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Old 28th Jun 2021, 2:41 pm   #1
Superscope
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Default Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

The other Drill Thread got me thinking!

Wolf Electric Tools Ltd seemed to have been a fairly big name
in Power Tools in the Uk and Australia during the 1960's and 70's,
and made high quality Tools.


I wondered if anybody collected them?
Is there such a thing as a Power Tool collector?

There must be, and I bet they are here!



I inherited a couple of nice Vintage Wolf Tools from my Late Father.

The Vacuum Blower unit I tracked down to a 1952 Wolf Catalogue.
Can't imagine many of these survive.

Anybody else have any Vinage Wolf Tools?

That's the original "Wolf Electric Tools Ltd" of London, not the modern
Wolf Tools of who knows where or by who.


Ian
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 2:52 pm   #2
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

I have a Wolf bench grinder,dates back to the 60's. Also 2 Saphire drills from 70's. I also have a Wolf planer,badged Wolf but very well made by Makita(80's).Les.
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 2:58 pm   #3
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

Ian, yes, I think Wolf deserves it's own thread! They are especially nice imho. I believe old power tools are collected, but do not have great value - tens of pounds. Ebay currently has several Wolf drills. Restore videos on Youtube, info on the glorious net show affectionados are drawn by the build quality and design-to-last philosophy.
Tony
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 3:14 pm   #4
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

I have a couple of Sapphire drills, one of which cost me £2.99 in a York junk shop, though it is a 110 volt version, it was my only hammer drill for many years and got a lot of use.

I also have a 4 inch Sapphire angle grinder and a much older (fifties) pistol grip 1/2 inch drill which was once my grandfathers`s and was part of a morticing set up.

All excellent quality tools.

Last edited by barrymagrec; 28th Jun 2021 at 3:20 pm.
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 3:20 pm   #5
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

In the late-60s/early-70s I had a Wolf soldering-iron. Big beefy 100-Watt thing with an angled bakelite handle - brilliant for soldering the braid on coaxial cables or earthing-lugs, a bit too unwieldy for stuff like B9A valve-bases or OC71s though....
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 3:23 pm   #6
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

I remember those - handy for when the spot welded wheels fell off your Black & Decker mower.....
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 3:36 pm   #7
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

I have a Wolf BW2 drill
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 3:46 pm   #8
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

See https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Wolf_Electric_Tools - which includes some ads for the Wolf soldering-iron I had!

A thread about the company hereL https://www.woodworkforums.com/archi...p/t-11867.html

Seems they were bought by Kango [makers of the famous concrete-breakers].
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 3:46 pm   #9
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

Nice bit of information here on Wolf

http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com...-electric.html

Andrew
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 4:56 pm   #10
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

Quote:
Originally Posted by greenstar View Post
Ebay currently has several Wolf drills.
Tony
And so I just bought one. As if I need another drill! I have seen this model before - the archetypal Wolf. And a potentially nasty bite in the cable!
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 5:06 pm   #11
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

fond memories, my first experience was Dad having a 50's 'heavy duty drill' in the green and red hammerite paint. He used 3 of them at work in production, handheld, until one day the drill jammed and threw him off it, the drill turned round and yanked the plug out of the wall.
WHen I started work in the late 80's the main workshop drill was a sapphire 2-tone grey pistolgrip and it did work on site and in the shop all the 20 years I was there. Now I have a makita cordless but for the heavy stuff I have a kango-badged pistolgrip, the same as the one where I started work but in Kango red and with the hammer and reverse switch.
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 5:54 pm   #12
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

That red one looks almost like a red copy of a Bosch one from a few years ago.
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Old 28th Jun 2021, 7:34 pm   #13
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

Quote:
a red copy of a Bosch
Here's the Wolf version, although it appears to have varispeed too which ours didn't.

(web found pic)
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Old 1st Jul 2021, 5:46 pm   #14
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

I have an old Wolf drill model NW3E that my father in law gave me in 1966 and it was an antique then. It still works ok.
John.
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Old 1st Jul 2021, 8:59 pm   #15
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

Hi.

I remember back in 1976 my late father picked up a Wolf Sapphire single speed drill from a government surplus shop for £5. There must have been around fifty of these drills in a rack but every one had its mains lead cut off. I fitted a new lead and 13A plug and it worked fine. It served me well for at least fifteen years. I then purchased a B&D variable speed hammer drill which was good for several years.
The Wolf just kept working though since the motor in these drills is as tough as old boots unlike the B&D's motor which eventually burnt out. I gave the Wolf drill away many years back but would imagine it gave its new owner good service. They were very robust drills. The one I had was quite basic with only a 3/8" chuck capacity and no hammer action and was probably made around 1970.

OT but I was recently given an old (possibly 1970s) Stanley hammer drill in very good condition. It has a certain similarity to the old Wolf.

Regards,
Symon
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Old 3rd Jul 2021, 4:19 pm   #16
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

My new old Wolf, a half inch SD4c arrived in the post today. After replacing the mains lead and guard I fired it up and it runs nice and smoothly. This is my third larger Wolf!
Marked N/L RPM, which I do not understand.
John, the second below is the same model NW3cEas yours in post 14. No trace of paint on mine. Marked 750 rpm, hardly fast but plenty of welly.
The third is a 'Slow Speed' drill. WD34cA, 550rpm.
Somewhere there must be information on the various models, the dates they came out. and their usual uses.
I also have a couple of Cubs.
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Old 4th Jul 2021, 12:55 pm   #17
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

No/Load RPM.
We had a "modern" blue Wolf drill at work in the 1970s, it was much better than the usual B&D ones, as it had ball bearings throughout, but it had a capacitor across the mains upstream of the trigger, and could give you a shock from the plug, (when unplugged).
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Old 4th Jul 2021, 8:32 pm   #18
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6fylneil View Post
No/Load RPM.
.
Sorry, still doesn't make sense to me - shouldn't there be a figure, eg 750 (rpm)? Why just N/L?
Also, if anyone can explain the best uses of the various speeds, ie, 500, 750rpm? Modern drills I think, are a lot faster.
Slower rpm's I think, heat the bit less, more torque? Faster can cut faster?
But not a lot of difference between 500 and 750, so why is 500 'slow'?
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Old 4th Jul 2021, 10:04 pm   #19
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Smile Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

Hi,
This is a Wolf drill from the late father of one of my wife's friends. It had been rewired with flat twin & earth house wiring cable!
Now, with some authentic looking cable and a period MK plug, it works well.
I think it could be from the 40s?
Cheers, Pete.
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Old 4th Jul 2021, 10:27 pm   #20
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Default Re: Wolf Electric Tools Ltd

The "No-load" speed of a motor is the speed at which it will run when no load is applied. As soon as a load is applied to a universal motor of the type used in power drills of this period, the speed will fall according to the load applied.

The optimun speed for drilling depends on many factors and tables of "feeds and speeds" are published in engineering guides. In general, the smaller the drill bit, the faster it can be run. This relates to the peripheral speed of the bit. For highest production rates, drill bits need to be run as fast as is practical and this will depend, amongst other things, on lubrication and cooling of the drill bit. The temperature that the drill bit can withstand depends on the material from which it is made.The heating of the material being drilled is also important because some, like certain grades of stainless steel, are subject to work hardening which can make them difficult to cut.

Feeds relate to the rate at which the drillbit is fed into the material and can really only be applied accurately to machine tools although it does have some bearing on hand drilling.

PMM
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