Author Topic: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.  (Read 44713 times)

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Offline Papaw

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #15 on: December 27, 2011, 05:55:01 PM »
Welcome to Tool Talk, Chills! We are proud to have you join us!
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Offline lbgradwell

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.
« Reply #16 on: January 28, 2012, 09:43:10 PM »
Thanks to the efforts of Neals, the 1960 ETF Catalogue & 1962 Price List is now available for download!

http://www.mediafire.com/?f85bcfoof02gjg7

Thank you very much for the time & effort you've put into this Neal; it's a great resource for tool historians in general and Canadian tool fans in particular.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2012, 09:13:48 PM by lbgradwell »

Kijiji King

Offline Neals

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #17 on: January 28, 2012, 10:02:02 PM »
Much of the credit belongs to LG who did the skilled parts that were beyond me. Many thanks!

Offline Neals

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #18 on: January 29, 2012, 04:27:01 PM »
ETF sold socket sets. I have never seen any marked ETF.  Have any of you seen one? I wonder if they are some other brand.

Offline lbgradwell

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.
« Reply #19 on: January 29, 2012, 05:35:37 PM »
Neal, I was looking at that very thing last night...

I'd say it's about a 99.99% certainty that Wright was the manufacturer of ETF-branded socketry; the model numbers (and descriptions - i.e. ratchet handles) match up exactly.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2012, 09:14:01 PM by lbgradwell »

Kijiji King

Offline lbgradwell

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catharines, Ontario.
« Reply #20 on: February 02, 2012, 12:35:25 PM »
Bill Andrews has sent me two more photos of ETF-related items that he acquired from his former sister-in-law - who was the daughter of Vern Harper.

The first item is an envelope from the company. This envelope is from after 1985 (since that is when this logo first appeared):



The second item is more interesting. This is Vern's employee badge from when he worked at the plant!



How cool is that?!
« Last Edit: April 09, 2012, 09:14:12 PM by lbgradwell »

Kijiji King

Offline Papaw

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #21 on: February 02, 2012, 03:59:21 PM »
Quote
How cool is that?!

More than just cool!
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Offline Ken W.

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #22 on: February 04, 2012, 01:27:34 AM »
These tool were made just over the river from me , yet I never see any around here.I'll have to start going to estate sales in Canada.Nice post.

Offline kxxr

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #23 on: March 05, 2012, 06:18:09 PM »
I picked this up just so I could put it in this thread (and the price was right) I could have rubbed off that bit of 'patina' on the ends there, but I didn't want to ruin it. I haven't had a look in the '62 catalog to see if this one is in there but I do think it is a bit newer than the ones shown earlier. A nice hefty club of a wrench by any standard; just under 11 inches long.



I did take a quick look and it looks like they may be shown in the catalog in the 'open stock' section. I'm not sure though.
« Last Edit: March 05, 2012, 06:28:18 PM by kxxr »

Offline kxxr

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #24 on: March 07, 2012, 05:59:07 PM »
Another ETF tool:


Offline OilyRascal

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #25 on: March 07, 2012, 06:20:22 PM »
This is another of my favorite threads.  Thanks for sharing the information and showing this novice collector the classy way to research and document tools.

I will be sure to pickup any ETF tool I may come across in my travels - if for no other reason this thread and now knowing some of their history. 

Again, Thanks!
"FORGED IN THE USA" myself.  Be good to your tools!

Garden and Yard Rustfinder Extraordinaire!
http://www.papawswrench.com/vboard/index.php?topic=3717

Offline Neals

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #26 on: March 07, 2012, 08:17:24 PM »
kxxr- I think your open end is older than the 62 catalogue. The catalogue lists nickle, poly chrome, and satin finishes. Yours does not appear to have a finish on it. Some of the older ones don't. The markings in the catalogue are a bit clearer than in the pdf. They do not match what you have.
The double box end is in the catalogue. Listed as a 45 degree double box. Was available in poly chrome and satin finishes. Available as open stock or in several sets. Not a common wrench in this area. I've only seen a few while the open end is fairly common in at least 4 designs.

Offline kxxr

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #27 on: March 13, 2012, 04:45:57 PM »
If I drive north just over an hour, I'd be in Alberta, if they let me through. I haven't tried it since the passport requirement was enacted. I wonder if my DBE was smuggled in from north of here or got here some other way.

Offline Neals

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #28 on: March 14, 2012, 03:28:47 AM »
I don't know if ETF was ever sold in the US. Tools seem to migrate all by themselves. I have seen a few old corn corn huskers here and northern Alberta is a long way from the corn belt.

Offline Flatintoone

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Re: The story of ETF Tools of St. Catherines, Ontario.
« Reply #29 on: March 28, 2012, 12:30:35 PM »
What a great forum! Just joined, and have already learned a lot about two of my puzzling recent acquisitions.

I picked up an ETF pipe wrench at an estate sale recently and wondered about the company's origins.

I suspect this one was sold in Canada and brought over. The same sale yielded a couple of Canadian-made Gray wrenches and I noticed other evidence of "Canadianness" in the house.