replying to Andy R, tom cassidy wrote: ime now 62 ive still got my old wolf cir saw in fact i rem my dad put thier tools at the top of his list hard to beat ime sure its 30years old and still going as strong as ever a true old work horse the old ones are the best.
Wolf of that era were well respected... sadly they exist in name only now after orginally being acquired by Kango, then sold to Atlas-copco, who then sold them to TTI. So they are just another of TTI's many brands now.
now they're just dogs.
NT
zeek snipped-for-privacy@example.com wrote in news:1669d38365aabc08$1$1114419$ snipped-for-privacy@news.newsgroupdirect.com:
At one time a name implied a manufacturing company of the same name.Now a name can be bought.
Yes indeed, many of the brands I grew up with are just names. It first starts with getting the stuff made abroad, then the company finds financial issues and sells out or goes to the wall. Then if the name is not wanted by the new company it becomes a commodity in itself. Wharfdale, Alba, Goodmans, Bush, Murphy, indeed most of the older names are like that. That is why when DVD players first appeared the one you found everywhere was called Warfdale.
Even Philips for most consumer stuff is just a brand name, though they do keep some form of quality control over the output, the design and building is by others. A lot of companies have come out of consumer electronics and just run their names as brands. Look at your average Sony portable radio, or indeed Grundig, which after a brief spell with Philips is now apparently used by other companies.
I mean, why do you think you see Polaroid TVs.
As for diy, I bought some Draper hacksaw blades made in Poland, their teeth stripped off after not much use. Too brittle. Brian
"Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)" snipped-for-privacy@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in news:s22aj9$emq$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
/I loudly agree Brian - especially in the context of White Goods and now even Motor Cars.
I guess with Electric Cars that the real "Engineering" is undertaken by a very specialist operation paid for by many manufacturers and may not be know to us. Making a car (or washing machine) is done using tooling, materials and methods mandated by "Engineering" and it should not be possible for the location of the factory, or the day of the week or the shift to make any difference.
I recall a guy who designed process plant telling me of a Guinness Plant in Africa. It was commissioned and all was well. But after a few weeks the product was going downhill. It was found that, with all the best will, operators were tampering with the process to try and make the Guinness even better! However some of their improvements were reacting badly with other improvements.
Likewise - do I want to but a car where it has been necessary for worker to use a hand tool to make something fit? Would each worker do it the same way? What is wrong with the process that would allow a process that is out of control?
Bush (the name) is now owned by ... Argos!
I recall that we used to use machine tools that could barely repeat to within 10 thousands of an inch to try to make things to within a couple of thou! Then along came a "Process Capability" campaign. First of all challenging whether some limits were really necessary and then embarking on some serious machine tool maintenance and replacement.
People who take Brand names as an indicator of something need to look carefully. Really you can only buy on "features" now as stuff is specified now to have a certain life - like it or not.
Karrimor used to be a famous Yorkshire based manufacturer of outdoor wear and equipment. The brand now seems to appear on cheap crap made in the far east.
The name was bought by Sports Direct almost 20 years ago and is now used on "Budget" outdoor items. The old Karrimor rucksacks I come across in the charity shop I volunteer in are usually still going strong and saleable, unlike the more recent Karrimor trainers and boots.
Even back in the day, some brands didn't relate to a bricks and mortar factory - but to a distributor / designer.
Dixons created the Matsui brand, which had no connection whatever with Japan.
They did it because Japan had acquired a good name for reliability - in reality the goods were made in the UK, which didn't have a good name.
All this interest over a seventeen year old post!!!!!
I nearly interupted when I heard an elederly couple looking at a Polaroid TV in a supermarket. "Well they make good cameras" one of them said!
Think you'll find it was a lot longer than 25 years ago that Wolf ceased to exist.
And you might just find out the proportion of an average weekly income it took to buy one.
and there was 'Minari'. Made in Scotland so possibly 'Machinari'?
Most days I get an email offering Wolf branded something.
I still have a Wolf elec drill that belonged to my f-in-law must be over
60years old solid alloy body and still working ok
That was then, this is now. Wolf - like so many other brands - isn't what it once was. Probably made in China now with none of the original quality assurance the name was once associated with.
--
"Andrey Semyonovitch really was rather stupid; he attached himself to the progressive cause and 'our younger generation' from enthusiasm. He was one of the numerous and varied legion of dullards, of half-animate abortions, conceited, half-educated coxcombs who attach themselves to the idea most in fashion, only to vulgarise it and who caricature every cause they serve, however sincerely."
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
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