I don't know the origins of the Japanese versions of Kmart branded wrenches, which must date from the late 60's or 70's. I have several, but most were actually made in Taiwan.
Whatever their provenience, they were mostly lower-quality Asian imports common for the era, which one would have expected from a discount house like Kmart.
Yet I have a soft spot for Kmart wrenches.
From as far back as I can remember, I have always loved hand tools. I grew up on a farm, and when I was a little fella, one summer I was riding my little bicycle through a wheat field that had just been harvested. Alongside the road was a big, shiny wrench. The weather was very hot, and when I went to pick up the wrench, it was too hot to hold onto. I had to wrap it in my shirt so I could carry it home.
I presented it to my dad, who kindly told me he already had that size (7/8"--and probably of no higher quality.) He suggested that it might be time for me to start my own wrench collection. I then set about to construct my first tool box--from cardboard!
I still have that wrench, and have since picked up Kmart branded wrenches and sockets whenever I can find them. They are not great tools--they never pretended to be--but I have a small drawer where I keep a small collection ostensibly as a kind of rescue operation--but more honestly because to me they represent a somewhat impoverished, but very rich childhood from a time long gone.
So I would love to know more about origins of Kmart wrenches, too.
