Page 4 of 7 FirstFirst 1234567 LastLast
Results 46 to 60 of 97
  1. #46
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Gloucestershire, UK
    Posts
    17

    Default Wolf down under

    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:

    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

    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.

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #47
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Santpoort-Zuid, Netherlands
    Age
    67
    Posts
    462

    Default

    Hi Chas!

    Great reply, thank you very much indeed! The PowerHouse link is wonderful! Do have a look at 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

  4. #48
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Gloucestershire, UK
    Posts
    17

    Default

    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

  5. #49
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Gloucestershire, UK
    Posts
    17

    Default

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

  6. #50
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Santpoort-Zuid, Netherlands
    Age
    67
    Posts
    462

    Default

    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

  7. #51
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Gloucestershire, UK
    Posts
    17

    Default

    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

    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

    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

  8. #52
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Santpoort-Zuid, Netherlands
    Age
    67
    Posts
    462

    Default

    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

  9. #53
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    4

    Default Kango Wolf Manufacturing Facility.

    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.

  10. #54
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    4

    Default

    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.

  11. #55
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    4

    Default Correction and update. Didn't read enough first.

    Sorry about mistakes, just getting used to this. 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.

  12. #56
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Santpoort-Zuid, Netherlands
    Age
    67
    Posts
    462

    Default

    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

  13. #57
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    4

    Default More info.

    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.

  14. #58
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    3

    Default

    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

  15. #59
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    120

    Default

    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.

  16. #60
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Whitehaven
    Posts
    8

    Default Cub, Cubmaster, Quartermaster and Safetymaster.

    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.

Page 4 of 7 FirstFirst 1234567 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •