# Looking for info on an old die



## keeena (Jan 1, 2021)

I got this die in a lot of items and I'm looking to see if I can find any info on it. It states the type/size is 17-B but I've never heard of a size like this. I cannot find info based on any of the text from the label. The die is in a sealed tin dated December 1955, so I don't want to open it...particularly if its worth anything as-is.

Here's all the text from the label. Items followed with an asterisk might have a a couple digits wrong as its very tough to read.

7900-EA
207880*
P5 SNB3*
DIE 17-B
UP1EA*
INSP 154
MAFD


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## Aukai (Jan 1, 2021)

Chicken of the sea, chunk light, in oil


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## benmychree (Jan 2, 2021)

Open the damned thing up and see what it really is!


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## Aukai (Jan 2, 2021)

Yeah, then take it to antiques road show.....if it was unopened it would be worth thousands, but in this condition 5 bucks....  Just joking, interesting way to pack equipment, was that a military way to keep it? probably not, it would have been cosmoline, and paper....


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## silence dogood (Jan 2, 2021)

Are you sure that it's not a can of lubrication that is to be used on dies?


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## keeena (Jan 2, 2021)

Ha! Trust me - I was/am quite tempted to open it up.   I don't think its necessarily worth anything unless there's some appeal due to the age and NIB condition. I couldn't find a single hit on the web for dies sold in a tin can.

If you shake the tin you can feel the die slide around a bit. The sound is muffled/dampened; probably wrapped in paper.


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## Cooter Brown (Jan 2, 2021)

Take it to the court house/airport/hospital/dentist and ask them to run it through the x-ray machine..... lol


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## Choiliefan (Jan 2, 2021)

How much does it weigh?


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## Lo-Fi (Jan 2, 2021)

Mate of mine has a whole chicken in a can from 1988. Nobody is brave enough to open it. 

I doubt there's much value in it unopened and unidentifiable. Once you know what it is, though...


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## tjb (Jan 2, 2021)

In December 2019 I bought a new Eisen lathe.  Here are a couple of shots of the tool kit that came with it.  There are two unlabeled cans contained in the kit - I have no idea what's in them other than they're liquid (nothing in the manual about the tool kit).





I wonder, and this is nothing more than a wild guess, if what you have was part of material that came with a piece of equipment of some sort from back in the '50's.  If the cans from my tool kit were removed and sold separately, no one would have a clue what was in them without opening them.  You have more information than what's in my tool kit, but that may explain the apparent lack of detail.  

Just a thought.

Regards,
Terry


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## CluelessNewB (Jan 2, 2021)

Even if it is a "die" it may not be for threading, it could be a crimping die for wire terminals, hydraulic hoses or just about anything. 

I say open it up!


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## Choiliefan (Jan 2, 2021)

tjb said:


> In December 2019 I bought a new Eisen lathe.  Here are a couple of shots of the tool kit that came with it.  There are two unlabeled cans contained in the kit - I have no idea what's in them other than they're liquid (nothing in the manual about the tool kit).
> I wonder, and this is nothing more than a wild guess, if what you have was part of material that came with a piece of equipment of some sort from back in the '50's.  If the cans from my tool kit were removed and sold separately, no one would have a clue what was in them without opening them.  You have more information than what's in my tool kit, but that may explain the apparent lack of detail.
> 
> Just a thought.
> ...


Touch-up paint?


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## Shootymacshootface (Jan 2, 2021)

Just open it. You can always make a way better can for it out of billet aluminum.


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## Diecutter (Jan 2, 2021)

Careful.  It could turn out to be a can of whoop-ass.


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## Rootpass (Jan 2, 2021)

Terry, yours is most likely touch up paint


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## Superburban (Jan 2, 2021)

Is there really a market for old unopened tooling?

Assuming WWII, it was more likely destined for the pacific. I have seen old Navy stuff packed like that, while most old Army stuff was packed in cosmoline & crates. Somewhere I have some specality type of cutters that were packed like that.


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## pdentrem (Jan 2, 2021)

Jet included paint is similar cans as well.
Pierre


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## RJSakowski (Jan 2, 2021)

keeena said:


> I got this die in a lot of items and I'm looking to see if I can find any info on it. It states the type/size is 17-B but I've never heard of a size like this. I cannot find info based on any of the text from the label. The die is in a sealed tin dated December 1955, so I don't want to open it...particularly if its worth anything as-is.
> 
> Here's all the text from the label. Items followed with an asterisk might have a a couple digits wrong as its very tough to read.
> 
> ...



Not likely paint as once opened, it couldn't be resealed.  How much does it weigh?  You can do a fairly good approximation of the can weight to get an idea of the contents weight.
Personally, I would just open it.  I seriously doubt that an unopened can with some cryptic labeling would have any collector value.


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## Cooter Brown (Jan 2, 2021)

Nobody is going to give you bricks of gold for that just open it...


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## tjb (Jan 2, 2021)

Yeah, you guys are probably right.  The lathe has two different colors of painted surfaces, so the two cans are probably touch-up paint.

Keena's from Massachusetts.  Maybe his is frozen paint.


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## silence dogood (Jan 2, 2021)

Don't open it!  I looked up Greek mythology.  This is Pandora's can. You will release CSGs.  Those horrible "chattering swarf gremlins".


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## pontiac428 (Jan 2, 2021)

A can with DIE DIE DIE written on it might just be a tester of mustard gas...


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## pdentrem (Jan 2, 2021)

Spam in a can!


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## matthewsx (Jan 2, 2021)

Don't open it, my recommendations are:

1. List it on eBay for $1000 as "vintage, NOS, rare"

2. Leave it for your heirs with specific instructions that they are to open it at your wake.

Either would be much more fun than opening it to find something you have no use for....


John


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## kd4gij (Jan 7, 2021)

A die for a punch press or possibly a printing press


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## keeena (Jan 8, 2021)

Drumroll...
.
.
A new,
.
.
.
ultra-rare,
.


.
.
.
.
.
1/4-28 die.



What kind of can openers existed in 1955? I had to man-handle with vise grips to get it open.


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## hman (Jan 8, 2021)

Wha shucks there, good buddy ... I'd 'a gotten out my ol' classic P-38


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## keeena (Jan 8, 2021)

Forgot to mention: the brand is Greenfield Tap & Die.


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## CluelessNewB (Jan 8, 2021)

<ignore>


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## silence dogood (Jan 8, 2021)

In 1969, I was stationed in Korea and once a week we had C-rations.  Dang, those biscuits  sure were hard.


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## matthewsx (Jan 9, 2021)

keeena said:


> Drumroll...
> .
> .
> A new,
> ...


So, is it a size you don't already own????


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## Superburban (Jan 9, 2021)

I think the bigger question is: Do you have a die holder that it fits?


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## Cooter Brown (Jan 9, 2021)

You would have got a return on fleebay for sure if someone bought it for more than $20............. lol


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## Choiliefan (Jan 9, 2021)

Carbon or HS steel?


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## keeena (Jan 9, 2021)

I only have the hand-held hex and smaller round die holders. Shameful! Making some tailstock die holders has been on the long list of tools to make.  

I dunno if HSS; that's a good question. In any event - I decided to throw it in with the lot of large body dies & taps that I just sold.


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## Bi11Hudson (Jan 9, 2021)

There is a _*possibility*_ that it is a "machine screw" size. The largest _I have ever heard of_ is a Nr14-24. That being 0.060" plus the number of the screw times .013. A fuzz smaller than 1/4", about the size of M6X1. A Nr17 would be 0.281, an odd size to have 8 TPI. But nevertheless, a possible answer. Dating that far back, machine screws had a wide selection of sizes. During my military time in the late '60s/early '70s, I was attached to an older (WW2 era) ship. Storing odd parts in "tin cans" was a common practice in the "old days".

.


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