Two Hundr of ToolBUSIN


In April 1993 when the first Edition of This ToolBusiness, as it was called then, was issued, we had a Conservative Government under John Major, there was talk of recession and “Back to Basics”. A bit like now in fact. But I am not one of those that thinks that the “Old Days” were better, especially when it comes to a big aspect of my life – using tools to make, build and repair things. I was quite


surprised when I skimmed through some of the first editions of ToolBusiness to find how much the products on offer have changed, but I was also very heartened to see some of the old faces I knew and worked with. Many of these people have moved on or retired, but some, like Clive Richardson of Draper Tools, continue to drive companies forward and continue to innovate and expand. Will our recession-hit times look as hard in twenty years time? Perhaps not, but maybe some of the young executives now getting their feet under the table in various tool companies will also have had the opportunity to build and develop, and who knows what innovative products will be stocking our tool shops, be they virtual or actual.


“…who knows what


innovative products will be stocking our tool shops…?”


and Decker and Hitachi. Then, they were all powered by NiCad batteries. Despite all the downsides to this technology, it was the only choice. We put up with the weight, relative lack of power and long charging times of these batteries and just relished the freedom of movement that cordless tools gave us. Gone were the endless hassles of extension cords and the weight of a big, corded drill when you were working up a ladder. As long as the job involved relatively small screws you could retire the manual screwdriver and hand drill to the bottom of the toolbox. Ironically, in the same


issues I noticed two small companies who had developed


and were marketing manual screwdrivers that were supposed to provide speed and reduced effort when driving screws. Unfortunately, these companies are long gone. No doubt the products did not catch on or


long time, especially when it belongs to a company like Wera that is brimming with new products in the screwdriving sector. With a shrewdness that I cannot help but admire, Wera’s product development is both thorough and original. The company never seems to be short of ideas. But back to cordless. We had a brief flirtation


with NiMH batteries in the late 90’s, but these have all but disappeared now. I have never had a satisfactory explanation from any of the companies that did develop NiMH technology why they disappeared so quickly, especially as it was by then obvious, that NiCads were very toxic and hard to dispose of. I guess the massive explosion of ever-smaller


mobile phones and the need to develop better batteries for them led to the rapid development of Lithium Ion batteries for power tools. These batteries transformed the look, power, size and weight of cordless drills. Very soon we had cordless planers, jigsaws and circular saws that were nearly as powerful


failed to live up to expectations. Perhaps they couldn’t compete with cordless drivers? Just to confuse things even further, one of our


front-page advertisers was the German company Wera. It was advertising the Kraftform-plus screwdrivers range. Wera now sells millions of manual and machine-powered screwdriving products throughout the world. The Kraftform


From Peter Brett’s first Tool Review in Edition 49, February 1999


Some of the products that I have followed the


development of most keenly are cordless power tools. In 1993, ToolBusiness had several adverts for cordless drills from Bosch, Makita, Panasonic, Black


16 ToolBUSINESS+HIRE


handle, based on the shape that a human hand made when gripping a ball of putty for its original ergonomic shape, is still alive and kicking and unlikely to be superseded in the near future. A good idea, well developed and well marketed will last a


as their corded counterparts. Impact drivers too, have their own special niche in my heart and workshop simply because they are just so amazing to use and make screwdriving so effortless. Earlier this year Metabo launched a range of 4Ah


“A good idea, well


developed and well marketed will last a long time…”


18v cordless tools that may as well be corded tools because not only do they have amazing capabilities, but the batteries seem to last forever too. Other companies like


DeWalt, have already launched their own versions of these new batteries, and yet others like Hitachi are developing brushless electric motors


that will increase electrical efficiency of cordless tools even more. We will soon have even more power and


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