Thread: wolf planer- info required please

This guy is probably your best bet for things Wolf

gerhard of the Netherlands (a forum member)

https://www.woodworkforums.com/members/4936-gerhard

Love the look of that Wolf planer.

I have a oldish long bed Hitachi - you know: ball bearing proper 'made in Japan' thing ( a sort of electric No.7) which has a strange plate attachment as yours has. I have never been able to figure out how to use that attachment - so it's been sitting idle for 20 yrs. Interestingly - even the tin box it came in looks the same as your Wolf box.
Shocking copy lifters!
As a planer, the Hitachi is magic on long run boards - we will never be parted.
At one time (before I bought a real jointer planer table) I had it sitting in a cradle as a home made mini bench top jointer. (somehow 'Wolf' and 'cradle' don't seem a good match at this point)

Good luck on your quest.

Thanks for your response, i've never used it frightend to because it is so bloody heavy and when its in the metel carry case I can barely lift it. The problem is I know nothing about woodwork the most i've ever done is hung a couple of pine doors for a friend and thats about as far as I go.

Thanks again.

Friendly greetings from Amsterdam, Mr. Burns!

This Wolf planer model is alas no British product from London; it is the venerable Makita 1100 adorned with a Wolf type plate. When Woodworkforums notified me on my mobile phone about your question, i was anxious to know what this machine looked like and logged in, since i had never seen a London designed Wolf planer yet. In the last years of its existance in the latter 80's, Wolf cut development and engineering costs and ordered several products from other manufacturers, adding them to its own program, branded with the Wolf name. These planers were probably shipped as loose parts from Japan, to be assembled in England. The term "Made in England" would in that case be too strong a claim, but the term "Made in Japan" wouldn't be 100% accurate either. That's why you'll probably find neither, leaving all whereabouts a bit in the dark, which is convenient enough.

When the London factory was closed, the Wolf brand and part of its model range were carried on by Kango in Peterborough. The cream and aqua blue Wolf appearance was changed into Kango red and the label read "Kango Wolf", later changed into simple "Kango". Only the most hi-demand Wolf tool models were continued by Kango, like a few popular heavy drills, some grinders and a circular saw. As far as i know, there was no such thing anymore as a Makita made Kango planer. I also can't recollect any British Wolf planer design, though it is possible that they might have carried such a machine in their assortment, which was at its largest during the latter 40's up to the 60's. They did make jig and circular saws and a very beefy chain driven (in oil bath!) belt sander and Wolf was a big name in the aircraft and car manufacturing industries. So a planer wouldn't be amiss for all those wooden DeHavilland and Avro and Bristol parts.

When Kango was bought by Atlas Copco from Sweden, the Wolf brand was terminated and was later sold to a Chinese firm, who has revived the brand with all-Chinese made tools.These Chinese tools nowadays even sport the exact Wolf typeface and the cream and (darker) blue livery, but have nothing to do anymore with England or the original factory, which was torn down in the 90's anyway ( i visited Hanger Lane W5 last May, only a bit of factory estate brick perimeter wall and a listed Art Deco style manager's house is left ).

The last vintage remnants of Wolf tool designs still made today, are by Stark from India. They bought the production rights of these models from Kango, after it had bought Wolf and decided not to carry those specific machines anymore in its own tool program.

There is currently an auction on Ebay Germany, where an example of the original Makita 1100 is running. This is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.de/Hobel-Makita-Mod-...d=p3286.c0.m14

As you will notice, it is identical with your Wolf planer. This is the first Model 1100 from the 80's, with a 750 Watts motor. Its predecessor (Model 1600, third pic below) was all metal. The 1100 is still in the program today and was souped up to 900 Watts several years ago. It was (and still is) indeed a heavy and sturdy machine and a true Makita evergreen, which remains very popular and rightly so. Do hang on to your Wolf version, since it is quite rare and your particular machine is in very nice shape. Makita still stocks the spare parts for the old model 1100 and many parts have remained the same for the new version, so you'll be all right on that account for this Wolf machine for some years in the future.

All the best

gerhard

Forgot a little detail:

the attachment is the original parallel guide. You can either use this to stay on track while planing long planks with a width almost equal to the blade width, or to adjust the planing width while making rebates. Parts like these often go missing over the years or are thrown out by accident amidst heaps of wood shavings and sawdust. So you're fortunate to still have it with your machine; it is not a cheap spare part when you have to order it separately. When you watch the Ebay auctions closely, you'll see that these guides are missing in many cases. It's the same story as with used routers.

The steel storing case also came with your machine as an original accessory. You'll find exactly such a case as standard accessory of the old Makita model 1100 (also hammerite in the first years). The new model still has such a case, but lighter and slightly more compact and in the familiar Makita blue.

gerhard

Further proof of Makita origins of your Wolf planer.

I overlooked it when first looking at your pics and writing the first reply. At the bottom on the left side of your machine's type plate, you see this little black capital M, with the very small letters E and W underneath. This MEW stands for Makita Electric Works. The firm started in 1915, but repaired and made electric motors from the 50's on. Their first power tool (and also their first export tool product) was a power planer, in 1958. This Model 1000 is shown in the pic underneath. The MEW-logo was to be found from 1962 on. In the early 90's, only the word "makita" in its typical typeface remained as a brand expression on typeplates, boxes, manuals and brochures.

gerhard