I picked up these water pump pliers recently. They're stamped "Hecsharp" and "Italy." However, based on a google search, Hecsharp seems to have been a German firm like Hoppe which made a huge variety of tools, including steel rules, calipers, ratcheting screwdrivers, needle files, taps and dies, pliers, axes, vices, hand grinders, wrenches, and drafting instruments, primarily for the European market. You can find their tools also stamped "Japan", so it appears that they also turned to other countries to manufacture their wares. In North America, the name appears most frequently on Italian-made garden pruners. Again like Hoppe, I can't find any information on the Hecsharp company, although some sites are selling old tools of this brand marked "West Germany", which narrows the location of their factory a little. The fact that they offered wrenches in plastic pouches indicates that they persisted into the 1970's.
Below, samples from the web:
6 comments:
Have a 6 inch Pipe Wrench marked Hecsharp West Germany. That is correct, a six inch pipe wrench. derbirds@gmail.com
I have a hammer marked hecsharp, Spain
I did a bit of research into Hecsharp after purchasing a made in germany clamp-on hobby vise with a Hecsharp sticker. It turns out that the Hecsharp is a USA trademark granted to the H.C. Schaerf Corp., so it would appear that the name is a bit of a play on words of the company owners name. The H.C. Schaerf Corp. was strictly an import company, with a Manhattan address, and never an actual manufacturer. The trademark was listed as first being used in 1951 and then cancelled in 2001. The company was listed as "Hand Tools - Europe, Asia" which matches well with what type of things that have been branded as Hecsharp and country of origin (Germany most common, then Japan, and others. H.C. Schaerf was listed as the President and Head Buyer. It would appear that they just sourced tools from many manufacturers and imported them into the USA via New York, although I found my vise in Ottawa, Canada.
I forgot to mention that the name H.C. Schaerf pops up again in the 1983 edition of the California Who's Who book, so it would appear that after his career as a successful importer and business, he likely retired to California.
Thanks you for that information. It did not seen likely that they had factories in different countries...
Much the same business model as Oxwall!
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