The Bahco

The history  of BAHCO  began in the 19th century. In 1862, a small steel foundry was established in the Swedish city of Sandviken, which marked the beginning of the large company Sandvik. The company quickly became famous for its ability to cast metal of the highest quality, and later established its own production of a wide range of steel products. The first products made from Sandvik steel were fishing tackle. None of the competitors could then produce steel wire of the required hardness and viscosity, and the hook was proudly displayed on the company's logo. By the way, the first trains of the Russian Empire traveled on rails manufactured by Sandvik.

The founder of  BAHCO  is considered to be Johan Peter JOHANSSON. He had a small workshop for repairing agricultural machinery in the city of Enköping, where in addition to repairs he was also involved in inventions. It is Johanson who is credited with inventing the adjustable and pipe wrenches, the boat stove, the triplex lamp and much more.

Bernt August HJORT was a worker, but had outstanding entrepreneurial skills. In 1886, he founded a company in Stockholm for the production of mechanisms and tools. Having met Johansson by chance, he immediately appreciated his talent and offered him to sell his own products under the brand now known throughout the world as BA Hjort & Co., or  BAHCO for short . Today, in the center of Enköping, there is a monument to the inventor, and it is not a bas-relief, but a three-meter adjustable wrench. In the 20th century, the Swedish company firmly took its place as the European leader in the production of band saws and hand tools.

At the end of 1999, the Sandvik concern separated the Sandvik Saws and Tools division into a separate group, Bahco Group AB, and sold it to the American corporation Snap-On, a world leader in the production of hand and mechanized tools, equipment for tool farms, diagnostic software, and various technical solutions, primarily for the automotive industry and the maintenance sector. The annual turnover of this company is $2.5 billion, and the number of employees is more than 14 thousand people worldwide. In 2005, the European divisions of AB Bahco Group were reorganized into the SNA Europe infrastructure (a division of Snap-on Inc. (USA), which supplemented the existing range of professional tools VANSO, Lindstrom, Belzer with new brands - Irazola, Palmera, Acessa, Irimo.

2006 was a significant year for the company. It celebrated 120 years on the professional hand tool market, and it has something to be proud of. Although it is not the company's respectable age that causes a greater sense of pride, but its products, which have brought it fame all over the world.

So what is this tool?

The BAHCO catalog could be used to compile an entire encyclopedia of modern professional hand tools. We will try to provide information only on some of the most prominent representatives of the large BAHCO family.

Adjustable wrenches

Currently, the company produces ergonomic adjustable wrenches made of high-quality forged steel, with induction-hardened and corrosion-protected jaws, still in the city of Enköping. Universal adjustable wrenches 9070P-9073P  can be converted into pipe wrenches by simply turning the movable jaw. The company's new product is the  9031 wrench , created especially for plumbers. Unlike regular adjustable wrenches, these tools have a larger jaw opening of 38 mm and a shorter handle (total length of 218 mm).

 Wood saws 

Universal saws for cutting along and across the grain, saws for cutting plywood, laminate, circular saws, saws with a back, groove saws are manufactured in the north of Sweden in the city of Bolnäs. BAHCO  is the only company that uses the method of force grinding for tooth formation. This allows achieving ideal unevenness of the cutting tips of the teeth along the length of the blade, and as a result, reducing the physical costs of sawing by 20%.

The entire range of hacksaws is divided into three lines of the full range of hand saws - PrizeCut, ProfCut and ergonomic Superior, differing from each other in the shape of the tooth, the thickness and coating of the blade, and the handles.

The Superior series hacksaws have absorbed more than a century of design experience from Swedish engineers. This series has a unique XT tooth geometry (non-set high teeth and set teeth with three sharpening edges, providing a cutting width). Such sharpening increases the sawing efficiency by 20% when sawing across the grain and by 50% when sawing along the grain. The thickened blade with a special polymer coating that protects against corrosion and reduces friction by 40% allows for very precise cutting. The two-component plastic ergonomic handle, which reduces the load on the hands by up to two times, is attached to the blade with three screws. The angle of the handle allows for an even distribution of force along the blade and effective use of its length. As a result, a 150x60 mm beam can be sawn across in seven to eight movements.

Files

The entire range, from sharpening files for chain saws to metalworking files with personal notches, is manufactured at a plant in Portugal. Many years of production experience, modern equipment and the use of high-quality steel allow us to manufacture tools with the BAHCO "quality mark". All files are equipped with ergonomic two-component handles of an asymmetrical shape, covering the shank and the initial part of the working surface. The special shape of the handle makes it possible to determine the correct position of the working part of the file by touch, prevents damage to the hands during work and minimizes muscle strain on the hand.

Pliers - side cutters, flat-nose pliers

All tools in this group are equipped with hardened jaws, some models have cutting edges of a special design for cutting wire, close in hardness to piano wire. The "open" hinge with a reduced distance from the axis of rotation to the cutting zone provides a greater ratio of the lengths of the lever arms and increases the cutting ability. Ergonomic two-component handles made of hard polypropylene with thermoplastic elastomer pads provide excellent gripping conditions.

 Screwdrivers

The tip is made of chrome vanadium steel, completely hardened, chrome-plated and polished. Only the working part remains blackened. The two-component ergonomic handle of a special shape allows, due to the redistribution of gripping forces, to reduce the force expended when screwing by more than 30% compared to traditional screwdrivers. And this is a gain in both time and quality of work

  Bi-metal hacksaw blades, band saws and hole saws

 Why did we combine them into one group? The peculiarity of these tools is the production technology. The bimetallic blade, the basis of hacksaw blades, band and ring saws, is made by welding high-speed wire to a spring steel base using electron beam welding. Due to this, the resulting tool has the flexibility of a spring and the hardness of high-speed steel (65-67 HRC).

In August 2005, the American space shuttle Discovery experienced great difficulties returning from orbit. NASA specialists decided to repair the ship's skin in orbit, in outer space. Astronaut Steve Robinson eliminated defects in the heat-protective coating of the ship's hull using an ordinary hacksaw. The only unusual thing was the bimetallic saw blade, manufactured by  BAHCO . About a million of these blades are produced per week. The company has all the technologies for manufacturing such tools, which are capable of working in the most extreme conditions.

BAHCO has three factories with equipment for bimetal production. One of them is located in Minsk – JV “Bakko Bisov” CJSC.  It is here that band and ring saws are produced.

Hole saws are indispensable for most installation work during construction. This tool allows you to make holes with a diameter of 14 to 210 mm and a depth of up to 38 mm in sheet metal, profiles, pipes, plasterboard, wood and other materials.

Moreover,  BAHCO  is the only transnational company that has placed production with this unique technology in the CIS. There is still no analogue of such production in Eastern Europe.

The secret of a quality tool is simple and complex at the same time. The production of tools by  BAHCO  is based on a program that includes 11 consecutive stages, none of which can be skipped. Designers, doctors, metallurgists and, of course, end users, those who are most interested in getting the ideal tool for the job, are involved in the implementation of these stages.

On average, it takes two to three years to develop and bring to life a tool with the Ergo label. The result of this work by the company is a simple, easy-to-use, safe and extremely effective hand tool.