Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Vanished tool brands: Powermaster, Japan



Above, a hacksaw frame with this brand, and below an SAE wrench.  The quality of the wrench is quite impressive, including the plating, which is perfect.


The only marking on the wrench which may give a clue to the manufacturer is show below.  Other than it's made up of two letters joined with a hyphen, the stamping is not distinct enough to make it out.


From what I can find on the web, "Powermaster" was a brand of Oxwall Tools.  Given my own experience with this generally cheap tool line, perhaps Powermaster was their premium brand.  I discovered that someone online is offering a complete boxed Powermaster socket set with the following label:



The Consolidated Foods Corporation originated as the D.C. Kenny Company, a wholesaler of coffee, tea and sugar out of Baltimore. New Brunswick, Canada-born Nathan Cumming bought the firm in 1939, then added other companies and eventually renamed it CFC in 1954.  In 1956, they bought Sara Lee, adopting this as the company name in 1985.  In the 1960's they went on a buying spree, picking up company after company, eventually adding 90 to the empire.  According to the Chicago Tribune (July 11, 1978), Consolidated Foods sold six small hardware and houseware companies, including Oxwall Tools ("an importer of hand tools"). The article doesn't say to whom the company was sold. Interestingly, however, there are references as late as 1999 that the Sara Lee Corporation still listed Oxwall Tools B.V. as a Netherlands subsidiary. ("B.V." is the Dutch abbreviation for "Besloten Vennootschap" or "Limited Company.")

6 comments:

NelsonSimonson said...

I have a powermaster hacksaw like the one in your picture. The saw was sold with 10 inch blades. One end of the the blade is inserted into the handle and secured by the screw and nut at the base of the handle. The thumb screw steadies the front end of the blade with about 3 inches of the blade extending beyond the thumb screw.

Mister G said...

Thanks for the note. If you could send me a couple of pictures f the process I'll add it to the post. gerald@vanwyngaarden.ca

LinneaH said...

I have a powermaster saw like the one in your picture as well. Powermaster #3578 Japan. Thanks for your blog! I'll send a picture.

Anonymous said...

I have one also

Anonymous said...

Useless POS

Anonymous said...

I have powermaster wire cutters. They seem like good quality and i use them at my job. They have blue rubber grips on the handles and are about 6 inches long. They have powermaster dropped forged Japan printed on the middle of where they pivot. Got them out of a friends parents garage when they retired and moved. Got a lot of cool vintage tools from that garage and use some of them regularly.