Does anyone have any working dates or other info for Henry Boker.  I know 
he was a German ironmonger,  I have had a lot of pieces, iron braces, bits, 
calipers, etc by him.  Guy on another list has a beautiful hanging scale 
and was asking from more info.

Thanks

Tony

Tony wrote:
> info for Henry Boker... German ironmonger... 

Can only add that his elaborately decorated plier type 
saw sets are common in Quebec. I also have a  few simple 
saw wrest with his mark and a couple of hand pruners.
Yup, any info would be appreciated.

Best,
Louis Michaud

Hi Tony & All,

Tony asked for info on Henry Boker. Per the DAT, the Boker companies
were in business 1837-1969. The names H. Boker, H.&R. Boker, and H.
Boker & Co. were all used, but it's not clear which was used when. The
H. is said, in various sources to stand for Henry, Herman, and Heinrich.
My personal guess is that different Bokers ran the company at diferent
times and all are right. As Tony said, they were primarily a German
company, but the tools were imported and sold by a U.S. affiliate. In
1899, they acquired a U.S. company and started making some tools here.

Best Wishes,
Bob

  Boker was one of the great Solingen cutlery houses. Probably the greatest.
I wouldn't be surprised to find the actual start date at something more like
1600. Their goods were exported worldwide and new companies were started and
run in other locations under the Boker name as well. Boker was practically
the Stanley of Germany acquiring scads of other companies and products along
the way. I'm not sure if they actually went into garage door openers before
the end, but it's likely.
  yours, Scott
*******************************
   Scott Grandstaff
   Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
   scottg@s...
   http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html

> Tony asked for info on Henry Boker. Per the DAT, the Boker companies
> were in business 1837-1969. The names H. Boker, H.&R. Boker, and H.
> Boker & Co. were all used, but it's not clear which was used when. The
> H. is said, in various sources to stand for Henry, Herman, and Heinrich.
> My personal guess is that different Bokers ran the company at diferent
> times and all are right. As Tony said, they were primarily a German
> company, but the tools were imported and sold by a U.S. affiliate. In
> 1899, they acquired a U.S. company and started making some tools here.
> 
I don't have my ref materials here, but Boker is still in business today in
Germany. The only products I know for sure that they still make are knives -
got one in my pocket right now that SWMBO gave me a few years ago. The US
branch of the firm was sold off in -- I thought -- the 1980's, but I guess
it was sooner than that. They also had -- dates unknown -- a branch of the
company operating in Mexico. If desperate for details, find a copy of
Bernard Levine's book on collectable knives for a history of the company.

Bill

At 01:55 PM 2/13/01 -0500, Robert Nelson wrote:
>Hi Tony & All,
>
>Tony asked for info on Henry Boker. Per the DAT, the Boker companies
>were in business 1837-1969. The names H. Boker, H.&R. Boker, and H.
>Boker & Co. were all used, but it's not clear which was used when. The

Thanks for the info

Their dividers are pretty neat.  The dividers were made out of one 
continuous piece of steel with the center section being flattened to act as 
a spring. Here is a pic of one.

http://www.geocities.com/jointer.geo/toolpics/boker.jpg

Tony

Tony asked..."


> Does anyone have any working dates or other info for Henry Boker.  I know
> he was a German ironmonger....."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
  Hermann Boker a recent emigrant from Germany founded Hermann Boker and co.
in 1837 in New York City, soon moving it to Newark NJ,[though they retained
a Sales office in NY] .Prior to this Hermann and his brother Robert had in
1829 started a plant to make swords in Remsschied Germany. When they crossed
the Atlantic Robert went to Canada and later in 1865  he went to Mexico and
opened a branch of H. Boker&co there called Casa Roberto Boker,[still in
business].In 1869 Hermann cousin Heinrich Boeker opened a factory in
Solingen to manufacture items for his cousins in America and Mexico. H.Boker
also imported from England. In 1899 in response to rising tariffs on
imported goods they started a factory in Newark called Valley Forge cutlery
co. where they made both knives and tools.In 1921 this plant was sold and
operations moved to Maple wood NJ . In 1969 Boker was bought out by  Wiss,
[the scissor people].In 1978 Wiss sold the Boker name to the Cooper Tool
group of NC. In 1986 Cooper sold name and all distribution rights to the
Heinrich Boker co. of Solingen Germany.
   Henry Boker? I don't think there was a Henry Boker, Heinrich Boeker did
mark some items exported to Australia,[maybe the USA too?] marked Henry
Boker probably to make them sound less foreign..............I used to sort
of collect Boker Knives by the way and found most of this information in
knife books....Todd

Galoots,

Some history of the Boker works can be found at the following link.
Clock on the _Treetimes_ blade.

http://www.bokerusa.com/

Marvin Paisner
Kooenay Lake,  BC

At 5:16 PM -0500 2/13/01, Ghio Bill wrote:
>...The only products I know for sure that they still make are knives -
>got one in my pocket right now that SWMBO gave me a few years ago.

	Me too: "Tree  Brand, Boker, Solingen Germany," with a little tree
in the medallion rivet.  A very high quality pocket knife, (*not* stainless
steel) even if a little spendy.  In fact, you can order one today from the
Woodcraft catalog (p. 85 of the Feb. 2001 edition that arrived in the mail
just today).  A couple of years ago the 3-blade model was selling for $57
and change, and I see it's gone up to $64.95.  Mine was also a gift, from
someone who cared enough...
		Tom Holloway

Anthony Seo wrote:
> 
> At 01:55 PM 2/13/01 -0500, Robert Nelson wrote:
> >Hi Tony & All,
> >
> >Tony asked for info on Henry Boker. Per the DAT, the Boker companies
> >were in business 1837-1969. The names H. Boker, H.&R. Boker, and H.
> >Boker & Co. were all used, but it's not clear which was used when. The
> 
> Thanks for the info
> 
> Their dividers are pretty neat.  The dividers were made out of one
> continuous piece of steel with the center section being flattened to act as
> a spring. Here is a pic of one.
> 
> http://www.geocities.com/jointer.geo/toolpics/boker.jpg

Nice. I don't think the design is unique to them. And a local
blacksmith make fireside tongs using the same idea - and he
charges big bucks (ok "big pounds", but that doesn't sounds right at
all)
for them. The whole tool has to be made out of steel good enough
for the spring section, and the spring section is thin, and
must (hence) be heated/hammerred carefully.
(comments, Todd?)

	BugBear

GGs: Just some quick comments: 

1) re: "Henry" Boker - "Henry" is simply the English translation
   of "Heinrich".

2) re: Boker, Boeker - the "o" in "Boker" should have an
   umlaut (two little dots) over it. When that isn't 
   possible, "oe" is often used.

3) re: Tom's chisel - "Boker & Sohne" - note the "hn", not "nn".
   Both "o"s have an umlaut - this translates simply as 
   "Boker and Sons".
   

- Eric (in Fairbanks, Alaska, where I'm madly sending wood
  and tools to all points of the compass)
    

 

Boker also made a funky brace........


http://www.cadvision.com/Home_Pages/accounts/ecoyle/bokerunv.jpg

and ya, my apologies for the size of the image.....

Cowtown Eric

Todd wrote:

> Henry Boker? I don't think there was a Henry Boker, Heinrich Boeker did
> mark some items exported to Australia,[maybe the USA too?] marked Henry
> Boker probably to make them sound less foreign..............

Certainly have a few tools marked Henry Boker here. They are all robust
looking, well made and function well. From memory my stash includes:
dividers, spring calipers, double ended calipers, fret saw and blades,
tap and die sets, sockets and rachet drivers,... 

Anthony pointed us to:

> http://www.geocities.com/jointer.geo/toolpics/boker.jpg

Have a small pair of calipers of similar construction, but from memory,
made by english company, possibly Moore & Wright.

Regards,
-- 
Steve
Adelaide, Australia