What Happened to Wolf

[vsquizz]

The old man had a Wolf electric drill. Was supposed to be a hand drill but it was a huge mother of a thing with a steel casing. It went for at least 30 years mounted in a press in the shed on the farm. As a kid I learnt the general physics of injuring yourself on the drill press with this beast.:D

I was just wondering what the origins and plite of this manufacturer where??


Cheers

[Chum]

I remember my old fella had a wolf hand drill and a stanley bridges hand drill. I agree they used to go on for ever. Like u I have heard nothing about them in recent years.

[scooter]

I remember my old fella had a wolf hand drill...

Come again? :o

Sean

[graemet]

Wolf seems to have been swallowed up by various tool manufacturers around the world. The original UK company only makes garden trimmers etc., the bigger tools are part of the Kango group (in South Africa, I think). I bought a half inch Wolf drill about 30 years ago when my original 1/4" silver B&D burnt out trying to drill 5/8 holes in steel. It's still going; for many years it was the only drill I had, mounted in a drill press attachment on the bench, clamped in my vyce by the handle with a grinding wheel or wire brush in the chuck or just hand held. I even made a wooden lathe with this drill as the power source, powerful enought to turn table legs. If you get a drill jam when drilling large holes in steel, it has enough torque to break your arm!

[vsquizz]

If you get a drill jam when drilling large holes in steel, it has enough torque to break your arm!
Yep, see my original post.:D, did a few laps around the shed once or twice. It had amazing torque, probably as a result of the reduction gearbox.

Seeing as I'm so hopeless at using and rebuilding old planes I thought I'd start collecting old power tools (just for something a little different.:D ). With some of my power tools I'm halfway there already.

Cheers

[Honest Gaza]

Still have 2 x Wolf Electric Drills as supplied by my previous employer about 20 years ago....both still working strong, but could do with some replacement chucks.

[Termite]

Nah, you guys have got it all wrong. Wolf dissapeared because one day along came this big hairy sheepdog and....... :o couldn' help myself again :o

[fxst]

Nah, you guys have got it all wrong. Wolf dissapeared because one day along came this big hairy sheepdog and....... :o couldn' help myself again :o
Just too much time on your hands lambsie oops I mean Termite :D :D
Pete

[graemet]

Squizzy,
I also still have a desouter 1/4" drill which my father bought in the 1950s, still working with the original brushes. They don't make em like they used to!
Graeme

[gerhard]

Greetings from the Netherlands!

Wolf Tools Ltd. had its works in London (Hanger Lane, district W1), I believe the firm was established in the 30s. The brand even had a Royal seal of approval for being Suppliers to the Court. Indeed their machines were heavy and very robust. The industrial line was made entirely from cast parts and stamped steel and were sprayed in a green hammerite finish. Wolf made the first DIY drill in 1949, when B&D still had to establish itself in the UK (years later it built a factory in Spennymoor in county Durham). This "Cub" was a little pistol grip single speed drill, also entirely out of metal casting, later to contain bakelite and other insulating materials when the model was turned into the double insulated "Cubmaster".
The Dutch State Railways also used many Wolf drills, which were generator driven and used on site to drill holes in the oakwood sleepers underneath the rails, for the fixing clamps to be fastened into with large woodthread bolts.
In the late 60s, the green finish was changed into silvergrey and red, with ivory and red for the DIY products. In the 70s, aquablue became a very popular color in England (B&D UK also chose it, along its orange). Wolf changed its colors to grey /aqua and later ivory/aqua for their entire product line.
In the early 80s, Wolf was purchased by Kango Tools Ltd. in Peterborough. Kango had red and black as its colors, therefore also Wolf changed into this livery. The Wolf tool models gradually merged into the Kango product line to disappaear entirely a few years later when Kango simplified its range and changed its colors to yellow and black. Kango itself was bought by Atlas-Copco AB some 6 years ago. Atlas then also bought AEG Tools(Winnenden, Germany) and Milwaukee Tools, both of which were sold again last year to a Hong Kong firm, because Atlas wishes to return to its core business (mining tools, air driven equipment and compressors, solely sold B-to-B). I believe Kango is again on its own, but I don't know who owns it now. The Wolf brand and factories however, have ceased to exist more than 20 years ago, that's for sure. Eight years ago I saw the old Wolf machine models back on the internet, made in license by a factory in India, in the colors yellow, black and green. I forgot the brand name and, by the way, have never again seen this firm or its products on the internet since. So used Wolf tools are the only ones to be had, there won't be new ones anymore.

All the best from Santpoort-Zuid (20 kms to the west of Amsterdam) and happy woodworking to everyone!

Gerhard Schreurs

[gerhard]

Hi again,

I forgot to add: Wolf Gartengeräte GmbH. is a German firm (rotary mowers, shredders, electric scarifiers, etc.) and has, as far as I know, no acquaintance with the British Wolf Tools. Sorry about that.

grtz

gerhard

[vsquizz]

Welcome Gerhard and thanks very much for your informative post. I knew somebody would know something.


Cheers

[alf t]

Squizzy
I have still got and still use my Wolf Saphire drill that I bought in 1969 . (I think i had it serviced in 1978.) It has a grey plastic type body and is in its original red pressed plastic case, I reckon it is still good for another 20 years!
Alf

[vsquizz]

Squizzy
I have still got and still use my Wolf Saphire drill that I bought in 1969 . (I think i had it serviced in 1978.) It has a grey plastic type body and is in its original red pressed plastic case, I reckon it is still good for another 20 years!
Alf
Alf, Great to hear its still going. I'm not sure of the exact age of the one we had as all the paint had been worn off it. It just had the cast steel casing. It worked very hard in a drill press and it was finally the gear box which let go. The motor was still going strong and I think Dad still has it so I'll have a look next time I'm home.

Cheers

[superfischer]

Hi everyone

I just became an accidental owner of a old Wolf 1/2" General Duty Drill. Someone just trew it into scrap and my buddy pulled it out for me.

It's a SD4cA and the serial number is 1081949. The casting is painted in a light brown brass hammerite finish.
Its got a moulded in shoulder rest and a hole on top to insert an additional handle (which is missing though) All the Bushings can be oiled from through nipples

If Wolf used the year of manufacturing as a Part of the serial number this would mean that the year of making is 1949 wich i believe could be tru since the only plastic parts on the device are the taps which hold the coals in the housing.

I took the Drill apart for a general control Yesterday.

Although looking scruff on the outside the inside revealed that very few working hours must have been made on this drill.

All the driveshafts and gearings look just like new. They were packed in a huge layer of grease. The brushes show very little wear and the anchor none at all.

The only problem i could find was the rear end bushing wich is broken. Probably one let it drop once and the mass of the device just crushed the bushing. Not a big deal. i have friends wich do computer aided manufacturing and they are currently building me a new one!

Besides that the Drill is working just fine and reading the forum i have no reason to doubt it will do this for another two or three decades.

Does anybody have additional information on this tool? (i can also send pictures)

Kind Regards

[keith53]

I remember when Black & Decker used to make really good drills as well. I think I was 15 or thereabouts. Bought one that had a metal case. Thought it was the ducks nuts..:D

I've still got a B & D plastic-bodied jigsaw that's 25 years old and still going strong.

[Andy Mac]

We had a Wolf Sapphire drill and a big angle grinder too I think, on the family farm in the mid-70's. Heavy & solid with strong torquey motors I seem to remember. The grinder got mounted to a frame for a cut off saw.
It wouldn't surprise me to hear they still go:D

Cheers,

[KeithfromKent]

I have a Wolf Safetymaster double insulated drill, serial number 4419850- ivory metal body with red plastic back to handle. I don't remember exactly when I bought it, probably mid to late 1950s.
I still use it regularly, although the brushes must be very worn, as occasionally it won't start, and I have to revolve the chuck a fraction by hand before it will make contact.
If I knew where to get replacement brushes I would fit them, as I'm sure it would have another 50 years in it. I used to live near the Wolf factory at Alperton, West London, but it has long since gone, so if anyone knows of a source of spares, do let me know.

[conyac]

Hi All, I have a Wolf Sapphire Model 3969 Serial 308A. I have had it from new for over 25 years and it has never let me down. It does have a 3/8 chuck which i would love to upgrade to a 1/2 inch. does anyone know if this is possible and if so where i can get the parts.

Cheers

[soundman]

I had a wolf 9 1/4" grinder on my tool issue at one firm I was at.... what a beast.
I used to cut slots in concrete with it.
It was rated at 10 amps 240 volt.
Two hands for that fella.
cheers

[Bino]

Those old drills just keep going. I have a Sher drill that must be at least 40 years old mounted on a stand that I still use sometimes. the only thing wrong with it is the switch has packed up, I replaced it with a toggle switch mounted on the side of the handle, a lot more conviniant as it is only used on the stand. I also have an all metal Makita, no paint just a grey metal finish. it goes back to the mid 1960's. Still gets regular use.

Bino

[jericlin]

Hi
Try this site http://www.gardencut.co.uk/product_details.asp?pid=1487 :2tsup: they do a saw as well but where they come from who knows, like the wolf in the night !

[warrenn]

Would anyone know where I can buy a Wolf Cubmaster Drill?

[gerhard]

Hi Warren,

your best chance would be Ebay.co.uk (the British Ebay). A few months ago, i saw a Cubmaster on auction there, new in original box. It went for about 60 GB-Pounds. In such a shape it was a rarity and it was immediately snapped up by a collector like me. I already own a brand new one, as well as a Safetymaster (sorry, i won't part with them) and was short on cash a that time since i bought far too much already ( a particular illness of mine), otherwise i would have been the buyer. Still, decent used Cubmasters are on offer regularly, since many of them are still around in sheds, forgotten under years' worth of gathered dust. I added a pic from the Science Museum in London, showing a Safetymaster on the left (1958) and a Cubmaster on the right (1950). This pic was taken from Wikipedia.

Also on Ebay.co.uk are regular offers of purchased stock from the British Ministry Of Defense, which originally must have been standard stock from Engineers' Regiments. These MOD-liveries run on 110 Volts and many of them are in very good order. The MOD will not have stocked Cubmasters, because these (though excellent robust machines) were meant specifically for DIY use. But if you are keen on other Wolf tools too, this will be an option for you.The little pic shows a Wolf/Kango circular saw from MOD-stock, which i recently puchased through Ebay.co.uk.

In my story on page 1 in this thread, i also mentioned an Indian manufacturer from which i once saw Wolf license built models in black and yellow. I found this manufacturer back, they now even build these models in the original 60s Wolf livery.
The Stark firm seems to make Hitachi-designs as well, probably under license. I pasted their Wolf-based models together in one pic. Stark will not experience patent or license problems from the original Wolf factory, as it is gone now. The modern nylon light grey and dark blue Wolf drill shown in the weblinks in the post above even sports the original Wolf typeface, and in this case there will be no infringement problems either. The current brand owner seems to be Chinese and will have probably have bought the brand name and all its marketing rights from Kango. Even the Sapphire product name was copied. Originally the term "Sapphire" was used by Wolf to designate its new very durable motor design, based on epoxy resin copper wire and coil assembly insulations. Metabo nowadays uses a similar designation ("Marathon") for improved motor durability.

regards

gerhard

[gerhard]

As chance would have it, there was a Wolf valve seat grinder as mentioned in the story above, on auction on Ebay.co.uk just as i wrote the story on August 23rd. Added are some pics of it. I also found a pic of the cream and aqua blue livery from the latter 70s and early 80s.

[warrenn]

Hi Gerhard,
Thanks heaps for all the photos and information on the "Wolf Clubmaster".
It looks a very robust drill. Nothing like to cheap quality ones you get these days.
I will keep a look out on eBay U.K for one.
I'll let you know if I come accross any in my searches.
Thanks again it is very much appreciated.
Kind Regards
Warren

[gerhard]

hi Warren,

thanks for the compliments! The Cubmaster is indeed very robust, but be advised that it is fifties' technology. Mine is stacked away in storage, so i can't get at it just now to read the type plate, but from memory i know that its power intake is around 250 Watts or less. This was a normal value for 50s and 60s DIY standards, even for some small industrial tools (e.g. the Fein 636-series tools had 280 Watts as a standard rating up to the 70s, after which it was cranked up through 300 to 320 Watts in the 80s' "Wattage race"). Many brands in those days offered all metal machines like this, even for DIY purposes, all durable yet small and moderately powered. Metabo for instance had a small metal 190 Watts DIY drill in its catalogue, which was even deemed fit to drive several attachments (sanding plate, jig saw drive, bench mounted grinding wheel). There was even a very small circular saw attachment available for it, which with 190 Watts could hardly have achieved more than "tickle kite sticks" (Dutch saying for underpowered tools). For the Cubmaster, Wolf provided similar attachments, including a floor polisher.

So the Cubmaster is a fine, but tiny and oldfashoined drill. It manages 1/4 in. in steel and 1/2 in. in wood. Its motor has sleeve bearings, so needs a few drops of oil now and then. It is not yet equipped with the epoxy resin "Sapphire" copper wire insulation, nor is the tool itself double insulated. The somewhat larger "Safetymaster" was Wolf's first double insulated DIY drill (hence its name), but the Cubmaster still needs an earth wire. It has -of course- no electronics and i doubt if the earlier version even have a built-in noise suppressing capacitor. And if the armature or one of the sleeves or gears go, that's it, with no replacements parts to be had anymore.

Should you want one to work with, you must be prepared to step back to 50s' levels of power tool performance. You could fix a missing capacitor yourself, just fix an MKT-type behind the switch, parallel to the motor leads. Its value should be 0.1 microFarad (also named 100 nanoFarad) at 250 V AC or 630V DC. Should the chuck key be missing, brands like Jacobs could still supply you with a replacement. One thing's for sure, though: you will attract attention when people see you use this nice looking little tool with its oldfashioned etched red and chrome type plate and hammerite finish.

If robustness and durability is the objective, than there are still very good options today. Black & Decker has the famous "Holgun" line, which started in the 50s and still carries very strong and robust drills. Features from these designs were adopted in some DeWalt drills (DeWalt is B&D-owned since 1960) and these products enjoy such reputation that similar models were introduced by Makita and Milwaukee. And don't forget Hitachi, which is often underestimated. A good option i know from own experience is the Metabo 620 Watts drill. Of all Metabo drill motors of this size, i consider this the best they ever made. If 800 Watts or more are chased through this amount of copper and iron, than quick overheating could result, whereas 620 Watts have proven to be the best balance of electric eficiency and thermal reserves for this motor design. The 620 Watt Metabo drill design has been around from the 70s, the left pic shows the livery from 1982, with electronics, two speed gearbox and anti-stall safety clutch (SbE 620-2S). This particular model is discontinued now, but when you encounter one, snap it up immediately. You won't be sorry. Proof of the soundness of the 620 Watts motor is the fact, that is was also chosen to power the high torque single speed drill BE 622S, which is still available today. It has 35 Nm worth of torque and the auger drill with which Metabo sports it in advertisements, is no hoax. It can really turn such a thing through soft wood like fir or pine. Because of the good motor and the classic metal sturdy gear box and the all ball bearings, this is possible for such a compact machine. A disadvantage is the low rpm (550 no load), which is only natural for such high torque at "only" 620 Watts. Should you need more versatility, than a two speed gearbox like that on the older 620 Watts model would be more suited. With the mentioning of these Metabo drills, this post strays a bit from the orginal Wolf thread, but i hope the forum members will forgive me this.

If a 620 Watts drill is too heavy, there are also compact 380, 480 and 500 Watt Metabo drills based on the same design. The rule is: always go for models with metal gear boxes and choose older or discontinued models, as you already pointed out yourself quite rightly. There is indeed the tendency towards the ever more sparing use of expensive materials like metal castings and a well hidden reduction of tool life, probably to let consumers pay for ever more company overhead and expensive neck ties, let alone shareholders.

regards

gerhard

[gerhard]

To bend the thread back again from Metabo to Wolf: when i typed "Wolf Tools Limited" in the Google search prompt, i stumbled across a link in which it became apparent that Wolf Tools sponsored several movies aimed at building contractors and other industries, promoting their products. This is the link:

http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/organisation/83557?view=credit

I didn't see any of these movies myself, but anyone able to see them will probably be treated to a yesteryear's presentation full of very nice tools and ways of making things.

greetings

gerhard

[gerhard]

Found another bit of info in a British History Archive about Wolf in London. This is the quote:

"Wolf Electric Tools, founded in 1900, opened the Pioneer works in Hanger Lane in 1935 and acquired extra office and factory space on an adjoining site in 1976. The firm, innovators in making certain portable electric tools, in 1978 had 850 people at the works, which was also its headquarters. (fn. 60)"

From: 'Ealing and Brentford: Economic history', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 131-144. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22579. Date accessed: 25 August 2008.

On page 1 of this thread i begin my story with a guess that Wolf was founded in the 30s. This proved to be wrong: it was already founded in 1900. The 1930-ish year i heard about, must have been the start of the Pioneer works instead of the start of the entire brand "S. Wolf & Co. Ltd." itself. Sorry for having put anyone on the wrong foot.

gerhard

[gerhard]

to Warren:

Hi Warren,

at the moment, an auctions for a small compact Metabo drill run on Ebay Germany. You can track it with

http://cgi.ebay.de/Handbohrmaschine-METABO-BE-380-S-automatic-Ru-L_W0QQitemZ180282775288QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item180282775288&_trkparms=72%3A146%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

This post was added September 3rd and will be useless when the auction has ended in a few days, but i added a pic below. This machine is almost as compact as a Cubmaster and i guarantee that it is just as durable. Its motor takes 380 Watts, no-load speed is zero to 1000 rpm (it has electronics) and nominal load speed is 0 - 600 rpm. It manages 25 mm in soft wood and the Metabo type name is BE 380 S. Contrary to the Cubmaster (which has sleeve bearings), this machine has ball bearings, very heat resistant copper wire insulation and a sturdy metal gear box. It can also run reverse, which the Cubmaster can't.

regerads

gerhard

[tel76]

I have a Wolf Saphire Drill model 3926 that has given great service.Does anyone know where i can obtain an operating switch as this has developed a fault. Regards Eric.

[gerhard]

Hi Eric,

the original Wolf Pioneer Works in Hanger Lane, London, ceased to exist in the 80's. Kango from Peterborough took over the brand and inventory, continued to make part of the original Wolf program in red livery, labeled as Kango-Wolf and later as Kango. Kango itself was bought by Atlas Copco in the latter 90's. Atlas also bought AEG, that explains a lot of former Kango models (like the 900KV hammer) and AEG models (saws, grinders, drills, battery tools) in the Atlas-Copco tool catalogue. Around 2003 Atlas-Copco decided to return to its core business of compressors, air tools and mining equipment and sold Kango and AEG to the Hong Kong firm TI.

AEG is again its own firm, about Kango i'm not sure. Chances are slim that there are still Wolf or Kango-Wolf spare parts around. The 3926 was already discontinued when Kango bought Wolf and should there be any old parts inventory left, these last remnants will probably have gotten rid off during the takeover by TI.

So your best bet is to get an identical machine second hand and look out for it on a regular basis in typical channels like Ebay. Look in regularly, since there aren't many of these machines around any more. Should you get hold of a decent one you will also gain spare gears, motor parts, the odd original nuts & bolts, etc.

Some vintage Wolf models are still built in India by Stark (see one of the posts below), but even when the 3926 should have been copied by them, chances are high that electrical components and castings may have undergone improvements or cost cutting design changes and may no longer fit in the original machines. I can help you watch out for a used original, since i'm a regular Ebay customer. Your biggest chance will be in ebay.co.uk.

Regards

gerhard

[gerhard]

Hi Eric,

i forgot to mention the original switch manufacturers (Burgess, English Electric, Crompton, Eaton, Honeywell, Shallco and such), which may also have some deadstock left or the odd switch model you can use vital parts from. I did this with German Marquardt switches on several occasion, to repair broken off broken off rockers or burnt contacts. Several Marquardt switches share the same components, like the same switching unit underneath the rocker type lever in many German routers or a trigger type in many German angle grinders. I also adapted an existing electronic switch once, to fit a Hilti TE22 hammer, since no parts are available anymore for that drill type either. With a bit of Frankenstein patchwork and a Dremel, this can be a rewarding challenge.

Good luck!

gerhard

[Sawdusty]

That is interesting and valuable information to share, about possible crossovers that could be made. Thank you.

I also wanted to let you and others in Woodwork Forums to find out that my fiance just recently put up an old Wolf Electric Tools, LTD circular saw onto ebay. The serial number is 156, and is spectacular. It was on a top shelf, in her barn. I invite everyone here to look at the pics, if nothing else. This Woodworking Forum thread is the best place I could find knowledge about Wolf. I regret to inform you that the films site you referred us to had none of the clips I tried to watch available. Maybe I was doing something incorrectly there. I don't know.

I greatly appreciate all that you taught me about Wolf, gerhard, and what others here have shared, as well. My fiance' used a little bit about what you taught in her ad, sure to credit you with the name you use on this site. I also name-dropped Woodwork Forums. If you have any hesitations or reservations about this, then please let me know.

I don't think that anyone will have a problem finding the saw on ebay or ebay.uk. Just enter "wolf circular saw. My fiance is the only one in the world I know of who has this model in top running condition, right now. If there is anyone else who does, then we'd sure like to know.

Thanks again, everyone,

sawdusty

[gerhard]

Hi Sawdusty,

it is indeed a rare machine. Firstly because this model was not made in huge numbers, like today's Makita or Hitachi or Bosch saws. Furthermore, machines like this were typical "consumables", like jeeps were in the army. They were just used up and worn out in daily construction work, thrown out and replaced. In such cases, surviving machines are often the ones that were allowed to take home for private use when the employer had written them off, and those machines ended up in some shed or attick when the user abandoned his hobby or just grew old. Or these saws were no longer used in the construction company and were laid aside and forgotten for some reason. Odd discoveries often see the light when old and forgotten stock of firms are cleared after mergers or liquidation or the moving off to other quarters.

The 50's and 60's were also sober and no-nonsense times: collecting these things was no hobby or fashion in those days.

A Royal Seal of Approval for a firm comes across as pompous and important, but it is not a very big deal in Europe. We also have it in Holland. When a firm has had the honour of catering to the Royal Court and the goods were of decent standard, then such firm can ask permission to claim a subtitle of "Supplier to the Court". In Holland this is called "Hofleverancier" and there are curently 390 firms with the permission to carry this claim, including firms making trivial stuff like sweet spreads and chocolate flakes to put on sandwiches. The Dutch register of these firms is shown below:

http://www.hofleverancier.com/register.html

It's no problem to use my name in your auction, though i'm glad the text was not made up in HTML. I hope people read the entire thread when they have decided to look it up on invitation of your item description, because down the line i made some corrections on dates and such that i mentioned in previous posts, often because the knowledge i had at the time, appeared to be lacking later on. Continuous updating seems to be necessary. Somewhere up, for instance, i said that AEG was again a firm on its own. I learned a while ago that they have never really escaped being the property of TechTronics Industries of Hong Kong, after Atlas Copco got out of the merger.

The film link displaying Wolf factory footage, is indeed also dead and no longer of much value. The web changes constantly.

As for your machine on auction, i hope you fetch the price you obviously hope for, but i think the chances are slim. The times are not right and the overall appearance of the machine has suffered too much to warrant the "Buy right now" price, for instance.

To further update the info on S. Wolf Electric Tools Ltd., i've visited the former factory site in West-London last May. Apart from a few remaining details, like some pieces of perimeter gate, all has gone for at least two decades now. There is still the Fox and Goose pub though, were many factory employees must have sunk a pint when the works were still there. I spoke to some people living in the area, and they all vividly remembered the works and in all occasions also mentioned the pub, if only for a landmark, since it is in the same block, near the roundabout and Hanger Lane Underground station. The pub also has a hotel, and its own website. I may stay there later this August, when i'm again traveling to England. I'm sure the London council of Ealing must have some interesting archive material on the Wolf works. Maybe they can give me some pointers or permission to let me have a look at old photographs and documents.

success and regards

gerhard

[ChasWolf]

I've recently acquired a Wolf BS3B belt sander, in the style of the Porter-Cable models of yore. Instead of a chain final drive it sports a gear train, packed in rather dry, bright yellow grease which has been whipped to a stiff consistency such that it manages to avoid contact with any moving parts! Having read a post on this forum mentioning chains and oil baths, I wondered if the grease was a user modification? Especially as the steel cover over the gears is bent and its gasket has disintegrated.
The machine is basically sound, but I have been singularly ineffective in finding any info on the net, or anywhere else for that matter, about it, in order that I can restore it to proper working order.
If anyone has any info at all about this model I would be very grateful indeed.

[soundman]

I have never seen a simple hand held power tool with any form of oil bath.

But one thing I can guarantee, any wolf power tool, by now the grease will most likley have dried out.

If this tool is reasonably clean and has not been horribly abused....given a good clean, a change of bearings, may be some new brushes and a polish of the comutator and some fresh grease, it should last for ever in domestic use.

It may be a little noisy compared to belt drive machines though.
Oh and the weight....just feel the quality.... puff whease

cheers

[dakotax3]

... I was an apprentice in the very late 1970's I bought two new Wolf cream/aqua angle grinders, a 100mm and a 230mm. The 100mm was a one hander with no side handle capability at all and a handy clutch to avoid overload; an ideal single handed machine. The big 230mm was a 2300 watt heavyweight monster. With a new grinding disk installed, it gave a powerful warning kick when turned on to let you know to be careful. What always amazed me was the forces this thing displayed when moved around. I didn't know what gyroscopic precession was until a few years later and have treated it with utmost respect ever since. One can't afford to frig around with this baby but she can remove an awful lot of metal in a very short time. Over 30 years later and they are both ready for use at a moments notice. My only gripe with them when I compare them to the modern stuff is that neither have a transmission lock when changing wheels, something that even the cheapest of the modern stuff has today.

[soundman]

I may have mentioned the big bad 9" wolf earlier....yep they were a formidable machine at the time......nothing had anything like the power.
More power than a cheap lawn mower or a small outboard.

and back then.....they thaught that such a machine deserved two hand...both to operate and for spanners:D

cheers

[dakotax3]

"it has enough torque to break your arm!"
"did a few laps around the shed once or twice"
"and back then.....they thaught that such a machine deserved two hands"

... Indeed, whilst in his 70's, my father also did a lap or two inside the shed in a similar fashion breaking his forearm and enjoyed the company of a plaster cast for many weeks. Those auxillary handles are there for a reason. My big Wolf grinder has never had it's handle off, it would be unusable.

[ChasWolf]

Thanks to Soundman for his advice. You were spot-on concerning the Grease/Oil question, one which has puzzled so many philosophers down the ages!
I stripped down the primary gearbox, it too was filled with bright yellow grease, and I am sure as I can be that no one else has visited that spot in the last 50 odd years.
After another long search of the Interweb, I found in the 1956 edition of the Builder's & Decorator's Reference Book (one helluva read) that this particular sander was launched as the 'Wolf Sand-Easi".
Armed with this new information, I found that Morawa District Historical Society WA. has a copy of the manual online...

MORAWA DISTRICT HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM - TOOL MANUALS (http://members.westnet.com.au/caladenia/toolman.html#san)

or rather, had... the person responsible for that service had died,and therefore the service had been suspended or had ceased.. its not entirely clear.
So...if anyone has any info on the Sand-Easi 'the outcome of many years of research into sanding problems' as Wolf put it! I would still be grateful.

[gerhard]

Hi Chas,

i read your post a few ago already, but only now did i find time to retrieve my own BS3B from my storage stockpile of tools, where i knew i could find it relatively easy on top of the heap. I bought it from a jumble sale a few years ago and because it needs a lot of work to get back into good nick, i gave way to more interesting tools, needing less grunt to restore and left this machine the way it was for now. So in the pics you see it as i have bought and stored it for years, without any work having been done on it. It used to belong to a large furniture factory, where it probably belonged to the standard inventory of production hall 25 or smething, as the remnants of large white adhesive numbers, once stuck on the motor housing, would suggest.

The BS3B indeed has gears, like the Metabo 6100. It is a small machine (3 inch belt) and Wolf probably thought it too finnicky to use a chain, whereas the larger model i was talking about had a chain of a single row type (like on bikes) in oil. The Porter Cable 503 and 504 (the last two generation of this design; Black & Decker scratched them from the program for being too expensive to make after they purchased P-C in 2004) are also 3 inch machines, but P-C applied a double row chain type to enable such a small chain size to cope with the torquey forces needed for a belt sander.
Soundman's comment made me less sure of my assumption that the P-C also had oil lubricated chains. Since the first reduction gear step is a worm drive, i knew for sure that these models had oil lube. Therefore i assumed that the chain drive made use of the same oil fill, since oil penetrates all chain links and bush axles in a much better way and rinses away ground metal particles (that could act as abrasives), as it does in worm drives. And since belt sanders with such weight are seldomly used overhead, these metal particles could conveniently sink to the bottom of the combined drive case, as in any upright oilfilled mechanism. But i was surprised to find that these last generation P-C belt sanders use a separate fill of chain grease. The oil (# 803443) and grease (# 875914) for these machines are clearly specified in the spare part lists. So i stand corrected, it teaches me to double check on assumptions, even those i seemed so sure about. One obviously never stops learning. Though oil filled chain cabinets in power tools do exist! I hope to find a pic of the large belt sander i was talking about, but it was more than 30 years ago that i saw it lying opened up in a repair workshop.

I've added pics of several other oil filled tools, which were more common some decades ago than they are today. Nowadays grease fill is favoured because of less intricate sealing and the cost saving of needing less components and assembly time.

Now for the BS3B. Yes, of course i'll be glad to help you out. The sander i bought didn't have a bag either and i do alas not have any pics of its original shape and appearance. I believe its finish was uncoloured linen with black or red print, or burgundy or black linen with white print.
I've already opened the gear case for you to have a look inside. A bright yellow grease colour would indeed hint at the original factory fill. From the 70's on the standard Wolf gear grease was a darker syrupy colour. The bright opaque grease type from some decades ago indeed has a tendency to dry up and solidify a bit, with little beneficial effect left for the components it was meant to service. This is also a peculiarity of grease fills in vintage ball bearings, which then -by the way- were made from better steel than today.

Just mention what you would like to check and i will dismantle the machine to answer your questions.

greetings

gerhard

[ChasWolf]

Hi Gerhard,
Many thanks for your reply. I've enclosed a few pics, First concerning the platen, mine seems a little longer and has a cork sheet underneath (yours may well have too, I couldn't see). Second, mine has the thick felt strip at the rear. neatly attached with screws & plastic spacers (possibly original?) Also the sacrificial belt guide, a piece of strip 1/8" thick, some sort of steel alloy, not particularly hard... what's yours like?
As you can see, the ninety degree turn is accomplished with a pair of spiral bevel gears, roughly equal numbers of teeth, so no massive worm reduction there! As for the armature, not bad for 55 or so.
Also, on your pics, the outlet pipe has some sort of fitment, possibly a coupler that was originally part of the bag, if it is I wouldn't mind a few details.

As for the Ralliwolf stuff, it seems to be correct, don't know where Stark fits in though!

Capital/revenue divide: intellectual property: transfer of know-how: to overseas companies (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/bim35710.htm)

Regards, Chas

[gerhard]

Hi Chas,

at last an answer. It was a busy week, we moved one of our offices (i'm in facility management, so i'm the one to prepare things like that and to see them through to the end without hickups), therefore there was little spare time left for the pc. We spent the weekend at our dad's place, who is now alone and 88 years old, he deserves quality time solely dedicated to him.

Your sander is in superb shape compared to mine. The one i got from the furniture factory has seen a lot of use and has obviously been repaired several time, even with makeshift replacement parts, possibly made by the factory people themselves.

The platen in my sander is not original, though the choice of steel with a high nickel content was a good one. But the trailing end is not even cut off at a proper 90 degree angle. Underneath is some brownish stuff that looks like leather rather than cork. The little plate that was screwed-on behind the rear roller, is also home-made. It is made from aluminium with some coating, probably meant to prevent it from making scratchmarks on the workpiece. Typical crossmarks marking the right spot for drilling the four holes hint toward a one-off handmade solution. Wolf itself would have stamped such parts in series production, i very much doubt that they would go through the trouble of measuring, marking and drilling every single piece by hand. Underneath this plate some brown felt was glued, but there are no signs of any fine adjustments or means to achieve it.

The phosphorised steel bush that was once part of the dust bag, is original. It has a bajonet slot, but the screw in the dust ejector spout that was meant to fit that slot, is missing. Some sort of rivet was popped in a drilled second hole, but the rivet's head diameter is too big to fit the slot. This hints towards another tinkering session. The other side of the bush once held a steel stiffening rib, meant to give the bag its shape. This rib was a length of steel rod/wire, with a diameter of approx. 3 mms. and it was either spot welded or soldered to the bush. The joint has broken and it looks like there has been a sloppy second soldering attempt. I will make you a sketch of the bush next week, with all measurements and details.

The sacrificial belt buffer plate on my machine is the same as on yours, but it has been cut in half. Deep traces of the belt having eaten in the machine housing are present.

I didn't thank you for your marvellous find of the Ralli Wolf brand ! Great, i never knew of its existence, though the brand seems to have been established already in 1958, in close cooperation with Wolf London. So, thank you very much indeed for this wonderful find, it brings back a lot of memories of vintage Wolf tool models. Amongst it i found a pic of the monster angle grinder that was mentioned in some posts above. The pic shows the 7" version, but the 9" machine has the same gearbox and motor housing sizes. The version of this 9"version i have at home, even carries a carrying ring on top, meant for connecting to a spring loaded balancer that takes part of the weight. The original machines were 1700 and 1900 Watts, the present Ralli Wolf version is rated at 2200 Watts.

Got to go again, till next time!

greetings

gerhard

[gerhard]

Hi Chas,

at long last, the promised dustbag fiting sketch. Also my apologies for the substandard pics which were far from sharp. I do have an extensive SLR camera set, but it's not yet digital. I took the pics with a Nokia N95 phone's camera, which has an okay lens and picture chip, but i obviously didn't respect the device's out-of-focus warnings.

The Ralli Wolf was a brilliant find, i haven't yet found the time to find out how and where Stark fits into the story. Several websites seem to agree on the statement that Ralli Wolf was founded in India with full cooperation and joined funds of Wolf Power Tools of London, UK, in 1958. It's probably the same effort as was undertaken by Anglo-Dutch Shell in "our overseas dominion"Surinam, where Shell erected a refining plant as it did near Rotterdam.

During browsing, i noticed a spot of controversy around Ralli Wolf. The writer of this entry was categorised as a liar for publishing it:

http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/ralliwolf-india-limited-c263215.html (http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/ralliwolf-india-limited-c263215.html)

But upon searching deeper, i stumbled on this article, which seems to indaicate that he may have had a point after all:
http://www.mid-day.com/metro/2003/sep/64977.htm (http://www.mid-day.com/metro/2003/sep/64977.htm)
In short: the Wolf story remains an interesting one and is apparently not told to the full in this forums yet.

I also stumbled across the very nice vintage NWB blower. Like many other beautiful Wolf models, this machine too seems to have been made by Ralli Wolf to the orignal yesteryear specs and livery. Up to nifty details like the all metal switch! Absolutely fabulous that today factories still make this possible. Water drips from my mouth by already watching the pics. When i would have had enough cash, i think i would have sent for the entire range from India. Sorry about that, but that's how daft collectors are.
I also found some attachments that can be ordered to go with the NWB. A dustbag fitting resembling the one for the BS3B can be spotted here. The bag itself is rather symmetrical, like a rubber hot water bottle with it's screw cap in the middle. Just think away one flap and you have an idea of the original belt sander dustbag shape. Like on many belt sanders, the the BS3B's bag cloth just hung from a bent steel rod, as drawn in the sketch.

greetings

gerhard

[ChasWolf]

Hi Gerhard,

Thank you so much for the drawings, they’re perfect! I think that this is the first time I have been sent drawings where no further questions need be asked, its all there. I will make a start this weekend, and post pictures as it progresses. Should keep you amused!
Like you, I have a non-digital SLR, a lovely old Nikon and some great Nikkor lenses, which I fear I’ll never be able to truly replace. If only a digital back was an option… but I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Funny about the focus thing too, we have a point & shoot digital camera which I was using only yesterday to photograph a ‘surplus to requirements’ milling machine we have just acquired. The reason being that I needed to send pics of the mill to the manual supplier to see if he might be able to help, (nobody seems to have heard of this model, an Adcock & Shipley ‘Lester’). I loaded them into the computer and they were all wildly out of focus… disappointed, I put the camera in the warm overnight and lo & behold, the following morning it had fixed itself! However, having looked at the in-focus pics, he didn’t have a manual, nor had he ever seen or heard of one, though he did concede that one must exist… somewhere!

I saw the ‘controversial’ exchange when I was looking into Ralliwolf earlier, but I missed the article concerning the apparent demise of Ralliwolf and the plight of its former employees. I’ll keep looking for more info as well.

Moving even further east to Australia, I discovered the story of Wolf Electric Tools Ltd., Bob & Dolly Dyer, hosts of the long-running BP Pick-a-Box game show, and WW2 hero, Frank Partridge VC.
The full, poignant, story is too involved to tell here. Suffice to say that Wolf, in the early 60s, keen to increase Australian market share, engaged the services of Bob & Dolly to promote their products, both on & off the show.
Frank was a regular panelist/contestant at this time and he managed to win a shed load of Wolf products. Long after Frank’s untimely death, his son donated the prizes to the Powerhouse museum in Sydney.

AUSTRALIA’S YOUNGEST WORLD WAR II VICTORIA CROSS WINNER: (http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/407.shtml)

2005/92/2 Wood turning tools with packaging, Wolf No.7, metal / wood / cardboard, made by Wolf Electric Tools Limited, London, England, 1959-1963 - Powerhouse Museum Collection (http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=347157)

The Blower looks great, as does the accessory pack, makes you think, if it is to original spec, I wonder if all the spare parts they list would be compatible with vintage Wolf stuff too?

Cheers, Chas.

[gerhard]

Hi Chas!

Great reply, thank you very much indeed! The PowerHouse link is wonderful! Do have a look at www.ebay.co.uk (http://www.ebay.co.uk), there are often Wolf tool or parts on sale there, sometimes new in their original packaging, just like the one the PowerHouse has on display. I'm proud to have the vintage Cubmaster and Safetymaster in bright red and silver hammerite finish, in new unused condition in my private collection, including original unfaded box, inlay, accessories, factory warranty & parts leaflets and manuals.

I'm afraid the collar on the blower accesory's dustbag has a different diameter, though its material shows similarity. These blower often have larger diameter suction holes and exhaust spouts than the exhausts on belt sanders.

Recently i won a Wolf two speed 500 Watts drill on Ebay UK and had it shipped over to Holland (first pic). British parcel services are very sloppy. They claimed that the address supposedly was incomplete (which was untrue), so the drill crossed the Channel back to England and had to be dispatched a second time. On an earlier occasion i won a large 1020 Watts two-hand slow speed drill (second pic), which is very rare in a single speed livery. It was even in very good shape, which is rare too because these tool types tend to get used up completely in trades or industries for daily breadwinning. But the parcel was badly damage and our receptionist refused it without looking any further and had it sent back, when it was delivered in my absence. The sender never saw it returned to his home and i never saw it back either. A perfectly good tool wasted because of parcel people not bothering about other people's stuff.

Still, i do have the two speed version of the 1020 Watts drill. It is shown in the third pic as i bought it, also from Ebay UK. This shipment went okay for a change and i let the seller keep the stand to give away to someone else. This was about a year ago and since the machine has been fully restored and now looks and behaves like new.

When mixing the original beige colour to touch up damaged spots on the metal gearbox, it dawned on me that the British seem to have a soft spot for light grey or ivory or light beige paint on machines. I noticed this in many English ship or locomotive engine rooms, where often the diesels are painted light grey or beige (fourth pic, of of the two engines of a Deltic diesel locomotive). Wolf also experimented with this colour. There is a Safetymaster drill in beige instead of the former silvergrey hammerite. When several tool manufacturers experimented with non-metal tool motor and gear housings in the early 60's, to improve electric safety and reduce weight, Wolf first chose light grey for its fibre reinforced resin housing material. As a colour accent, Wold chose bright aqua. Bright colours like aqua and signal orange and yellow (think of police cars and such) were introduced in the 60's as a result of using halogen chemistry in paints Bright aqua became hugely popular in the UK, on product packaging, trendy billboards and posters, shopfronts, fashion accesories, toothpaste and even foodstufffs. Black & Decker also used a sea blue/green variety on its products after introducing its new Spennymoor plant in the UK, but this colour was somewhat darker and less vivid. I already joined a forum duscussion about aqua on power tools sometime in the past, and i looked up a "moodboard" composition based on this colour theme that i copy/pasted together for that occasion (fifth pic). It shows Wolf obviously having chosen something very fashionable, perhaps to help shake off an oldfashioned image and to accompany a new range of models.

The rather dull light grey was soon replaced by beige as used earlier on the Safetymaster. The combination beige/aqua was fresher and even more striking and rather unique. In the memory of many Wolf tool owners, this appearance has the most vivid associations with the brand. Red returned to Wolf when it was purchased by Kango from Peterborough (sixth and seventh pic).

I will follow your progress on the dustbag collet with interest. I love projects like that, good luck!

greetings

gerhard

[ChasWolf]

Hi Gerhard,
I’ve enclosed a pic of progress so far on the coupler. Next, I will attach the outlet pipe back onto the sander, in order to find the ‘top’, then mark out and cut the slots for the wire bag support.

I have been looking on YouTube for DIY Parkerizing. There’s loads of stuff on there, mostly guns, it has to be said, but informative nonetheless. Surprisingly, at least to me, Phosphoric acid (85%) and Manganese dioxide are readily available quite cheaply on ebay!

The Safetymaster, and the Cub have been on ebay this week, I expect you may have already seen them!
The other pic of the 1965 Wolf was not on ebay, I have not seen anything like it before, are you familiar with this model?

Finally the Arcoy and stand… strictly speaking outside the remit of this thread, (heads may roll!) was on ebay this week…

I bought exactly that setup in 1968-69 when I was young, and my head was turned by the promise of 500, yes 500 watts of pure drilling power! Actually, it was OK for a year or two, especially the stand and morticing attachments, the drill, however, was let down by the less than robust design of the insulated coupling in the chuck drive shaft, which I replaced, only for the gearbox to fail a few months later.

Cheers, Chas

[ChasWolf]

Hi Gerhard,
More coupler pics, I'm afraid The 'rod' is a piece of aluminium welding rod, just for show!
Cheers, Chas.

[gerhard]

Hi Chas,

what a splendid workpiece! It's spot-on, very well done indeed!! It looks like you have quite an arsenal of serious metalworking machines at your disposal. The diameter changes (protruding and inserted rims) require a hefty roller bench. The over-under-over securing of the rod in your coupler is an exact copy of the original. I think you succeeded in a way to be proud of! The phosphate finish is also exactly the same. You know your trade, i'm a long way from matching such an achievement.

Very nice drill pics! The Cub is the vintage brown one, i don't have this version yet. The Safetymaster looks like the one in my collection. The dark blue drill looks to be the metal predecessor of the moulded fibre reinforced resin model in grey and aqua, as shown in the red carrying case in the aqua "collage thing pic". The dark blue has, as far as i know, never been an original Wolf colour. I think this machine was overhauled and resprayed. The red Arcoy drill is new to me, the gearcase in front looks like a rather slim design. Judging from the design it may have been a semi-pro of DIY product. The gear teeth hardening in these tool classes are seldom perfect. Skil drills were another example, their lube grease was rather thick and when it was centrifuged away into all nooks and crannies of the gearbox, the dry greaseless gears were known to wear down and fail within 30 hours of use. The Skil circular saw had much better gears however.

greetings

gerhard

[ChasWolf]

Hi Gerhard,

Thank you very much for your kind words, its always nice to receive such comments!
I’ve enclosed a few bits & pieces which may be of interest.

The Skil belt sander leaflet is particularly relevant, in light of your comments… they go to great lengths to encourage a rigorous lubrication regime!

I thought the Safetymaster & Arcoy things would also be of interest

The B&D pic is the front page of their 1953 catalogue, which can be downloaded in full at the link below. There are dozens of vintage catalogues there, mostly hand tools, although the Thor catalogue contains a selection of rather strange-looking power tools!

Rose Antique Tools old tools and history (http://www.roseantiquetools.com/id220.html)

I remembered where I found the 1965 Wolf pic, there are other Wolf pics there too. They were photographed for ‘The Design Centre’, an institution which dished out awards for innovative British design. Must have kept them busy!

Core Record DCSC - VADS: the online resource for visual arts (http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/large.php?uid=63077&sos=2)

Oh, and I downloaded a 1956 Porter-Cable catalogue, which of course, you may well already have, if not I can email it to you.

Cheers, Chas

[gerhard]

Hi Chas,

magnificent! What a wealth of information! I've drooled all over my keyboard. The Skil belt sanders were indeed almost as intricate as the Porter-Cable models, which -by many- were regarded as the best belt sanders ever made. But then Skil used to make beautiful products, a bit of a far cry from the things they make today. As for the dark blue Wolf drill as presented in the Design Award listing, these people only judge and depict the original factory products. So the dark blue colour must have been original after all. This is a new aspect of Wolf i didn't know about yet. New things to be learned every day!

I knew little about the Arcoy brand, so it's nice to see a presentation of their model range. The vintage Porter-Cable line was made up of solid polished aluminium machines, several models of which were in production with only minor changes, up to P-C's swallowing-up by B&D in 2004. Porter-Cable also made power tools for the Rockwell brand (the conglomerate that also made rocket stuff for NASA) and joined Flex (Ackermann + Schmitt from Germany0, also through a purchase by B&D around 2004. Both brands didn't exactly benefit from the B&D influence. Several solid P-C and Flex machine models were taken out of production and the rest suffered a bit of bean counter skimping to maximise profit margins.
The B&D drill on the cover of the '53 catalogue is included in my collection. This tool was made until the early 80's and is one of the examples of what quality B&D is capable of, when it chooses to bother. It is a 20 mm two-hand and spade grip model, with the motor and gear housing being an enlarged version of B&D's familiar vintage DIY T-grip drill design. But whereas these DIY models mainly featured bronze sleeve bearings, this heavy-duty model uses ball and needle bearings only.

You've given me lots of worthwhile material to study and to delve deeper into. Thank you very much for that!

Greetings

gerhard

[kazango]

Gerhard has a good knowledge of Wolf history. I worked for them as Kango Wolf, then as Mango until about 1985. As it happens, I'm needing a contact for references. Does anyone know of any offices or facilities to contact? The best I have is a distributor in South Africa called Irma, who was very helpful. But I am stuck now. Cheers.

[kazango]

Gerhard has a good knowledge of Wolf history. I worked for them as Kango Wolf, then as Mango until about 1985. As it happens, I'm needing a contact for references. Does anyone know of any offices or facilities to contact? The best I have is a distributor in South Africa called Irma, who was very helpful. But I am stuck now. Cheers.

[kazango]

Sorry about mistakes, just getting used to this. :roll:Chas and Gerhard have a good knowledge of Wolf history and products. I worked for them as Kango Wolf, then as Kango until about 1985. As it happens, I'm needing a contact for references. Does anyone know of any offices or facilities to contact? The best I have is a distributor in South Africa called Irma, who was very helpful. But I am stuck now. Cheers.

[gerhard]

Hi Kazango,

i'm afraid i don't have any contacts for you, although last year i received a mail from a Mr. McLean who had apparantely joined Techtronic Industries of HongKong and wanted to know more about the Wolf firm's history. This is what he wrote (copy-pasted from the orginal mail):

Dear Gerhard

I read with great interest your posting on the history of Wolf Tools. By way of addendum, I can tell you that Techtronic Industries acquired Wolf along with Kango a few years ago, and the brand is now sitting idle.

I have recently joined Techtronic, and am very interested in learning more about Wolf's history. How is it you come to know so much about the brand? Are there any resources you could direct me to? I am particularly keen to find any kind of primary documents, images, reports, letters etc that can help me build a history of Wolf.

Thank you for your post, and for your interest in this topic.

regards

Michael McLean



End quote. In the mean time, the Wolf power tool brand is no longer sitting idle. It has been revived by Techtronic and is used to adorn a typical array of Chinese products. The light grey/beige hue of the heydays was chosen again and even the typical Wolf brandname typeface was recycled. Only the aqua was replaced by dark blue. I haven't tried any of the Chinese Wolf products yet and nowadays Chinese power tools can be unexpectedly good value if the makers put their mind to it, but from appearance alone i dare suggest that these Asian machines are not quite in the league of the original British products.

In keeping with my tedious habit, i sent quite a lengthy answer to Mr. McLean, finishing with me wondering about Techtronic being aware that they were in the middle of an important decision. They could either continue the prime value of a once proud quality brand name with an equally good product range, or squander that name's value once and for all by abusing it for flogging substandard budget stuff, as many other brand purchasers have done. I never heard from Mr. McLean again.

Right now i just don't know. Has anyone in this forum tried these new Wolf products yet?

regards

gerhards

[kazango]

Hi Gerhard,

Thanks for your informative reply. I too eventually got as far as Hong Kong. As regards to the manufacturing side, (and here is a story about a "small world"), about 12 years ago I was a Production Manager for a Sub-Con Manufacturing company. As you do, I started to try and source more work. Cutting a long story short, I came across a factory in Wandsworth, South London, who were purely machining Kango Wolf products. A lot of my old pals were there too. I didn't get any work off them.

About 9 years ago, I took on a short contract for Dessouters in Hemmel Hempsted. Again in the UK. They made air tools, predominantly. Again I came across a few pals of mine, two who were on the same section, and shift, as me all that time ago.

About 3 years ago there was a big explosion on that industrial estate in Hemmel. It demolished a lot of buildings and machines. One of the companies there has a manufacturing facility in Thailand. I'm now working for them!!!

Round and round, back to the beginning.

Anyway, although it's an interesting story, I doubt it will bring back the real good quality, heavy duty Wolf products back.

Good luck, and thanks.

Dave.:2tsup:

[vesparone]

Hi Gerhard,

Not sure how this works but I have been following with interest your discussion regarding Wolf power tools. I am interested in power tools made in Australia. For a long time I assumed Wolf were always imported to Australia, but I have found on ebay.com.au a Wolf sander, aluminium die cast circa 1960, that is made in Sydney Australia.

Do you know anything about Wolf manufacturing in Australia?

Cheers

[Chas]

I remember a Wolf manufacturing facility in the 1960-70s period which was in Arthur St, Lidcome (Homebush). It was plainly visible from the railway and was identified by "Wolf" or possibly "Wolf Tools" painted on the roof.

Chas.

[Lycanthrope]

Hello everyone,
And what an interesting discussion board.
I wonder if I may pick Gerhards brains, as you sir, seem to be so knowledgeable on the Wolf brand.
I've been collecting 1950's Wolf products and sales literature for a good while now (I just love their early drills) and managed to gather up quite a collection of attatchments (about 25) for my 4 favourite models, the Cub, Cubmaster, Quartermaster and Safetymaster, all of which I try to use as regularly as possible. The Cubmaster is a rather early serial No 446, and the Safetymaster a very early No 136.
Early production information as I'm sure you may know is rather hard to find, (a complete model catalogue in generic order would be great) so here goes.....
1) Apart from a slight cosmetic difference, what differs the Quartermaster from the later Safetymaster?
2) Apart from the switch cover, what differs the Cubmaster from the later (1960 I think) wolf challenge? (a drill I don't yet have)
3) Is there a reason for some of the body casings having the 'WOLF' logo cast in them and some left plain (I own examples of both and the plain casings pop up at late and early production dates, so I just wondered)?
Oh dear!! I've just read my own posting and I sound like a right anorak don't I? but hopefully Wolf fans will understand.
Anyway Gerhard, as I said, I hope you don't mind me putting you on the spot like this, but it's great to discover that other people too are interested in this once great power tool brand, I do hope you are able to answere.
Also, apologies to the original poster, as this posting really doesn't address his question at all.

[gerhard]

Hi Lycanthrope!,

haha, you've got me cornered here! First of all, please forgive me for my late response, i rarely visited the forum in the past months, due to very hectic duty schedules.

1. Since i don't own a Quartermaster and only ever saw one in a picture, i'm not able to take one apart and compare it to the inside life of a Safetymaster. The latter was clearly advertised as a double insulated tool, so, if the Quartermaster was built to that specification, the difference between the two may be in the motor construction and switch layout. But this is only a guess.

2. Didn't the Challenge have a metallic light blue livery, with black and white checkered decals, like on UK police cars and F1 finish flags? If so, i have once been in the position to buy two brand new ones for a bargain from a shop closing down. I was tight on money around that time, there were also two vintage metals B&D drills and a streamlined all aluminium and highly polished French made Val d'Or drill. These are very rare and they are the drill equivalent of a Citroën DS, so i spent my money one that item. I went back for the other drills a few weeks later, to find that the shop had been cleared out entirely. The phrase "you can't have 'em all" was very apt, but also little help.
These light blue Wolf drills i saw, indeed looked like a spitting image of the Cubmaster. They may have been a budget version, although the Cubmaster already has quite a few sleeve bearings. The motor power may also have been different. Like you, i have yet to encounter another one, so these models are rare indeed.

3. Cast lettering and ornaments were popular in the 30's up to the 50's. To achieve quality detailed results, both mould finshing and casting require extra care and thus cost, with possibly a higher amount of rejects that have to be recycled. On the other hand, cast details stay recognisable much longer than housestyle colours, riveted typeplates or brand decals, which are prone to become scratched or worn down. Examples of tools with cast lettering are from Fein, Stanley, Porter-Cable and Rockwell, Mafell, Milwaukee, Elu, Holz Her, Ackermann + Schmitt, Stihl, Festo, Siemens, AEG, Millers Falls, Hilti, Gotthold Haffner, B&D and Outillage Peugeot, with many brands using contrasting paint colours to bring out the name or logo from the surrounding cast housing. Most of these brands ceased to use cast lettering around the 60's, often when the conventional moulds and the tool models they would produce, were obsolete or due for refurbishment anyway. In the new moulds, the cast details were simply ground away or filled out, to crank up the mould's filling speed and loosening properties.To cut cost and still give products a distinctive appearance, paint colours and decals were adopted as the new tool identity trend.

The same goes for Wolf, with the cast detailed models in general being older then the smoothed down ones. Early models without cast details were also common among tool brands, since flaws in such details tend to give away imperfect mastery of the casting process and require grades of metal liquidity and filling pressure that were not yet advanced enough in that era. From around 1890 to the 20's, alloys didn't yet have the ideal mix ratios and properties that exist today. Cast details in early tools tended to be a bit more coarse and irregular and if time and money were an issue for a manufacturer, he may not have bothered or would choose branded riveted or screwed-on badges instead. From around 1850 to 1930, there was a whole industry of platemakers available (brass, bronze, cast iron) to cater for many markets, from locomotives and household appliances to ships, bridges and machines. Often a very vintage electric tool with a smooth housing is merely so because its original badges or plates are missing, leaving only tiny telltale screw or rivet holes.

4. Vintage Wolf catalogues and advertisement prints are very rare worldwide. Wolf tools were considered to be workhorses with glamour coming second, and i have the impression that the firm didn't spend as much on marketing as B&D or Bosch or Festo did. Although it must be said that the Pioneer Works did show their association and good reputation with the British aircraft industry with considerable pride. On my trip to the Ealing Council Library (which stock the archive on London's Ealing and Acton, including the Hanger Lane region where the factory was), there were more newspaper articles on Wolf in relation to aircraft manufacturing, than there were advertisements on the brand in general. Wolf was never big in Holland, there were very few sales points stocking the brand, although most Dutch users knowing the brand, tended to stay true to it all their lives. Still, for most things on Wolf, i have to shop abroad.

That's how far my knowledge reaches at the moment. You've given me some homework to do first, before i can comment more accurate than this.

Best regards

gerhard

[Lycanthrope]

Hello again Gerhard and thanks for replying in such a detailed manner.
I've attatched (hopefully) a few pictures of my "Wolf Pack" I hope they're of interest to you or other Wolf collectors.
One more thing, if you've ever watched the film "The Worlds Fastest Indian" then look out for the scene where Burt Munroe (Anthony Hopkins) is rather discustingly trimming his toenails with guess what!.....a Cub or Cubmaster.
regards Lycanthrope.

[gerhard]

Hi Lycanthrope!

Very nice collection indeed! Aren't they just great, those yesteryear liveries? And look at the brochure layouts and boxes and manuals printwork; they capture an era all on their own. Accessories are often incomplete or have their boxes and manuals missing or are just not considered collectable enough. Your collection is proof of the opposite and offers a much better picture of what the brand was about, beyond the basic machines.

To fetch my entire Wolf collection i have to delve inside a few stacks of boxes, which may take some time. From the green hammerite era i have a few drills, a large angle grinder and a belt sander, from the silver hammerite and red era i have a Cubmaster and Safetymaster brand new in mint box, from the cream and aqua era i have five drill types, two circular saws, a jig saw, a small angle grinder and an orbital sander and from the red era i have a circular saw and two drills.
Recently on ebay.co.uk i saw an odd Wolf circular saw (beveled geared or worm drive geared) whizz by, of which i only managed to retrieve a very small picture. The item hasn't been sold and the seller lives in Clacton and doesn't ship, he only wants it collected from his home. Next month i'll be in England, i may be just crazy enough to visit him and buy the thing.

Greeting

gerhard

[Lycanthrope]

Thanks Gerhard, I try to use them all as often as I can, so hense they're all a bit grubby and have a rather used look (the red Cubmaster has been in the family 55 years), although if I owned mint examples I think I'd be a bit reticent about using them.
' Sounds like you have a great collection (I'm most envious)from all the eras.
The circular saw you mentioned and pictured looks a pretty rare piece of history indeed, (do you know the model?) if I were you, I'd certainly make a point of snapping it up (have you tried persuading the owner to post it.....££££?)

Lycanthrope.

[ciaran]

I have been amazed and delighted at the postings by Gerhard and Chas! For sentimental reasons to do with my early interest in woodwork I am keen to get hold of a Stanley Bridges Wasp or Husky drill, working or not, and wonder if Lycanthrope might know how I could chase this down? You describe exactly the same interest as mine in wolf tools. also glad to buy a wolf saphire 70 or arcoy buccaneer if any available. Ireland / UK preferable.

[Lycanthrope]

Hello there ciaran,
It's always nice to hear from another 'wolfman' I can't help you at the minute, but I'll certainly keep a sharp look out for all four models you mentioned and let you know immediately via this board if I find them. Actually I've just last month fully restored a Bridges Neonic drill, it works and looks really good!
If you find a 'Saphire' I've a completely unused 6" circular saw attatchment and blade that your quite welcome to for nothing if you can use it, I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to concentrate on my favourite four Wolf models of the 50's.
Lycanthrope.

[ciaran]

Hello there ciaran,
It's always nice to hear from another 'wolfman' I can't help you at the minute, but I'll certainly keep a sharp look out for all four models you mentioned and let you know immediately via this board if I find them. Actually I've just last month fully restored a Bridges Neonic drill, it works and looks really good!
If you find a 'Saphire' I've a completely unused 6" circular saw attatchment and blade that your quite welcome to for nothing if you can use it, I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to concentrate on my favourite four Wolf models of the 50's.
Lycanthrope.

hi Lycanthrope, thank you very much for offering to help, and for the offer of the circular saw attachment, most kind! I wasn't really planning to use these drills, if I get any, but indeed the attachment might well complement the collection if I ever start it. The fact that you're looking for drills from the 50s also encourages me about those from the 60s! Wishing you every success, for now, ciaran

[WolfBarry]

Dear Gerhard and other Wolf collectors, My son has just drawn my attention to the various posts you have made regarding Wolf tools. I am delighted to see your interest in these products as I was an executive of the company for a number of years from the late 1960's to the end of 1982 when Geoffrey Wolfe sold the company to Dobson Park Industries who had shortly before this time purchased Kango tools.

Initially I was operating in the UK for the company, then took over our Scandinavian operation and spent the last seven years of my time with Wolf as Managing Director of our South African operation.

During our "Sapphire years" there was a real buzz within the company as we were so proud to be selling a really good British made product throughout the world, and making a very reasonable contribution to overseas earnings during the "Ted Heath years".

I always recall my meetings with Geoffrey Wolfe as i reported directly to him, and the fact that it was always very difficult to inform him of any product problems we were experiencing in the field, as he could not accept our tools were anything other than the very best, which in the main they were but with the odd exception. For example when we introduced the grey bodied Sapphire range (ie Sapphire 70 etc) with GRP mouldings, we had serious problems with bearings turning within the housings. Similar problems affected the first of the grinderettes when we went from the Makita supplied version (AG4) to our own 4578 models, i remember clearly a failure rate in excess of 20% which was overcome by replacing the gearbox with a cast metal product.

I still have a couple of briefcases full of internal product development memos which i still find interesting reading to this day!!

I have recently commenced upon a "nostalgia trip" and have myself been purchasing a number of our old tools, mainly the Sapphire range as that was the main period of my time with the company.

As a matter of interest, in South Africa we produced our own metal (homeworker) cabinets which contained a sapphire 76 drill complete with the full range of attachments, orbital sander, drill stand, circular saw, jigsaw etc plus a range of hand tools, chisel, screw driver etc. These sold very well indeed and really helped us with the sale of our domestic range.

We also found it very difficult to sell the 100mm grinderette in South Africa as all the large operators had vast stocks of 115mm discs and were using every make but ours. To overcome this I introduced an "add on" which was given away with every grinderette which contained a guard to accomodate a 115mm disc and an adaptor to take the shaft from 16mm to 22mm. I hadn't told Geoffery of this idea and i remember one evening him phoning me at home to ask how the South African associate was selling so many grinderettes. I sent him a sample pack and although i got my knuckles rapped having not obtained approval from the board, he loved the idea of this modification and it became offered throughout the rest of our associates.

I am in Bergen Op Zoom in Holland from the 10th-14th August and if you are near that area it would be nice to see your collection.

Kind regards

[Mychael]

I remember back when I was around 10yrs old (long time ago), my grandfather had (which looked old even back then) this huge Wolf hand drill.

It was bare metal, unless all the paint was worn off, very heavy and did not have a pistol grip handle rather a closed loop handle.

The trigger switch was heavy with a very positive action and I remember once you released the trigger that the drill took a long time to slow down again.

[UK-Wolf-Finder]

I am seeking advice on a wolf product and had drawn a blank until i read the woodwork forum.

I recently acquired a Wolf "D1 X24 A" drill, however I can not see where its fits within the generations of drills that were manuactured (ie sapphire), and all internet searches for that model prove fruitless.

The unit is huge, weighs a ton and is silver finished.

At the moment it is a non-starter (dont know why, it could even be the fuse in the plug - thats how little i have tinkered with it at this stage). My questions are:


01 - Where can i find more information about this model
02 - Anyone in the UK (preferably midlands area, whom is knowledgeable about this unit and could possibly assess
03 - Anyone who provides spares or overhauls these units (should it be required)

i would like to thank you for taking the time to read this and hope you are willing / able to help

Kind Regards

[gerhard]

Hi all,

my sincere apologies for not having been here for a long time. This was due to holiday breaks and the switching to a different job content, which required a lot of time in the past month. But it's either that or no job at all in these recession times.

This drill type was made in the early 70's, prior to the Sapphire range (1973-1976 onwards). So this is one of the last all metal Wolf tool models. The Sapphire range introduced fibre reinforced moulded synthetic resin housing parts around newly developed motors. For improved durablilty and overload reserves, a new copper wire insulation lacquer recipe was used, based on estermide-polymers. To express this additional toughness, the marketing term Sapphire was used, to tell that such an improved motor was used inside tools with such name on them. So this D1 is a pre-Sapphire model. The odd round flanges around the motor housing , used for handle grip fixtures and such, are there because this motor housing design was used for other tool type as well (e.g. circular saw). This principle was also used in its successor, the grey and aqua coloured Sapphire 1020 Watts two-hands drill (later ivory beige and aqua), which also shared its motor housing design with 1020 Watts and 1350 watts circular saw type models in the same range. Pictures of the related Sapphire drill and saw are included below, to illustrate the resemblance to the D1's motor housing, on which these large Sapphire models were clearly based. You can see the same fixture array which serves for a stick handles on the drill and as a fixture points for the wrap-around handle of the saw. The motor housing's hind cap incorporates a breast plate on the drill ans is a mere closing plate with cooling air vent slits on the saw. The same thing goes for the D1. Drills with two side handles and breast plates were also dubbed "cross shape drill models" , hence the "X" in its type name.

To determine the cause of the D1 not reacting in any way, you need to be electricity-savvy and in the possession of an Ohm-Meter . For the next story, no mains power is necessary; you use the meter's batteries as the only power source, so this is safe. Attach the Ohm meter wires to the plug prongs and operate the switch. With squeezed switch there should be a circuit, measuring something between 12 and 40 Ohms. If the scale needle remains unimpressed and stays put on zero, turn the drill chuck to rotate the motor by hand without using mains current. Dirt may have been trapped between one of the brushes and the commutator, in which case there is no electrical contact and hance no circuit to be measured. Rotation often removes the dirt and if this was the cause, there will now be some meter needle movement (to preferably a proper reading). If not, the other most probably cause will be the switch, the contact of which may have become sluggish or stuck. In this case you can squeeze the trigger, but the contacts may not really move enough to make a reliable electrical connection. There may also be dust or dirt or oxidation between the switch contacts, which would not be surprising after a decade or more of unused storage. If again the needle doesn't move, it's time to take portions of the drill apart.
Unscrew the handel part which houses the switch, to get access to its contacts. Once insde, determine which are the motor leads, remove the meter wires from the mains plug prongs and connect them to the two motor wires. If there is still no reading, one of the brushes may still not touch the commutatot; not because there is trapped dirt (since this was emoved during the turning of ther chuck) but most likely because the brush is stuck inside its brass holder, whereas it should have free play to allow its spring to push it against the commutator's copper strips. Unscrew one brush cap and pull out the brush. Remember in which position it was, because you will have to insert it in exactly the same way. If turned axially 180 degrees, the worn brush face does not match the round commutator shape and running the motor on mains power will result in violent sparking that is harmful to the commutator. Visually the brush contact face; its hollow worn surface should be smooth and slightly gleaming, without grooves or burnt edges. Replace the brush and check on its free sliding inside its brass holder. Screw the cap back on and epeat the same procedure fo the other brush. Again measure across the motor leads. If there is still no reading, there is a wiring fault inside the motor itself, most likely in its coil wire or in the leads between the coils. You have to be experienced the motor when this is the case. If not, hand it in for repair after having checked the (hefty) price and having determined if this pays off.

With the switch lying bare before you, you can also measure across its poles. I never held a D1 in my hands myself, but being an all metal machine the switch is likely to be a double pole model ( to make sure that both mains cord wires are shut off since there is no 100% certainty that the live wire will always be one and the same). You can clearly see the two leads form the mains cord, coming in in one side of the switch, and the two motor leads coming out from different spots. Attach the meter wire to one incoming (mains cord lead) and one outlet pole (motor lead). With a squeezed swtich, you will eventually see needle movement. If not, the fault is inside the switch, provided there was a reading across the motor leads. If the motor and switch are okay but there no reading between the plug prings and the switch connections, you have a faulty mains cord, which needs replacing.

Wolf was early to adopt noise suppressor capacitors (even small models like the Safetymaster have one squeezed in, tiny as they are), so you may as well check it while the handle grip is opened up. Replace it if its shape is bulged, if parts of its contents have been leaking out or if its surface shows cracks or tears. While you are inspecting the brushes, do have a look inside the brass holders to spot the commutator strips somewhere below in the deep. Let light shine on them and slowly rotate the motor through the chuck. All strips should gleam and should show no burnt edges or black spots. The commutator is one of the telltale spots on which to determine general motor health.

good luck and greetings!

gerhard

[gerhard]

The promised pics to illustrate the story in the post just above this one.
The first two pics show 1020 Watts cross type drills with Sapphire motor (the one on the floor is a rare single speed model, which went missing during shipment from the UK to Holland and neither i nor the seller ever saw it again; i still feel a rage towards ParcelForce every time i think about it, since the drill looked well preserved and i was really looking forward to it). The dirty drill in the stand in the first pic is now restored and looks like new, so i got hold of at least one decent specimen of this type.

The motor housing designs clearly show that these machines are the direct successors of the all metal types like the D1. The third pic shows a 9 1/4" circular saw with a 1350 Watts Sapphire motor, using the same motor housing design as the drill. There was also a 7 1/4" version of this saw, with the same 1020 Watts motor as the drill. The saw is shown in a later red livery (the ivory and aqua were skipped when Wolf merged with Kango), but the model and its construction haven't been altered since the first grey and aqua Sapphire tool liveries. The side flanges, meant to hold the two side handles of the drill, can also serve as fixtures for the wrap around handle on the saw. Using standard housing components across several types of power tools is a cost saving measure that is frequently used by many manufacturers the world over. The Wolf Sapphire motor housing model of this cross type drill and circular saw was also used for some larger angle grinder types, for which the fixture flanges were left out of the pressure injection mould templates. In such cases armature and field components also show many similarities.

[UK-Wolf-Finder]

Hi Gerhard,

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, with a couple of texts that are detailed and informative. I appreciate the time and effort that this took you to do.

Im afraid i do come into the catagory of persons who "Dont have a clue", however a friend of mine has confirmed that the brushes do not exist.

Could anyone recommend the best way to acquire replacement items?

Regards

Finder

[gerhard]

Hi Finder,

brushes can be made to order. There are many recipes for making carbon compounds suited for specific circumstances (rpm and friction heat, surrounding climate like tropic or arctic, moist of dusty or chemically polluted atmosphere, shock load, duty cycle, current peaks, frequent forward/reverse running, need for operation with reduced sparking, etc.). But for the average power tool the recipe is relatively universal and there is little chance that you could go wrong in choosing universal non-brand specific brushes. When -for instance- you look at the original brush selection tables from Hitachi or Makita, you see several sizes that are used in (percussion) drills, grinders, planers and saws alike. So there is not really a special drill only carbon brush or a special jig saw only carbon brush, the same brush recipe will work for many power tools.

Much more important are the exact size and the specific attachments as mounted on the original brushes. There is a good article on carbon brushes in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush_(electric)

...and i took the liberty of borrowing the picture from this article, to explain about the attachments. One of them is a power conducting cord woven from fine copper. One cord end is attached to the compressed graphite/carbon material and the other end to a brass insertion clip that fits the brass brush holder that is underneath the brush cap. This woven cord is important, the spring must not be used as the only conductor, since its electrical resistance (steel) is too high and its fysical electrical contact between the brush holder and the brush too unreliable and too unsteady. This may result in heat and sparking inside the brush holder, especially when the motor experiences shock load.

The length of the new brush and the strength of the spring as a combination are also very important. Too much spring pressure on the brush contact surface increases friction heat and may lead to commutator damage. I suspect that for your drill model the length of a new brush should not exceed 5/8", to be on the safe side. For cross cut sizes of the brush you only need to measure the hole inside the brush holder. Take the drill to the dealer to check that the readymade brushes can move freely in the holders without wobbly play, or as an alternative take the drill to the dealer the first time around, to have him measure up the holder before the brushes are ordered for you. Be sure that they are fitted with the woven copper cord. I have ordered universal brushes made to size many times myself, and i removed the original spring and brass clip from the spent ones to use them again on the new ones. Next to the real (extinct) thing, that's as original as you can get them.

good luck!

gerhard

[gerhard]

Hi all,

just visited Ebay.co.uk and came across this auction:

VINTAGE ELECTRIC WOLF DRILL. ORIGINAL BOX, PRICE TAG& ORIGINAL INSTRUCTIONS MINT | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-ELECTRIC-WOLF-DRILL-ORIGINAL-BOX-PRICE-TAG-ORIGINAL-INSTRUCTIONS-MINT-/250912271181?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item3a6b896b4d)

The machine doesn't look half bad, so this would seem to be one of the rare changes to get hold of a collectible Wolf drill in decently preserved state. Just to let you know.

greetings

gerhard

[gerhard]

Hi all,

after a hectic working week, i decided last weekend to take the Wolf saw apart i bought a year ago, and restore it. Tinkering with tools temporarily frees the brain for me, like crosswords and bookreading do for others. Since i mentioned this saw a few posts earlier, i made some pics of it.

The motor housing design shared by this Sapphire saw and the large Sapphire drill is clearly visible. The drill has a 1050 Watts motor, which is also used in the 7 1/4" version of the saw. The saw in the pics is the 9 1/4"version, with the motor having been souped up to 1350 Watts. Also visible are the flange attachments on the motor housing, which can either take the drill's side handles or the wrap-around saw handle. The same motor housing was also used for medium size straight and angle grinders, with the flanges left away (smoothened out in the moulds).

[gerhard]

Forgot to add: this particular saw was made in 1979 (most markings inside the machine indicate March specifically).

[BRADFORD]

I have a Wolf drill stand, rescued from the rubbish tip, that I am happy to give away.
PM me if anybody is interested.
I love old tools and machinery so I hate to see anything like this go to waste.

[crowie]

G'Day "gerhard" and others,
I have a Wolf Jigsaw & Pistol Drill from the mid 1980's.
I purchased them from the Australian Kango Wolf agent back then; still working.
I'll try to sort a couple of photos in the few days.
Cheers, Crowie

[UK-Wolf-Finder]

Hi Gerhard,

Many thanks for your reply (20th September), appreciating your efforts and time again. I am now researching hand tool repair specialists in order to have a good look and provide a thorough assesment

Regards

Finder

[thewellhandyman]

Have just acquired one of these but don't have a chuck key. Any ideas where I could get one. Having a look on ebay in uk WOLF HEAVY DUTY ELECTRIC DRILL USES 3MT SHANK TOOLS | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WOLF-HEAVY-DUTY-ELECTRIC-DRILL-USES-3MT-SHANK-TOOLS-/310360920855?pt=UK_Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item4842f3d317)

[pmcgee]

Once again I am blown away by the quality (and quantity) of info available on this site. U-beaut have created an iconic destination here.

This Wolf came from a fencing contractor/farmer who used it to arbor through fence posts.

Works great, strong - a little sparky inside the case - keep away from petroleum refineries and gas plants :)

Paul McGee

(same pic 2 ways)

[gerhard]

Hi Wellhandyman,

in case you already know the story underneath (as most handymen undoubtedly do), please consider it unwritten, because i wouldn't want to insult you by lecturing you in any way. In that case, the story is meant to benefit those who do not yet know the details on MT3-tapers.

The key you want is probably a standard Morse Taper size 3 release wedge. You stick it inside the oval hole and behind the drill bit, to eject the bit out of the hollow arbour by applying leverage to the wedge. Alternatively, a light tap with a hammer on the wedge can be applied, but i always try to avoid shock loads on the arbour and try if leverage works, before resorting to the hammer. And if doing the latter, i always support the protruding bit of the hollow arbour on something solid, to releave the arbour bearings from the blow. Be sure not to do this with the machine plugged; inadvertantly starting it up with the wedge stuck through the arbour will surely cause some sort of damage on the inside or on the outer appearance of the machine, since the stalling torque of these things is huge (nominal running torque can already run up to 100-200 Newtonmeters)!
MT3 wedges are fairly standard items, and are also used for the AEG B4-1050 super torque, the Milwaukee B4-32, the Metabo B7532-4 and several other German brands like Eibenstock, to name but a few. Any well stocked tool and repair shop can order one for you.

MT-shafts are ideal. You buy the large drill bits with the taper already intregrated; just stick them in and go, no fiddling with spanning a chuck. Store the machine and the bits with lightly greased or oiled cone surfaces to prevent rust, but do remove all oil, grease and dust from the cones to a state of thorough dryness before drilling, to enhance adhesion of the cone surfaces and to prevent bits from falling out of the arbour. MT conversion shafts and bushes are also available. A MT3 to B16/18/22 adapter will buy you the versatility of a standard drill chuck on your normally chuckless machine, to use standard bits. An MT3 to MT2 adapter bush will give the additional choice of MT2-tapered bits.

and hi Paul,

nice machine you've got there; our Dutch state railways used these very models up to the 80's to drill screw holes in oak railway sleepers, running them on petrol generator sets. You could check on the source of the sparking by removing one of the brushes (be sure to mount it in the same way). If there are no severly burnt edges on the brush contact surface, a good cleaning of the commutator will remedy most of the sparking.

greetings all

gerhard

[pmcgee]

You are a font of knowledge :)

and that MT3 drill - what a beast!

Thanks very much,
Paul McGee

[crowie]

G'Day "gerhard" and others,
I have a Wolf Jigsaw & Pistol Drill from the mid 1980's.
I purchased them from the Australian Kango Wolf agent back then; still working.
I'll try to sort a couple of photos in the few days.
Cheers, Crowie
Finally I've been able to do the photos of my Kango Wolf Drill & Jigsaw...attached.
Cheers, crowie

189485

189486

189487

189488

189489

189490

189491

189492

[gerhard]

Hi Crowie,

nice pics, very informative! The 2310 percussion drill is a fine machine. It was one of the firm's last own drill designs. The jig saw is already outsourced, it is probably made by Perles from Switzerland (which was taken over in 2004 by the Czech firm Iskra, which makes power tools, electric and electronic components and household appliance motors, even for reputable brands like Braun). Wolf's own 350 Watts jig saw used the cream coloured motor housing of the 400 Watts "Grinderette" small angle grinder, with a cream cast alloy rod drive gear housing, steel sole plate and aqua blue wrap-around handle (all their own designs) bolted on to it. Nothing wrong with it, but sales figures of this model were modest, since competition was stiff and even the UK home market developed a fondness for Bosch jig saws, leading to Wolf's decision to discontinue the production of such a machine. Hence the outsourcing of your particular jig saw model.

This is getting a fun post with all these tool pics. I'll try to delve up some more machines myself.

greetings

gerhard

[flakey]

I have one of these drills but can not see the voltage on it is yours 220 volt or 110?

[pmcgee]

If you mean mine (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f13/what-happened-wolf-11867/index6.html#post1405869) then we have 240V 50Hz single phase electricity in Australia.

Cheers,
Paul

[HALESTURBINE]

Hi Everyone,
I was looking for information on an old 1" wolf drill I have in my workshops at Normans Bay, East Sussex UK, From reading your excellent posts it appears to be a 3MCT model or something similar,

Weve had it for years, 240 volt unit has grease cup to lub the main output shaft. Used it a few weeks ago to make some special steel load plates for the "Big Blue " building next to the Oylimpic Stadium ( made from 108 shipping containers).

This Wolf drill is very VERY powerful and drill 30mm holes through mild steel without a murmur.
For our tidal stream turbine project I am working out if I can use the very slow rotational speed for drilling and tapping 316 stainless steel with 10mm threads.
The RPM is single speed and slow but would like to know that figure.

Have pics can send

Best Regards


Paul Hales
http://DSCF005

[jonititan]

Wonderful information on this thread. I just bought a Wolf RS10A and I'm looking forward to receiving it so I can service it and hopefully use it.
372320372321

[crowie]

Wonderful information on this thread. I just bought a Wolf RS10A and I'm looking forward to receiving it so I can service it and hopefully use it.372320372321

G'Day & Welcome "to the Great South Land" & to a top forum "jonititan".
There are quite a few members from UK on the forum as well as across the rest of the world..
You'll find a heap of helpful & knowledgeable blokes & ladies on the forum and for most very willing to assist.
Make sure you show off your handiwork as everyone loves a photo, especially WIP [work in progress] photos with build notes.
Enjoy the forum.
Enjoy your woodwork.
Cheers from On Top DownUnder, crowie

PS - If you don't get too many replies, may I suggest that you add a new thread in the power tools section to specifically ask your Wolf Router question to gain a wider audience and thus more likely to get replies...cheers.

[jonititan]

Thanks will do.
It's a 10" circular saw though not a router. :-)
Given the way the housing is cast I'm also thinking of doing a support so it can be used as a table saw.
Similar to the project Matthias Wandel did.
Homemade table saw build (version 1) (http://woodgears.ca/homemade_tablesaw/)


Edit:
I've now started a restoration thread.
http://www.woodworkforums.com/f13/restoration-wolf-rs10a-10-circular-203215

[fpga]

Thank you all for such an interesting thread. I recently got and old Sapphire saw and want to inspect/grease the bearings before I use it as there sounds to be a bit of a rumble towards the brushes end of the motor. Problem is...after taking the blade off which exposes the 3 philips screws that secure the top guard to the motor housing....it looks like I can't remove the same until I've undone the big "nut" around the motor shaft and in the centre of the lower guard i.e. behind the blade securing bolt and it's two blade-pinching "washers". I've been hammering an adjustable pin face spanner fitted into the nut's two square slots in both directions but the spanner jumps out as I increase the force (round spanner pins). Any advice would be appreciated. I'm particularly interested in knowing in which direction this thing undoes i.e. the blade bolt undid anti-clockwise in same direction that the blade travels as you look at it. Is is the same for this 2 pin holed nut?

[normandian]

I know this thread is now very old but I hope I can still contact.
I have an old Wolf 1/4" Light Production Drill, type EG2c/E, serial no. 552579, still working well.
Can you give me any details of age?
Thanks

Normandian

[wozzupnz]

Hello All,
I hope this thread can be revived.
By chance I stumbled across the Indian company that is selling Wolf drills ... maybe more - This is the link to their range - Heavy Duty Drill Manufacturers, Light Duty Drill Power Tools, Rotary Drills (https://www.ralliwolf.com/drills.html)I was hoping to find some experts on the Wolf Hammer in particular.


(https://www.ralliwolf.com/drills.html)

[wozzupnz]

I know this thread is now very old but I hope I can still contact.
I have an old Wolf 1/4" Light Production Drill, type EG2c/E, serial no. 552579, still working well.
Can you give me any details of age?
Thanks

Normandian


Does this help? https://ia800705.us.archive.org/14/items/WolfElectricTools/Wolf%20Electric%20Tools_text.pdf

[wozzupnz]

There are also some good historical images you can save/print here S. Wolf and Co - Graces Guide (https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/S._Wolf_and_Co)