For you Bluegrass Tools Fans

[Blacknwhitepit]

I found 3 of these at the flea mkt. 50 cents each... How could I turn them down.?

Here is a scan for your desktops or general use...

-BWP

 

[lbgradwell]

Sweet!

Thanks Eric!

 

[Bolster]

Looks great! ... but tell me about Bluegrass?

 

[Blacknwhitepit]

Looks great! ... but tell me about Bluegrass?

Unfortunately, they are out of business. There are collectors of them (Only one that I know of at this site)....

I find them very rarely at flea markets, the locals around the Louisville area know them and sell them for a premium....

There is nothing spectacular about them (IMHO), but for some reason they are sought after....

Rose's antiques posted a story about their demise....

http://www.roseantiquetools.com/id5.html

It is no longer there, but trust me, it was a very sad story...

Rollup:

In the 1980's Belknap was a profitable company but had old dated way of doing business... Some slick Gordon Gekko type bought it, put a 30 something in charge of it and he ran it into the ground in just a couple of years..... All those years... They actually said in the article that they could not have planned to run it into the ground any better....



-BWP

 

[lbgradwell]

Blue Grass was the house brand for a major hardware company based in Kentucky. Gone now, unfortunately...

I have a PDF version of an article entitled "Death of a Distributor" by Jim Cory from the May 1986 edition of Hardware Age that I scooped from Rose's...:

Some more info there...

 

[chopper1]

So for those of us not in Kentucky, what was their product or service?

 

[Blacknwhitepit]

Blue Grass was the house brand for a major hardware company based in Kentucky. Gone now, unfortunately...

I have a PDF version of an article entitled "Death of a Distributor" by Jim Cory from the May 1986 edition of Hardware Age that I scooped from Rose's...:

Some more info there...

Please post that story if you can.. I cannot get it anymore...

- A truly sad story...

 

[lbgradwell]

Just click on the "Death of a Distributor" in my post above; it's a hyperlink to the article...

If you'd like a PDF copy, just shoot me an email.

 

[Blacknwhitepit]

So for those of us not in Kentucky, what was their product or service?

They made screwdrivers, wrenches and hard line products.... Sometimes some shows up on Ebay...

-BWP

 

[woody 73]

I hunt for bluegrass I can never get enough of their tools !

 

[lbgradwell]

All kinds of products!

A 1937 poster:

A catalogue from the 1950s:

 

[lbgradwell]

Speaking of Blue Grass, there's a socket set on fleabay right now.

Clearly made by Wright, and a similar Wright-branded set would never fetch $100!

 

[Lump]

I saw quite a few Bluegrass tools on the 127 Yard Sale last week. There were axes and hatchets and hammers and wrenches, etc. They didn't seem to be exceptionally high priced, compared to similar tools of other brands.

 

[fatfillup]

I've had some bluegrass battery pliesr that seemed exceptionally well made. The steel clean up very nicely.

 

[highland512]

Most BG wrenches where made by Barcolo-Buffalo, then later made by Thorsen, then for a short stant they where Pro-American. I know that some of the later sockets and ratchets where made Thorsen because they have the same labels. I will have to get some pictures together.

 

[barney rubble]

We used to buy from Belknap. They had everything you could want practically in the hardware line. I think we still have there catalog at the store it was about 12" thick.

When they closed they imploded the building on national TV. It sit along the interstate down by the river near the Galt House motel. Probably some high dollar land value.

 

[PowderKeg]

When they closed they imploded the building on national TV. It sit along the interstate down by the river near the Galt House motel. Probably some high dollar land value.

The old Belknap Hardware complex in Louisville, KY was pretty sizable. The implosion of the large warehouse building was filmed for the opening scenes of Stallone's 1993 movie "Demolition Man", also starring Sandra Bullock The main office building still stands and is occupied by Humana Health Insurance.

Ratchets and/or sockets were sourced over the years from New Britain, Wright, and Thorsen (at least that's what I've observed so far).