Anyone Have Info On Globemaster Tools?

[RiseAbove]

I picked up a set of these Globemaster wrenches at a flea market at the weekend. They are marked W.Germany. I've been looking around for info on the company and have found that they made tools in various countries including Italy, and that they are generally known as a cheap tool...was sold on the table, 99c for any tool kind of deal. Does anyone have any information on this company?

I read that Globemaster was a company that made tools for the forces, that then spawned a copycat company, Globe Master (2 words) that made cheap tools. Does anyone know anything about that? Was the original Globemaster, if there indeed was 2 companies, known to be a reputable tool company?

Here's the set I got for $1

 

[Mike W.]

I picked up a set of these Globemaster wrenches at the weekend. They are marked W.Germany. I've been looking around for info on the company and have found that they made tools in various countries including Italy, and that they are known as a cheap tool...was sold on the table, 99c for any tool kind of deal. Does anyone have any information on this company? I read that Globemaster was a company that made tools for the forces, that then spawned a copy, Globe Master (2 words) that made cheap tools. Anyone know about that? Was the original Globemaster know to be a reputable tool company?



Here's the set I got for $1

I have a 3" jaw (small) Globemaster (I think it's one word) bench vise. I believed it's made in Japan. Looks like attachment.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[RiseAbove]

I have a 3" jaw (small) Globemaster (I think it's one word) bench vise. I believed it's made in Japan. Looks like attachment.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

How does it seem to compare to other tools of the time? Does it seem well made?

 

[woody 73]

Well Rise Above since you asked...

Made In West Germany.
Made in Japan.
Made in Italy.
Made in the USA.
Made in Sheffield England.
Made in India.

I am sure I am missing a few more places, but these are off the top of my head; as far as quality you can think of the Harbor freight of their day.

 

[RiseAbove]

Well Rise Above since you asked...

Made In West Germany.
Made in Japan.
Made in Italy.
Made in the USA.
Made in Sheffield England.
Made in India.

I am sure I am missing a few more places, but these are off the top of my head; as far as quality you can think of the Harbor freight of their day.

So they just used the countries of origin to make them sound like a quality product? As you probably know, Sheffield steel is some of the best in the world. Do you know anything about there being 2 companies?

 

[Mike W.]

Well Rise Above since you asked...



Made In West Germany.

Made in Japan.

Made in Italy.

Made in the USA.

Made in Sheffield England.

Made in India.



I am sure I am missing a few more places, but these are off the top of my head; as far as quality you can think of the Harbor freight of their day.

Looks like some good places to manufacture, excluding India. How do you equate being made in those countries (except India) to harbor freight?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[Mike W.]

How does it seem to compare to other tools of the time? Does it seem well made?

It's been awhile since I restored it, let me get home and have a look and I'll let you know. Seems like it was kind of middle-of-the-road quality-wise.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[Super Sport]

Looks like some good places to manufacture, excluding India. How do you equate being made in those countries (except India) to harbor freight?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

Plenty of older Japanese and W Germany tools are ****. Think early post war. Those areas produce quality products today, but that hasn't always been the case.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Kinda like the century stuff. Just knock off tools.

 

[Cf mtn]

i picked these up a while back. have a weakness for wrenches in pouches. my research didn't turn up anything exciting .

 

[four.cycle]

Globemaster - Houston, Texas 77055
primarily a repackager, not a manufacturer
some products were US made. much of the product line was imported from Asia and other countries.

strictly low-end products. sold on big display tables in variety stores during the 1960's with signs "Any Tool 99 cents".
about half a rung up the ladder of low-end from Zomax.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Globemaster Japan 1/4 set

 

[Mikeske]

When I was in Air Force in the 1970's I would occasionally see Globemaster wrenches in toolboxes. If we needed to make a special tool with a heat wrench guess which tool we grab the Globemaster tools were normally grabbed and modified into a special tool as it was cheap and we grab a new one out of the toolroom. Back then most of the tools we got from Globemaster were made in India and they bent easily into pretzels that we needed.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here are some century and benzo-matic sockets. Appear to be identical Japan made stuff. The 1/4 drive century matches my globemaster as well.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I think most all of that Japan-made stuff brought in during the mid-1960's through the mid-1970's all came out of the same plant!
I have a little 1/4" drive set that looks quite similar - only reason I snagged it was because it was $10 bucks including shipping on Ebay!

 

[turbowoodworker]

I found one. It is a large pliers marked Globemaster Italy. The markings are worn but it is a reasonable working tool. The spark plug socket is for size reference. I remember picking it up in a box of tools at auction.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Globemaster, like contemporaries Oxwall and Zomax, outsourced from various countries - it didn't all come out of Japan or Taiwan or Hong Kong.
They all brought in lots of stuff from Spain, Italy, West Germany, and a number of other countries.

 

[d42jeep]

I just took a few pictures of my only Globemaster wrench. Made in Germany and the quality actually seems pretty decent.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Some globemaster Japan stuff

 

[dagofast]

Globemaster - Houston, Texas 77055
primarily a repackager, not a manufacturer
some products were US made. much of the product line was imported from Asia and other countries.

strictly low-end products. sold on big display tables in variety stores during the 1960's with signs "Any Tool 99 cents".
about half a rung up the ladder of low-end from Zomax.

Pretty much my memories, a big table full of tools, your choice for .99 cents. I still have a plier/wire cutter combo that I bought back in the '60's. I was still in single digits age wise when I bought them in a drug store. My mom gave my brother and me each a dollar to buy candy. I went with the tool after she agreed to toss in some more change for the sales tax.

I remember pedaling my bicycle back there a year or 2 later to buy my first power tool, a ¼" Black & Decker electric drill, on sale for $7.99. Used my paperboy money to buy that one. I still have that one too!

 

[Tooluser]

Globemaster was started by three college buddies in the 1950s, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Perwin, Klebanoff and another, I forgot. My father, Albert S. Rubin, graduated with a Business major from the University of Minnesota, went to war in Korea and liberated Seol in two historic campaigns. He returned, became a accountant for the Minnesota State Penitentiary, later found work with the Globemaster company. I believe he was personal friends with the company principals then. In 1961, he was promoted to branch manager and opened their new warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia, somewhere off the highway, North Druid Hills exit. I have a picture of my father with a shovel surrounded by local city elders inaugurating the new building construction. In 1967, we moved to Houston, Texas where my father became the customer relations and credit manager for their Katy freeway office. Sometime in 1971, there was an argument on the company's future direction and my father was fired. He passed away in 1972.
Globemaster was one of the first to use machine molded plastics packaging and one of the early importers of tools from Japan. Tools were imported then packaged in the USA at their warehouse locations in Atlanta and Houston.
Excellent tools, they last indefinitely if not abused, I still use them in gardening and house repairs. I still have the original shovel, albeit with a new wood handle.
What happened to the company, I don't have any information on that.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Great info!

 

[driftpin]

Oxwall and Globemaster stuff I find if buying lots of tools in a garage sale, usually get-thrown into a sack for redistribution through a Habitat for Humanity, or somewhere similar.

Even-as a teenager in the 1960's, without $ to spend on expensive tools, I'd ask for Wright stuff for birthdays and at Christmas, or save my $ to buy a tool I needed to do something. Once I started working, it was usually Sears Craftsman for hand tools like wrenches and sockets.

I do appreciate hearing the history of the company, thanks for the post. Cheap tools filled a place in the market, and I'm sure they got the job done countless times, probably inspiring people who wanted to 'up their game' to purchase better stuff.

 

[damon18]

Globmaster #3625 feeler gauge set. Has a LOT of blades and seems quality.

Soaking in WD-40 right now to decrud but the other side is stamped Made in USA.

Sent from my SM-G973U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[David Jackson]

Ahh Golbemaster! I still have the first socket set I ever bought, or at least most of it; back in 1963 or maybe a little before ... there are a couple of missing sockets and the ratchet seems to be gone. but I keep it out of sentiment. From time to time I look for the missing pieces, but I doubt I will ever find them. The set I have was made in Japan.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Nice. I have similar sets I hang to for the same reasons.

 

[1967ChevyRagtop]

We called 'em "Curb store tools".
We'd skip school, go to a local lake where we had cabin and boat permissions. Inevitably something on the boat would break. We'd end up at a curb store rummaging thru **** tools.
Finally bailed on using the boat and started driving a Cushman Eagle off the pier. I think we just abandoned it because getting it running again was tedious. Well, and several of us moved up to cars which made women more accessible vs 50cc Hondas.

bg

 

[c39er]

I remember having a cheap Globemaster "dogbone" multi size die cast wrench back in the early 60's

 

[sselander]

The three founders are Robert Bernstein, Harold Klebanoff and Edmund Perwein.
This comes from a court case available online.
Use "Globemaster, Inc." if you want to search for the Globemaster that imported tools.

 

[sselander]

Globemaster, Inc.
Incorporated May 19, 1967
Dissolved Dec 4, 1995

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Wow, did not know they lasted that long

 

[jgromada]

wow didn't know any of that. Still doesn't make me think that any of these were high quality

 

[David Jackson]

Well, I don't know if they have a "lifetime" warranty or not; but if they have one it's probably not worth much now!

 

[Jc2043]

Certainly not the find of the century but it was made in West Germany and pretty cool that I only paid half the original asking price of $1.97. View attachment 1062116


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[four.cycle]

Globemaster / Globemaster Inc., Houston, TX 77055 / founders Robert Bernstein, Harold Klebanoff and Edmund Perwein incorporated May 19 1967 dissolved Dec 4 1995 / primarily a repackager, not a manufacturer. some products were U.S. made. much of the product line was imported from Asia and other countries / https://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2015/12/vanished-tool-makers-globemaster.html?m=1 / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/anyone-have-info-on-globemaster-tools.412692/ /

Examples of the "nested diamonds meets arrow fletching" grip pattern posted by LesserSon and at Progress-is-fine HERE and HERE, and knowing the former owner's affinity for all things cheap, I am fairly confident we can call this handle pattern "Globemaster", but we still have no idea who the Sheffield OEM might have been:


Globemaster 6-in needle-nose pliers stamped "Sheffield England 6146"

Globemaster outsourced product from all over the globe. This socket set is from Japan:


Globemaster 5957 9-pc 1/4" drive SAE socket set (Japan)

Globemaster 5957 9-pc 1/4" drive SAE socket set (Japan)

 

[four.cycle]

Globemaster product came from all over. Japan, England, "West Germany", Italy and Spain seem to have been primary sources:

 

[four.cycle]

Not much exists in the way of "catalog"

Older members will recognize the "Any Tool 99 cents!" display table shown in the promotional brochure attached here for your review

I remember the one they had at the B & I Circus Store on South Tacoma Way - it was a long bicycle ride on a Saturday afternoon to go over and drool over tools that would have cost me four weeks allowance!

 

[jack stand]

I remember when there was a table/tub like globemaster display at the auto parts store. It was the **** of jokes.
Kinda like another line of amazing cheap stuff like the "Popeil pocket fisherman" and other goofy stuff. This was in the 70's for you "youngsters"
I don't recall if it was "globe master" or one word.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here's a bargain!

Vintage ( RARE ) Globemaster ( EMPTY BOX ONLY ) For 1/4" Drive socket set | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage ( RARE ) Globemaster ( EMPTY BOX ONLY ) For 1/4" Drive socket set at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[Mintgrun]

This NO. 7325 box is the same as David's in post #25. I bought it empty to use for storage. I like the cheerful blue color and embossed lid. His has JAPAN on the lid, but mine is missing that detail.

there are a couple of missing sockets and the ratchet seems to be gone. but I keep it out of sentiment. From time to time I look for the missing pieces, but I doubt I will ever find them.

This box was full of tools when it first hit the shelf, but it was there for a long time and eventually the contents wound up in the random sockets bins. That was a long time ago, but there's a good chance the sockets are still floating around in the bins. What sizes are you missing, David?