To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

DOWIDAT tools!?

nyad

Active member
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
43
Location
Hong Kong
Anyone know this brand? When I want to buy some for my missed sizes, the storeman almost laugth at me. DOWIDAT had been closed for quite a time. Actually, it is very nice product from Germany, I was introduced to this brand by my senior long long time ago....
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Monte

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 23, 2008
Messages
12,664
Location
Germany
Dowidat was a company founded 1949 by one of the remaining 2 Dowidat brothers (the 3rd. died at younger age) because of disagreements of the 2 (much like the "Dassler" brothers --> Adidas/Puma). So the one Dowidat brother stayed in the Gedore company (founded by them) and the other left to open up his own "Dowidat" company. Later Dowidat merged with "Belzer" to form "Belzer-Dowidat" and then in 1988 they were bought by Bahco. The Dowidat name then disappeared and tools were sold under the Bahco-Belzer brand but thats history too.
 
OP
N

nyad

Active member
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
43
Location
Hong Kong
Dowidat was a company founded 1949 by one of the remaining 2 Dowidat brothers (the 3rd. died at younger age) because of disagreements of the 2 (much like the "Dassler" brothers --> Adidas/Puma). So the one Dowidat brother stayed in the Gedore company (founded by them) and the other left to open up his own "Dowidat" company. Later Dowidat merged with "Belzer" to form "Belzer-Dowidat" and then in 1988 they were bought by Bahco. The Dowidat name then disappeared and tools were sold under the Bahco-Belzer brand but thats history too.
Thanks very much for your info.
It should be worth to collect DOWIDAT as it's gone.
 

mikeyr

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 16, 2005
Messages
1,971
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
All my Dowidat wrenches are Witworth metric (not SAE and not Metric but Witworth metric) but sorry they are not for sale. If you don't get pics up, I will shoot some and post them.
 

n2hcky

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 7, 2007
Messages
109
Location
Dalton, GA
I was going through some of my dad's old tool boxes and ran across these couple of wrenches.
One a DOWIDAT dbl box end


The other a DIN 895


I am guessing there are not worth much but VERY cool
 
OP
N

nyad

Active member
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
43
Location
Hong Kong
I was going through some of my dad's old tool boxes and ran across these couple of wrenches.
One a DOWIDAT dbl box end


The other a DIN 895


I am guessing there are not worth much but VERY cool
They are so nice, I like it!
 

Uncle Buck

Banned
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
Messages
9,120
Location
Kansas
OMG! That is the cheapest looking wrench I have ever laid eyes on! Holy Smokes! Talk about sheer crapola with a capital C!
 

strelnik

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
177
Location
Midwest rust belt
OMG! That is the cheapest looking wrench I have ever laid eyes on! Holy Smokes! Talk about sheer crapola with a capital C!

Older Dowidat wrenches from the 1950s are collectible if marked with Mercedes-Benz on the other side. They may look cheap but they are super hard. Certain ones were used in MB tool kits. They are NOT rare, but very handy to have and use.

Dowidat specialized in making smaller wrenches out of better quality steel. Usually not chromed, but blued or blackened with phosphate like handguns.
 

bmwhacker

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
6
Location
Montana & Arizona
I have a large group of metric "Dowidat" wrenches.
They are somewhat hard to find in the US.
I also have a set of "No. 12" SAE Dowidat wrenches.

$_12.JPG


Dowidat%2BTools%2B013.JPG


gY5wfihLgTxZueb8WEOkuLoz61Nj66AoBB9ZohMtrOo=w786-h709-no


Dowidat%2BTools%2B025.JPG


Dowidat%2BTools%2B019.JPG
 
Last edited:

woody 73

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
11,540
Location
The Great State Up North
Being that I am an old geezer and it is something like 40 below in my man cave I am sure I might have maybe another wrench somewhere in the black abyss.
 

Attachments

  • Dowidat wrench 001.jpg
    Dowidat wrench 001.jpg
    119.1 KB · Views: 70
  • Dowidat wrench 002.jpg
    Dowidat wrench 002.jpg
    141.9 KB · Views: 63
  • Dowidat wrench 003.jpg
    Dowidat wrench 003.jpg
    127.3 KB · Views: 59
  • Dowidat wrench 004.jpg
    Dowidat wrench 004.jpg
    134.9 KB · Views: 68

logikal

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 30, 2013
Messages
245
Location
Pittsburgh
Dowidat Steel is extremely hard and make for excellent line wrenches. I have a couple that have been milled down to use as line wrenches for some 944 and 964 oil lines.
 

BFBOB

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 20, 2011
Messages
5,073
German co, maker of the finest tire irons for motorcycles ever known. I got two with my Beemer, went right out and got a third after I used them once.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

autonaut

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
191
How do their wrenches rate in quality?

Yes, the thread died long ago, but i did a google search and found this existing dowidat thread with good info.
 

dutchgray

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
6,461
Location
Dorset. England.
I bought a couple 1/4" by 5/16" dbe last year as Nos and they are excellent wrenches. Got a couple others I think as well somewhere. They were a very good tool maker that only disappeared due to company mergers. Certainly as good as any German tool from the same time.
 

iverjohnston

New member
Joined
Aug 30, 2015
Messages
1
Location
Csvan
Bought a Dowidat ratchet at a car boot sale in northern France last week. Came with a StahlWille knuckle joint also! Two euro! (About 3 dollar's) will post a pic. tomorrow.
 
Last edited:

autonaut

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
191
Bought a Dowidat ratchet at a car boot sale in northern France last week. Came with a StahlWille knuckle joint also! Two euro! (About 3 dollar's) will post a pic. tomorrow.

Lucky you..

I missed out on both tire irons and some wrenches:(
 

BMack37

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 28, 2015
Messages
1,091
They should bring back the name. The "Are you Downwitdat?" ad campaign would be money.
 

creationode

New member
Joined
Sep 8, 2015
Messages
1
My pop has the other Dowidat crescent wrench, along with some Dowidat box wrenches...all in pristine condition. Stealing things from the East Germans was part of his job description back in the day, so he has some German stuff...mostly used to break into buildings and...steal stuff. I also have a pair of Alarm brand bolt cutters which are highly effective.

The http://chadstoolbox.com/hazet-760-1-universal-pliers/ Hazet brand universal pliers are discontinued and the new version runs for $150 according to http://www.samstagsales.com/hazet.htm.

I took the Hazet apart because I noticed how dirty it was. I also noticed how damaged the teeth are...so I will work some file magic on it tomorrow. These tools were placed in a tool box in 1996 when I dragged them out in 2014...so they have had very little recent use and the finishes are still great.
 

Attachments

  • 20150908_000038.jpg
    20150908_000038.jpg
    146.3 KB · Views: 82
  • 20150907_235859.jpg
    20150907_235859.jpg
    145.9 KB · Views: 79
  • 20150907_235800.jpg
    20150907_235800.jpg
    138.6 KB · Views: 73
  • 20150907_235756.jpg
    20150907_235756.jpg
    138.7 KB · Views: 76
  • 20150907_235711.jpg
    20150907_235711.jpg
    147.4 KB · Views: 67
  • 20150907_235650.jpg
    20150907_235650.jpg
    142.1 KB · Views: 70
  • 20150907_235610.jpg
    20150907_235610.jpg
    145.9 KB · Views: 82

anndel

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 28, 2015
Messages
3,270
Location
Hawaii, USA
Dowidat was a company founded 1949 by one of the remaining 2 Dowidat brothers (the 3rd. died at younger age) because of disagreements of the 2 (much like the "Dassler" brothers --> Adidas/Puma). So the one Dowidat brother stayed in the Gedore company (founded by them) and the other left to open up his own "Dowidat" company. Later Dowidat merged with "Belzer" to form "Belzer-Dowidat" and then in 1988 they were bought by Bahco. The Dowidat name then disappeared and tools were sold under the Bahco-Belzer brand but thats history too.

Thanks for the history Monte. I love history of companies and where they are today. Currently Bahco is owned by Snap On but is Gedore part of the Dowidat brothers company?
 
Last edited:

Monte

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 23, 2008
Messages
12,664
Location
Germany
Thanks for the history Monte. I love history of companies and where they are today. Currently Bahco is owned by Snap On but is Gedore part of the Dowidat brothers company?
Gedore is Gedore and Dowidat is basically now a part of Bahco.
 

Steamer

New member
Joined
May 4, 2009
Messages
4
Location
Benoni South Africa
Hi all,

My first post (I think)

I have the following sockets, passed on by my old man, many moons ago:-

3/16 W Dowidat
1/2 Chrome Vanadium
1/2 AF King **** 5 off
9/16 AF King **** 5 off
3/8 W Dowidat 2 off
3/4 Gedore
25/32 Snap On
7/16 W Dowidat 2 off
1/2 W Dowidat
9/16 W Dowidat 2 off
5/8 W Dowidat
1 1/8 Chrome Vanadium
5/8 W Dowidat

Fortunately our country has been metricated since the 1960's & these just sit around in my tool cupboard.
 

2oolhound

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
5,918
Location
BC Canada
Hi all,

My first post (I think)

I have the following sockets, passed on by my old man, many moons ago:-

3/16 W Dowidat
1/2 Chrome Vanadium
1/2 AF King **** 5 off
9/16 AF King **** 5 off
3/8 W Dowidat 2 off
3/4 Gedore
25/32 Snap On
7/16 W Dowidat 2 off
1/2 W Dowidat
9/16 W Dowidat 2 off
5/8 W Dowidat
1 1/8 Chrome Vanadium
5/8 W Dowidat

Fortunately our country has been metricated since the 1960's & these just sit around in my tool cupboard.

Are the Dowidat sockets 3/8 drive or 1/2"?

Too bad the 1/4W is missing, it's a common size on my motorcycle. I still use whitworth quite a bit and would imagine there is still a lot of old British iron in SA.

Do you have any Gedore made in South Africa tools? I have an old Gedore 3/4" drive socket set made in SA which is really good quality. I've heard over the internet chat groups that the current SA Gedore tools are not so good. I know the Gedore India tools don't appear to be the same caliber as the German ones but I'd like to hear from you locals on the SA made tools.
 

Downwindtracker 2

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
1,715
Location
BC
When the firm bought new machines, they bought German ones. They came with tool boxes, I got a couple of 1/2" extensions. They stood up well, even with impacts abuse. Good tools.
 

seber

Well-known member
Joined
May 31, 2016
Messages
4,190
Location
Deep East Tx.
Those cheap looking wrenches are made that way for tool kits in cars and especially motorcycles. The idea is to save as much weight as possible. On Japanese machines it causes problems due to poor steel quality but on German machines they spend more time getting it right. All my BMWs came with cheap looking wrenches that worked as well as the best you can buy.
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom