BAKER Private Label Brand of Baker Hamilton / Baker Hamilton & Pacific - San Francisco CA

[four.cycle]

Baker / "Baker" branded tools private label brand of Baker & Hamilton / Baker Hamilton & Pacific /

Baker / Baker & Hamilton, 601 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA / Baker Hamilton & Pacific (after 1918) / "Stiletto" and "BAKER" tools / patent 1866771 Jul 12 1932 Joseph N. Johnson II / http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2166&tab=0 / https://www.foundsf.org/Baker_and_Hamilton / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...acific-san-francisco-ca.554818/#post-11515719 /


GJ member @DetailSeeker has solved the puzzle (scroll down to post #11)

"BAKER" was a private label brand of Baker Hamilton - later Baker Hamilton & Pacific Co., San Francisco, California.

Some examples of "BAKER" branded products:

 

[d42jeep]

I haven’t really had a chance to clean up the BAKER hacksaw but in looking at my pictures of other hacksaws the closest match I could find was Powr-Kraft and I don’t know who made those. The main difference between the two is that the Powr-Kraft handles are attached more securely.
-Don

 

[Mintgrun]

I have a 4" BAKER adjustable wrench marked BAKER HAMILTON & PACIFIC Co. SAN FRANCISCO.

 

[four.cycle]

Baker

 

[d42jeep]

BK, that was a different Powr-Kraft hacksaw you sent me.
-Don

 

[four.cycle]

Baker

 

[RTM]

@Mintgrun - that "BAKER" is definitely NOT "owner markings". AND it's definitely "Baker Hamilton & Pacific", which I had thought was not going to be a contender here.......

I have a 1930ish Edit to correct 1964Baker Hamilton Pacific catalog, will try to fish it out, as a reference of the line of Baker tools, similar to what @DetailSeeker did for that other brand that is escaping me at the moment.

 

[Mintgrun]

I also have a non-descript 12" BAKER rule (for a combination square).



There's a very large 1920s catalog on ePay for a mere $500. 3548 pages.

 

[four.cycle]

Baker

 

[RTM]

There's a very large 1920s catalog on ePay for a mere $500. 3548 pages.

Mine is very similar. Except it came with a smaller price tag.

 

[DetailSeeker]

@Mintgrun - that "BAKER" is definitely NOT "owner markings". AND it's definitely "Baker Hamilton & Pacific", which I had thought was not going to be a contender here.......

In 1957 (and I am sick, so I am not checking before and after), "BAKER" is listed as their jobber house brand :

BAKER Tools Cutlery Steel Goods Wire Products Hot & Cold Rolled Steel & Miscellaneous Hdwe Baker & Hamilton 700 Seventh San Francisco Cal

Is that the address of Baker, Hamilton, & Pacific? One of them, from 1918 to some unspecified point.

Is it way after the point where "Baker & Hamilton" became "Baker, Hamilton & Pacific"? Yep, thirty-nine years.

Am I imagining demanding answers from someone associated with the seventy-years-gone printing department of Hardware Age? Oh, with gusto.

I will say that of the (half a dozen? ish?) Baker Mfg Co.s listed in that issue's Merchandise Directory, none of them seem at all likely to be doing hand wrenches.

 

[four.cycle]

Baker / Baker & Hamilton, 601 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA / Baker Hamilton & Pacific (after 1918) / "Stiletto" tools /

did they move?

 

[DetailSeeker]

Baker / Baker & Hamilton, 601 Townsend St., San Francisco, CA / Baker Hamilton & Pacific (after 1918) / "Stiletto" tools /

did they move?

Not exactly. The building at 601 Townsend Street is also at 700 Seventh Street. It covers the block.

The third page of the resolution to make it a historic building describes it as currently the "Baker & Hamilton Building", historically "Pacific Hardware and Steel Company", and gives the address as 700-768 Seventh Street. (B&H moved into the building after the merger.)


700 Seventh Street shows up as the address in several places; it's mentioned in a marine catalog from 1920, a 1929 Hardware Age (pp 62) and a Hardware World from 1960 (pp 22 and 23, sorry, just realized I can't get links to a specific page browsing on my phone).

It's not the most common address used, but it's definitely the same building for the same company.

 

[four.cycle]

Baker

 

[DetailSeeker]

OKAY! So... I think we can reasonably conclude "BAKER" was the house brand of Baker & Hamilton (and possibly Baker Hamilton & Pacific later on) correct?

I will go further; it was definitely a house brand that existed after the merger that formed BH&P.

Also, the Vintage Machinery page references Baker being used on tools in the 50s. In 1943, it looks like BH&P changed their name back to B&H. So Baker was definitely a B&H house brand, I just can't swear to whether it was during the first iteration of the name (pre-1918) as well as the second (post-1943).

(Note that not everyone got the memo about the various name changes. A Polk directory from 1963 (listed as published in 1953 for some reason?) has someone listed as working for BH&P, the Stiletto tools About Us page talks about BH&P being founded in 1849... It's an underdocumented mess.)

Oh, WRT addresses; the description at this page mentions some earlier B&H locations.

 

[four.cycle]

excellent.

the Stiletto tools About Us page talks about BH&P being founded in 1849.

The company now doing business as Stiletto has no connection to Baker Hamilton other than having purchased the name and the logo they're using - two completely separate entities.

Stiletto / Stiletto Tools, 13135 W. Lisbon Rd., Brookfield WI 53005 / https://stiletto.com /

Stiletto / Stiletto originally house brand of Baker Hamilton, later Baker Hamilton & Pacific / name sold to Stiletto Tools, Brookfield, WI / patent 1866771 Jul 12 1932 Joseph N. Johnson II /

 

[RTM]

talks about BH&P being founded in 1849... It's an underdocumented mess.)

It is, you just have to dig a lot harder.

Here is what I previously posted, and it’s not my complete notes of all the minor players dates.

Stiletto

I found this Stiletto ball pein hammer at a moving sale Friday. It seems to be older, but I don't know just how old. It's in good shape, and has clear markings.

www.garagejournal.com

This was a great resource, started hunting down the names one by one, working iteratively

California Digital Newspaper Collection

California Digital Newspaper Collection

cdnc.ucr.edu

 

[DetailSeeker]

Stiletto / Stiletto originally house brand of Baker Hamilton, later Baker Hamilton & Pacific / name sold to Stiletto Tools, Brookfield, WI / patent 1866771 Jul 12 1932 Joseph N. Johnson II /

The catalog page from the Pacific Hardware & Steel Co is dated 1917; doesn't that mean that Stiletto was originally a Pacific house brand, not a B&H one?

 

[four.cycle]

Yes, I suppose it would..... now that you bring that up. Yes.

 

[RTM]

I have a 1930ish Edit to correct 1964Baker Hamilton Pacific catalog, will try to fish it out, as a reference of the line of Baker tools, similar to what @DetailSeeker did for that other brand that is escaping me at the moment.

OK, finally a quiet late evening, after a nap on the sofa, to fish out the Baker Hamilton catalog #115, Since 1849, making this approx 1964. Here is a list of all the tools I found with the name of Baker



Skipping different flavors of Hammers, axes, etc

page - tool
3 - Hammers, nail
8 - hammer, ball pein
22 - Hatchet half
54 - Claw Bar (apologies to @privat, u shaped one end, slight taper at the other, taking straight outta the catalog)
65-6 - Handles, Hickory
67 - Saws, Hand
70 - Saw, Miter box
72 - saw, coping
76 - Saws, Hack
83 - Saws, pruning
94 - Saws, Crosscut (tree felling)
97 - Planes
105 - Knives Trimming ( (Stanley 199 style)
108 - Chisels, wood
121 - Awl, scratch
124 - Trowels, cement
128 - Levels, wood & Aluminum Carpenters, Masons, pocket
135 - Squares steel Rafter or Framing
136 - Square, Combination
175 - Chisels, Cold
186 Screwdrivers
199 - Drill, hand (eggbeater)
200 - Brace, ratchet
207 - Bits , Expansive
268 - Vise, Swivel & clamp base exposed screw
277 - wrench pipe stillson
282 - Wrench Adjustable 6,8,10,12"
319 - Pliers Linesmens side cutting 6,7,8"
320 - Pliers - Diagonal Cutting 5, 6"
322 - Pliers long chain nose w cutter
325 - Pliers Combination slip joint (4 flavors thin bent nose, nickel, zinc , & a longer nose
331 - Carpenters Pinchers
341 - Tin Snips Pocket, Duck Fill, & household
345 - Soldering Irons Electric

And thus ends the hand tool section. My back is killing me, giving up now.

 

[DetailSeeker]

Sympathies on your back and deepest thanks on the typing.

 

[four.cycle]

Skipping different flavors of Hammers, axes, etc

So... pretty much any and everything other than sockets and drive tools and conventional (open end or combination) wrenches.

 

[RTM]

So... pretty much any and everything other than sockets and drive tools and conventional (open end or combination) wrenches.

I looked at it, 1960s perspective, as homeowners tools, not professionals tools. My dad did not have sockets until I was 14 or so, 1974. He was a salesman, occasional woodworker,

What do the more senior people think of my hypotheses, those who were in the homeowner DIY vs a professional mechanic.?

 

[DetailSeeker]

Not particularly senior, but taught by someone who was, and I think their list was essentially nail hammer, pliers (multiple), small handsaw that was never used because the coping saw was there, paint-scraper-used-for-many-things, screwdrivers, and there probably would have been more gardening things if we lived elsewhere.

I recall there wasn't a wrench; sockets came into the array with those screwdriver-handle sets that have multiple bits and sockets, but I don't think I added an adjustable wrench to the lot until I made a point of picking one up in the last decade.

 

[four.cycle]

as homeowners tools, not professionals tools.

You're makin' too much sense there.

Yeah... sounds exactly right: "homeowner/handyman" stuff - not concerned with auto mechanics.

 

[d42jeep]

I found a Baker marked wood chisel at an estate sale yesterday and cleaned it up.
-Don

 

[DifficultDave]

I have a pair of BAKER pliers and a rare BAKER punch.

Thanks for this information. I had no idea that Baker tools were from Stiletto of SF.

I thought it was the same company that makes those steel pressed fish hook pliers that you find in fishing tackle boxes manufactured by Baker Mfg. Co. of Colombia, Pennsylvania.

And thank you for the person who typed out all of the Baker brand tools out of the catalogue. That was helpful af. You are awesome. !!