Wadkin router

[Lurker]

I was stuck waiting yesterday and was browsing facebook marketplace and spotted a blue Wadkin hand held router. It was in working order and £20 wasn’t listed when I looked a few hours later.
Didn’t know that they made such things can anyone enlighten me

 

[Guineafowl21]

I was stuck waiting yesterday and was browsing facebook marketplace and spotted a blue Wadkin hand held router. It was in working order and £20 wasn’t listed when I looked a few hours later.
Didn’t know that they made such things can anyone enlighten me

I’ve got one. Made in Japan, maybe 80s/90s vintage. Nicely made tool.

 

[Trevanion]

Towards the end of Wadkin's tenure they expanded into different areas, I think hoping to keep a flagging business afloat. The "Wadkin" handheld power tools were made by Ryobi in Japan and you can see this as some of the parts have Ryobi stamped on them, the tools from what I've seen are very basic but decent quality.

I bought a planer a couple of years ago out of curiosity.

 

[Trevanion]

I also have this original Wadkin handheld power tool, I haven't got around to wiring it up and seeing if it works though!

 

[PAC1]

We used to have a wadkin blower in the shop. Never used it. I would recommend thick rubber gloves if you do.

 

[Trevanion]

We used to have a wadkin blower in the shop. Never used it. I would recommend thick rubber gloves if you do.

This is the 110v version so not quite as lethal as the 240v versions, but I still wouldn't want to get a kick off it regardless. Being 110v I always thought even if I sell it on it would be a lot easier to sell to the North American market than a 240v version. That said, I didn't pay anything for it so it's not like it owes me anything.

 

[Lurker]

It was the same blue as the planer above. Had I been at home rather than in Nottingham I might well have tried to be first in the queue. Not that I “need” any more routers . Any idea what sort of dates these were retailed?

 

[Trevanion]

Any idea what sort of dates these were retailed?

I’m not sure, I’ve never seen any literature about them but I’m sure there’s a catalogue out there somewhere. If I had to guess I would say @Guineafowl21 is on the money, somewhere in the ‘80s or ‘90s.

 

[meccarroll]

I’m not sure, I’ve never seen any literature about them but I’m sure there’s a catalogue out there somewhere. If I had to guess I would say @Guineafowl21 is on the money, somewhere in the ‘80s or ‘90s.

Yes I'd agree maybe 80s. I worked for Somerleytin Hall in the 80s and a farmer who had a passion for woodwork had some Ryobi power tools I remember him mention the the name Wadkin was on some power tools around that time too. Ryobi and Wadkin power tools are ok for trade use but not as refined as some of the other main streem brands.

 

[Ovaloe]

The Wadkin router from the late 1970s/early 1980s was a Ryobi R-500. I had one of those circa 1979, albeit a Ryobi badged one. They were replaced by the RE-600 which in updated form is still being dold as an AEG today.

AFAIK the planer was another Ryobi model. I believe the part of Wadkin handling them at the time was Wadkin Agencies, which from memory started up in the 1960s to cover machinery/equipment not in Wadkin's range. They also brought in all sorts if static equipment, especially from France and Italy, including the Lurem combination machines, as well qs Brazilian-made copies of American Delta machines in the 1970s (under the name Wadkin Tradesman). Didn't they also sell some home made stuff made by Evenwood (who they eventually bought - they became the steel fabrication division in due course) and Titman tooling (which they part owned). I suppose if Startrite could sell SCM and later Robland gear badged as Startrite, then Wadkin must have thought why not?

 

[wallace]

I have a leaflet showing the range of tools somewhere. Those blowers make decent money and dont come up very often. Remind me of the old aluminium drills and sanders which I find quite artistic.

 

[Ovaloe]

Un

I have a leaflet showing the range of tools somewhere. Those blowers make decent money and dont come up very often. Remind me of the old aluminium drills and sanders which I find quite artistic.

In that case you'd probably find the 1940s to early 1960s tools (especially drills) from Bridges (later Stanley-Bridges), Wolf, Black & Decker, Desoutter et al of interest - polished aluminium, stamped brass ratings plates , etc. The Bridges models are relatively common - polished B&Ds and Desoutters are the other end of the scale. B&D were early into paint finishes, Desoutters were always expensive and industrial, hence the rarity nowadays, whilst Wolf were somewhere in between.

 

[wallace]

I found a new stanley bridges in my loft when I bought my house, with a pile of woodworker magazines. I think its a 70's version

 

[Ovaloe]

Red and white by any chance? On the late 60s/early 70s they made an awful lot of very similar looking drills with minute differences in spec.

If being bought out by Bosch hadn't killed them (S-B) off, variable speed, hammer drill gearboxes and bigger motors (AEG and Bosch got into a wattage race in the late 1970s) probably would have. Don't get me wrong, S-Bs were good quality drills - strip a gearbox down and compare with an equivalent B&D gearbox of the period - but S-B were left behind in terms of motor power and electronics by the mid-70s.