Oxwall Tool Company LTD.

[woody 73]

I always say finding vintage tools is the easy part, (found in an old plastic tool kit), just two days ago; but sometimes finding company information is the hard part.

So without further ado I will make a few guesses, first guess I think it started in April of 1947 ? Not sure who started the company, that will take a lot more research beyond my pay grade.

It is listed as a New York Company and their logo is "TOOLS FOR THE HOME CRAFTSMAN". The first plant was located in Oxford Township, New Jersery.

Perhaps they were the one of the very first or close to the first to outsource their tool manufacturing to post war Germany , Japan and later Taiwan; and perhaps other Countries like France ?

They must have had a motto more like Make it so cheap, outsource it ASAP, lets abandon the home plant ASAP, let the city take it over for the taxes, darn with the EPA rules, sell it to the first Joe with some green money,watch the fire with a bag of marshmallows from afar and let the taxpayers deal with it.

Closing date 1990 with a question mark ? Not sure.

I will leave you with a few nice links and if my computer is working a few pictures. (PS: if anyone would like the wrenches send me a PM).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Box...883209?hash=item58ff920b09:g:pS8AAOSwcexZpeYd

https://www.trademarkia.com/oxwall-71520893.html

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/war...s/index.ssf/2013/09/oxwall_tool_property.html

http://blog.pennlive.com/lvbreakingnews/2007/03/fire_destroys_historic_oxwall.html

http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/310/878/427150/

http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2012/03/vanished-tool-makers-oxwall-tools.html

https://books.google.com/books?id=T...ge&q=oxwall tool company ltd new york&f=false

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/24/business/missing-the-hand-tool-boom.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.google.sr/patents/US2739699

https://www.company-detail.com/company-oxwall-tool-co-inc-481434

https://bizstanding.com/p/oxwall-106324653

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

This is a good one Woody, PM incoming.

 

[DadsTools]

Oxwall was certainly in a class all by itself. Of course, these are so special that one must be schooled in their proper use to get the most out of them. After much trial, error and practice, I finally came upon the approach of installing them in this big round container with a plastic liner I have in the corner of the shop. I found they work best in there.

 

[Plombob]

Oxwall was so bad you were better off using wrenches made from tin cans.

 

[3baygarage]

Thanks Woody. That Times article was a good read. Certainly gives some insight into tool companies in the 80's.

 

[davethorik]

Oxwall was so bad you were better off using wrenches made from tin cans.

They must have sold quite a bit of it, because I run into it all the time at yard sales. And i always leave it. I can say oxwall is one company i don't own any examples of their product.

 

[bill300d]

No tool collection is complete without at least one OxWall ignition wrench set.

 

[Stuart in MN]

My first socket set when I was a teenager was Oxwall, just like this one. I got it for Christmas when I was about 13 or 14 so that was 1970 or earlier.

 

[DadsTools]

My first socket set when I was a teenager was Oxwall, just like this one. I got it for Christmas when I was about 13 or 14 so that was 1970 or earlier.

Had to do a double-take on this one. Didn't think that ratchet came out of Oxwall! Are all the sockets, etc, marked Husky too?

 

[thehorse13]

It's hard to believe they went out of business because I find metric tons of their garbage wherever I go.

I did use one of their 5/8ths skinny combo wrenches back in the 80s. I had to get into a tight spot and by the time I got the fastener loose, the wrench bent into the shape of a water pump wrench. That was my first and last experience with Oxwall.

 

[Gmonkee]

I have a collection of Oxwall stuff, most happily donated to the Striksonian collection.

The best I have found is a forged China made combo wrench. Typical type with the Oxwall name. Very usable and more than once.
They were a five and dime special brand and some ended up in nearly every toolbox by the mid 70's. For a tune up on the old Rambler once in a while it was ok, better for being truly affordable.

Those little yellow handle screwdrivers came out of Mexico. By a plant later acquired by Klien. I have some in the name of the maker here.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Had to do a double-take on this one. Didn't think that ratchet came out of Oxwall! Are all the sockets, etc, marked Husky too?

You may be right, I don't think that ratchet was the one that came from Oxwall but I cant be sure - it's been too many years. All I know for sure is it's the same cheesy orange plastic case as the one I had.

 

[Plombob]

Those little yellow handle screwdrivers came out of Mexico. By a plant later acquired by Klien. I have some in the name of the maker here.

That would explain why the screwdrivers were acceptable. I always thought it was odd that they were much higher quality than the rest of the tools.

 

[four.cycle]

Thanks for the research, Woody!

I didn't expect to find anything when I ran a search on "Oxwall" here, so I was surprised to find this thread. It looks like you've managed to find more information on the company than I was able to.

Oxwall / Oxwall Tool Co. Ltd., 133-10 32nd Ave., P.O. Box 231, Flushing, N.Y. 11352 / formerly 401 Park Ave. So., New York, 16, N.Y.

* more info: http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2012/03/vanished-tool-makers-oxwall-tools.html

purchased by EASCO October 1984 / http://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/24/business/missing-the-hand-tool-boom.html?pagewanted=all /

purchased at some point by Consolidated Foods and subsequently sold to an unnamed firm in 1978. Here's an example of one of their "Powermaster" socket sets, most likely from the early 1970s based on the stylized font style.



here's a 1960 "Hardware Retailer" magazine ad:



* see also: http://toolarchives.com/node/130

 

[four.cycle]

Here is an example of the ubiquitous Oxwall 1/4" drive stamped-steel "laminated" ratchet.
In spite of being maligned as one of the poorest quality tool brands in the known universe, this little gem has probably the thinnest head of any 1/4" square drive ratchet ever produced.

 

[JMLangford]

I knew I had one somewhere.....this one's made in Japan....



.

 

[3baygarage]

that ratchet one post back looks so much like my Plomb-made Craftsman that I did a double take. What is the quality like?

That’s because the ratchet doesn’t belong in the set.

 

[shanny19]

Woody, that 1984 article about the state of the union in tools was awesome, thanks for posting the link.

 

[3baygarage]

Really? You think that set originally contained the laminated model?

I kind of wondered about that one, but assumed it was original to the set.

I have not see an Oxwall set yet that referred to the laminated model as having "3-way control", other than this one.

No, it says 12 piece set, and if you take away the Plomb ratchet there are 12 pieces left.

The 3 way is the ratcheting driver.

 

[four.cycle]

No, it says 12 piece set, and if you take away the Plomb ratchet there are 12 pieces left.

The 3 way is the ratcheting driver.

gah!

well... goes to show how much I know about PLOMB !

looks like I need to do some editing! thanks!

 

[alton1911]

I don’t have a pic of them right now, but I have a bunch of Oxwall wrenches and some generic wrenches made in the same fashion with a Circled star logo. I will add a pic. I assumed that they were the same.

I also have about 5 lbs. of Craftsman ignition wrenches. They are mostly very well made with good fit and finish. Fascinated by different designs including DBE.

 

[four.cycle]

"...generic wrenches made in the same fashion with a Circled star logo..."

Kastar (not LANG Tool, Racine, Wisconsin.) The early "star logo" ignition wrenches were made when Kastar was located on Long Island.

 

[alton1911]

Among the Oxwall, and Kastar wrenches I have also included other similarly made stamped wrenches with brand names “Meteor” and the ever popular “made in U.S.A.” , and a few from “Japan” and “QUALITY STEEL “

 

[four.cycle]

"Meteor" was another low-end line of small tools.

They made small stamped-steel ignition wrench sets similar to Oxwall (and that Kastar set above.) They also made a small 1/4" drive socket set very similar to those made by Oxwall and G.M Mfg. Co.

Meteor Mfg. Co., 1441 Main St., Buffalo, 9, N.Y. / (see patent D167,868)

 

[jgromada]

we seem to remember old tools very nostalgically. There WERE lots of crappy tools!

i had accumulated 1 or 2 of the stamped steel wrenches (not cast). Even as a kid i recognized that they sucked

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

Woody, I'll repost my experience with Oxwall,

I had a set of Oxwall 3/8 metric from the late '60s. Made in Japan. This was when Japan made current Chinese look like SO. These were my first purchase with my first pay check. I wore them out on one car, a '65 Simca 1000. Boy, I was rough on that poor thing. I bet you didn't do that with your Craftsman and that '55 Chevy three on the tree six four door. And if you haven't lost them, those Craftsman are likely still your go to sockets. Few of us in those day could afford our dream cars. Mine was a '56 hemi Custom Royal Dodge 2dr hardtop.

 

[engineer2]

Just thought I would post pics of my Oxwall "Occupied Germany" slip-joint pliers. They are not rare and this example is well-used and worn out.

 

[four.cycle]

Oxwall produced those little 1/4" drive sets in a number of different ways. Some were in simple cardboard boxes, others packed in plastic pouches, and others (like mine above) in steel boxes.
Some example gleaned from previous Ebay listings:





In addition to the ubiquitious stamped-steel ignition wrench sets, they also produced an array of sets which included their ratcheting driver handle and screwdriver bits, like this one:



While it's all fine and well to sneer and snigger at the marginal quality of Oxwall tools, I would submit that they were on at least a par level with G.M Manufacturing Co. (Long Island City, N.Y.), and far above the quality of those items produced by Globemaster (last headquartered in Houston, Texas) or Zomax (Long Island City, N.Y.), both of which were primarily repackagers of offshore-sourced low-end items.

Hopefully OldTuleGuy will post some images of his Oxwall collection. I believe he had a couple sets as well.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That is an interesting set. Oxwall would package any of their stuff in anything, so could be original box. Here are some various oxwally sets....

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

My 3/8" set came in an orange fitted plastic box.

 

[four.cycle]

^ if it is branded "PowerMaster" it was outsourced by Oxwall from Japan or Taiwan.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

They weren't branded Powermaster, but they were from Japan.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Yes, they also marketed Japan-made sets that were branded "Oxwall" like this set which is currently listed on Ebay:



Not sure if the "Powermaster" was something later, or if Oxwall marketed product under both brands concurrently. The date (presumably penciled on by the original owner) on the back of the cardboard package causes me to lean toward the latter having been the case:

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

Seeing the orange box brings back memories. Mine was a 3/8" metric set. They were the first tools I purchased with own money, in fact my very first paycheck. My dad was with me at the time.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Here is another Japan set

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Did a little ebay shopping and picked up these two Japanese sets

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

That 3/8" was it. It's like looking at the school picture of your first girl friend, which by the way ,got thrown out by ex #1. Tools on the other hand I keep.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

How did they hold up? Thought about trying them but was worried about breaking them.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

I wouldn't worry about breaking them, mine were fairly soft. The socket points rounded . Not knowing any better, I just thought you could wear out sockets. 50 years later the Craftsman that replaced them are still doing fine. Mind you, as I got older my cars weren't so wrench prone.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

These were made by Oxwall Tool Company in "OCCUPIED GERMANY" between 1945 and 1949. The marking above the pin is hard to read, but it's there, and I have seen others. Say what you will about Oxwall being economy line, this is a respectable tool, and I am really digging the finger grips.