Hello to all of you,
a question: I have a 356 A T2 (02/59).
My tool kit containing Hazet 450 wrenches 8x9 and 17x19 that have the numbers in the squares.
Wrenches 11x12 and 10x14 don’t have the nunbers in the squares.
Which one is right?
In all the keys the numbers there is in the square?
Tanks for reply.
Ciao.
Enry

[Jim Alton]

The 8x9 wrench should have the numbers in the squares--the other wrenches should not.

See Eric Cherneff's website http://www.356tools.com/wrenches.htm

[James Davies]

Hi Enry,

Hazet made both cast and stamped sizes on wrenches going all the way back to the first Porsches. For size pairings that were very common on the Hazet 450 line, they were cast inside squares. For oddball sizes, the wrench blanks were cast, the oddball sized ends machined, and then the sizes were stamped.

So what you're seeing is that 11/12 and 10/14 were oddball sizes, and 8/9 and 17/19 were not. At least at the time your wrenches were made.

Earlier, all the wrenches used in Porsche kits were oddball sizes and had stamped sizes on them. Later, the embossed markings were on the most common ones.

If one looks at period Hazet catalogs, say the 1958 catalog, virtually every wrench set they sell has an 8x9 wrench. (These are general mechanics sets, not Porsche toolkit sets.) None of them have 11x12, 10x14 or 17x19. The earlier catalogs from 1951 and 1954 list wrench sets for working on DIN spec bolts/nuts, and these often include a 17x19. Though the 17x19 wrench size in Porsche kits during the early 50s was stamped, not cast. Of course these early wrenches also had the matte nickel finish for the Porsche tool kits. Hazet discontinued this matte nickel finish later on.

Anyway, tools changed so often on Porsches. Eric's site is an excellent guide, but there's always more details to uncover.

[Enry Altoe]

Thanks all for the reply!

Ciao.

ENRY

[Jim Alton]

Are Hazet wrenches cast or forged?

I keep hearing that the size in the box is "cast in" but a few other sources say that Hazet wrenches are forged.

Hazet doesn't seem to mention this online but it used to be taken for granted that a cast wrench was unsafe to use. Eric Cherneff's website says that 356Cs came with wrenches marked "DROP FORGED STEEL GERMANY"

[James Davies]

Yes, they were forged. Perhaps a better term would be "embossed during the forging process" as opposed to stamped after the forging process. From the period Hazet catalogs, they use the terms "Schmieden unter Fallhämmern und auf Schmiedemaschinen". Forged under drop hammers and forging machines.

[Jim Alton]

Thanks. I was able to download some old Hazet catalogs from http://www.hazet.de/de/home/my-hazet/ha ... -historie/ but my high school German was a few years back and I didn't catch that.

Fallhämmern is pretty obvious...