Sunday, July 26, 2015

Vanished Tool Makers: Staffordshire Edge Tool Company, Dudley, England




My straight peen hammer made by this company. (It's since been fitted with a handle.)  Most hammers don't boast their maker's name, so it was refreshing to find one that did. 

According to Black Country History:


The Staffordshire Edge Tool Company was founded in 1907, in what had been a greengrocers shop in New King Street. The firm's main business was making hammers (type unknown). In 1966 the finishing side of the production was moved to Cradley Heath. The firm was still using the same machinery as before the First World War (1914-1918). In 1967 production moved to a new site in Willenhall. The firm was at 12 New King Street from 1955 to 1977. The firm is then shown at two locations New King Street and Newlynn Road, Cradley Heath to 1985. They left the area or ceased to exist around 1985.

Curious, though, that an edge-tool company would specialize in hammers. The only other tool made by this company that a google search unearths is a Footprint-style adjustable wrench featured on Worthpoint.  All made with pre-World War I machinery until the bitter end.

BTW, if you visit the Black Country History website, you can learn about such folks as Chubb & Sons (the Wolverhampton lock makers), "Iron Mad Wilkinson" and John Johnson Shaw, who invented the seismograph in a laboratory he built in the cellar of his West Bromwich home.  And, if you happen to be physically in Dudley in England's West Midlands, you can visit the Black Country Living Museum, which bills itself as "the world's first industrial landscape."  

5 comments:

John said...

So pleased to have stumbled across this. My grandfather was the Managing Director of the Staffordshire Edge Tool Company at the time of his untimely death in 1952. I am pretty certain my aunt worked in the factory for a while in her youth too, possibly fitting handles. Finding these photographs has made me very happy and my aunt will be intrigued to hear that there are still SETC hammers out there!

The Duke said...

Thanks for the comment! If you have anything else to add (information about the firm, pictures of their products, etc.) I'd be happy to add it, giving you credit of course! If you reply to this comment, I'll send you my email address.

John said...

My father and uncle were very pleased to see the photographs. Sadly we don't have any other photos but they did recall a little about the premises and the fact that my aunt used to perform quality control checks by listening to the sound a hammer made when struck.

Russell said...

I have this different type of cross pein hammer stamped "STAFFORDSHIRE EDGE TOOL Co Dudley" on one side and "SOLID CAST 4oz" on the other side.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!An9PwDxd548FgtIhy5q9EoI4AawRdA?e=sbTeOC
https://1drv.ms/u/s!An9PwDxd548FgtIeSGBewJqqd95QlQ?e=SCCyl4

Mister G said...

Thanks for your comment! Do you mind if I add them to the post?