Welcome To The WS Tools Birmingham Site

WHY ME, WHY NOW?

You may be wondering why I ever thought to collect and research this marque, but the answer would be that I certainly would like to expand our knowledge about an almost unknown company which was based in Birmingham, England.

This company seems to have disappeared in 1952/3 and there is virtually no information available today on which to base any research or gather further knowledge.  For these reasons nobody, until now, has dared to write a history or even to speculate on the WS line of products, but I am trying to research and restore these WS tools, as they are substantial and quality woodworking tools which can be either collected or used.

I started to collect and use hand woodwork tools in 1958 when I started Grammar school in Rayleigh, Essex and came under the direction of a Mr. Wood (really, that was his name), the Woodwork Master, and to whom I owe my debt of a total interest in Woodwork tools.  His instructions still guide me today to generally collect and use Hand Tools and to be involved in hand woodworking.   He will be forever in my thoughts.

Fast forward a few years and I am living in Canada,  had started an interest in collecting STANLEY (USA) hand tools and then I collected this brand avidly for about 15 years.

Then, for some reason my UK roots took hold, because I turned my attention to collecting RECORD tools, a passion that still remains to this day.
My RECORD tool collecting then led me to collect WODEN tools (bought out by RECORD in 1961) and this collection sparked my interest in learning about the predecessors of WODEN…namely WS Tools, Birmingham. 

A driving force for my interest in collecting and obtaining WS planes must be that the Bench planes have a BRASS lever cap, and this must be what peaks many people’s interest in this brand.   What other company produced a plane with this specification, and  who else made planes about which there is very little known or printed?

These unknowns are what still stimulates me to push forward with this study, and which hopefully brings you to this site.

I would welcome any suggestions, that might increase our knowledge about this firm and its’ products, and I therefore enjoin you to contact me via the contact form on the site  and to exchange information towards this goal.

Roger P. Ball

BUT PLEASE REMEMBER that I continue to update the information on this site as new changes are discovered by myself  or others .  The information contained herein is FREE on this website,  and is the result of my commitment to increasing the knowledge about the WS Manufacturing Company .  

  I would therefore ask that you get my permission first before publishing information gleaned from this site, because my many years of study and a large ongoing personal financial commitment have brought this information to you. Last update Sept.2019.