Friday 26th April 2019
Thor hammer has been providing their excellent quality
hammers for many years. Originating from Birmingham, they have kept close to home
when it came to their premises. Their one in Highlands Road, Shirley has been
there since the 1950’s, which gave the company the opportunity to expand their
manufacturing facilities.
The company was started with one idea in mind, to create a strong hammer. At the time, the Stephens family had been manufacturing flexible drive belts using rawhide, under two sister companies Stephens Belting and Birmingham Belting. A family member, Ira Stephens had approached other family members to start manufacturing hammers also made of rawhide. Trials were carried out and these new hammers became successful, even though there were only 3 sizes available at the time.
To market such a strong hammer, it needed to have a strong name. Walter Runciman Stephens, the son of one of the 4 Stephens brothers was faced with this task. This is when he decided to name them after none other than Norse God of Thunder “Thor”, who wielded the strongest hammer of them all “Mjӧlnir. However, the jury is still out whether they would hold up against Hela.
Over the years, there has been a huge demand for Thor hammers. During the war, the RAF used their product to produce and repair aircraft and by the army for constructing temporary bridges such as Bailey bridges and repairing tanks and other military equipment on or around the battlefield. This gave Thor a great advantage as they had engineers from all over the world now requesting their products, due to appreciating their quick, safe, and almost silent use. Jaguar, formally known as S S Cars, was so impressed with the tools that they supplied a Copper Rawhide hammer in each of the toolkits with each car they made. That same type of hammer is still their best-selling range to this day.
The development of the Thor range continued with the introduction of the Thorace Dead Blow range. Split Head Hammers, Super Plastic Mallets, Solid Copper Mallets, and Solid Brass mallets were also introduced.
The company has been awarded BS 5750 Quality Assurance accreditation, known today as ISO9001:2015.
Thor remains family owned. Family members have joined the board as generations move on. They have exported to over 80 countries, however they have not forgotten some of the original hammers and mallets which gave them great success in the 1930’s. Their Hide Mallets and Faces are basically produced from the same raw material and the same methods original workers used in the early trials nearly 90 years ago.
Why not try them out for yourself…….
The company was started with one idea in mind, to create a strong hammer. At the time, the Stephens family had been manufacturing flexible drive belts using rawhide, under two sister companies Stephens Belting and Birmingham Belting. A family member, Ira Stephens had approached other family members to start manufacturing hammers also made of rawhide. Trials were carried out and these new hammers became successful, even though there were only 3 sizes available at the time.
To market such a strong hammer, it needed to have a strong name. Walter Runciman Stephens, the son of one of the 4 Stephens brothers was faced with this task. This is when he decided to name them after none other than Norse God of Thunder “Thor”, who wielded the strongest hammer of them all “Mjӧlnir. However, the jury is still out whether they would hold up against Hela.
Over the years, there has been a huge demand for Thor hammers. During the war, the RAF used their product to produce and repair aircraft and by the army for constructing temporary bridges such as Bailey bridges and repairing tanks and other military equipment on or around the battlefield. This gave Thor a great advantage as they had engineers from all over the world now requesting their products, due to appreciating their quick, safe, and almost silent use. Jaguar, formally known as S S Cars, was so impressed with the tools that they supplied a Copper Rawhide hammer in each of the toolkits with each car they made. That same type of hammer is still their best-selling range to this day.
The development of the Thor range continued with the introduction of the Thorace Dead Blow range. Split Head Hammers, Super Plastic Mallets, Solid Copper Mallets, and Solid Brass mallets were also introduced.
The company has been awarded BS 5750 Quality Assurance accreditation, known today as ISO9001:2015.
Thor remains family owned. Family members have joined the board as generations move on. They have exported to over 80 countries, however they have not forgotten some of the original hammers and mallets which gave them great success in the 1930’s. Their Hide Mallets and Faces are basically produced from the same raw material and the same methods original workers used in the early trials nearly 90 years ago.
Why not try them out for yourself…….
