While the wood being sold at Midwest Woodworking last weekend was enough to make me salivate, I really got excited when I learned the company was selling off its clamps.
Including, wait for it, a large collection of Wetzler F-style clamps.
I first encountered Wetzlers when Popular Woodworking Magazine gave away a bunch of them as part of a contest. Wetzler shipped the clamps to us; we had to ship them to the winner.
The box of clamps weighed about 300 pounds. After we opened it up, I knew I wanted a set for my shop. The clamps had heavy castings, yet the heads moved smoothly on the bars. And the screws were exquisitely made.
When I finally got my (expletive deleted) together to buy a set of Wetzlers, the company’s web site acted weird. Some links were dead. I tried e-mailing and calling the company. No luck. Eventually, the web site disappeared.
I used my newspaper reporter skills to trace the ownership chain to a Florida holding company. I called and e-mailed them. No response.
Does anyone know what happened to Wetzler? What about the patterns and molds? I know I could find someone who would make these clamps again.
Know anything? Send me an e-mail at chris@lostartpress.com.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. I snagged only four Wetzlers at $15 each at Midwest.
I would love for Wetzler clamps to come back from the dead. Good luck.
I would gladly buy another hundred if I had the chance. Anyone wishing to divest themselves of their wetzler collection take note…
I seem to remember them being located near Pistorious machine works. After 20 years of continuous daily use, I have never split a handle, bent a bar, or lost a swivel pad. By far the finest clamps I have ever used.
The only thing I’ve found that is concrete about this company is a story from 2010, about 2 years before customers began reporting problems with the website and phone number:
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100801/NEWS02/8010316/-1/news16
Perhaps someone can track down Kevin and Joan Steible in the Portland area?
Ok, truth be known Chris bought 400 clamps and is listing them one at a time on eBay with a sinister laugh. Ho ha ha … 🙂
Good luck on the info. Maybe a project for Benchcrafted?
I would gladly invest in any venture to bring this company (principally the clamps) back to life.
Luckily – I managed to get a couple of these clamps a decade or two ago – the best that I have…
After a bit of digging I found Joan Steible on facebook, her picture matches the one in the article posted by tergenev. I don’t have FB to attempt to contact her (https://www.facebook.com/joan.steible). I also found Kevin and Joans address and phone number but I’m not sure that should be posted here.
I sent Joan a Facebook message and will let you know if she replies. As I do not know Joan, we are not “friends” on Facebook, so not sure she will bother to respond.