The British Bulldog
British manufacturing has taken a hammering over the last 50 years. It is therefore ironic that one of the industries that has taken the biggest ‘hammering’ is the tool industry!
Most British-made hand tools were traditionally made in Sheffield, the ‘home’ of the UK steel industry. Sadly over time many of the forges and the factories producing hand and edged tools have closed down. When I started Quality Garden Tools, I was shocked by the lack of British-made garden tools available. Many old names with years of great pedigree no longer manufacture in the UK; the names still exist, but the products are imported from China or India – Quel Dommage!
One exception to this is Bulldog Tools. They have been using a very similar process to make their solid forged hand tools since 1780. Solid forging tools from one piece of steel makes them a lot stronger than welding or fabricating as no weak spots are left in the construction. The tools are also tempered with a special process called austempering which means that whilst the products are very strong, they retain their flexibility. The shafts are manufactured from high quality ash handles selected for the straightness of grain and obtained from renewable resources. Bulldog Tools’ fifty employees now manufacture 2000 tools every day – in Britain!
If this sounds like a commercial success story then Bulldog are not resting on their laurels. At the Chelsea Flower Show this year they launched the Alan Titchmarsh Garden Tool range – endorsed by the great man himself! There have also been new tool designs such as the tree planting spear, the nurseryman’s spade and the shrubbery spade and fork. The Bulldog Tools stainless steel ‘Pedigree’ range was launched just last year, surely a sign that a British manufacturer can succeed in the new century.
Our favourite from the Bulldog Tools range has to be the Wizard rubber lawn rake. The soft rubber fingers are particularly good for sweeping uneven surfaces and do not damage surfaces including lawns. They are particularly suited to paths, patios, driveways, decking and for those with perfect lawns or gravel drives then the Wizard rake is the only tool that will rake up leaves on these difficult surfaces.
The Bulldog Wizard lawn rake can be found at: www.qualitygardentools.com/hand-tools/rakes/wizard-and-merlin-rakes/id-BUL-9149N/view
Any comments? Please email us at info@qualitygardentools.com
Next article >> << Previous articleBlog Archive
- Tools 4 Schools
- A Mow by Mow Account
- The Best of the Best
- La Vie en Rose
- Rain, Rain Go Away
- Bulldog Goes Green
- Can you take the Pressure?
- Poles Apart
- The Start of a Beautiful Friendship
- Colour Blind?
- Hubble, Bubble, Toil & Tubble
- Time for a Hoedown
- Chelsea Flower Show vs Chelsea FC
- How Does This Grab You?
- If I had a Haemmerlin
- Size Does Matter
- Four Seasons in One Day
- A Cut above the Rest
- Mulch Ado about Nothing
- Green and Pleasant Land
- A Rake's Progress
- A New Beginning...
- Introduction
