Husky is a line of hand tools,

pneumatic tools A pneumatic tool, air tool, air-powered tool or pneumatic-powered tool is a type of power tool, driven by compressed air supplied by an air compressor. Pneumatic tools can also be driven by compressed carbon dioxide () stored in small cylinders a ...

, and tool storage products. Though founded in 1924, it is now best known as the

house brand A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

The Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

, where it is exclusively sold. Its hand tools are manufactured for Home Depot by Stanley Black & Decker,

Western Forge Western Forge was an American manufacturing company. The company manufactured hand tools that were sold under other brands, including private-label brands such as Craftsman and Husky. It was a subsidiary of Ideal Industries. The company was t ...

, Apex Tool Group, and Iron Bridge Tools. Its slogan is "The toughest name in tools." Home Depot also carries a higher end line of tools marked Husky Pro. Husky hand tools were formerly manufactured exclusively in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

but are now largely made in China and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. All Husky hand tools have a lifetime warranty. In the past, Home Depot had a program offering consumers an exchange of their broken

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

Craftsman or other brand of hand tool for a comparable Husky tool at no charge. This program has since been discontinued.

History

Husky Wrench was founded in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

on January 29, 1924 by Sigmund Mandl, who had immigrated to the

from

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. By 1928, Husky had established a significant collaboration with the J.H. Williams Tool Group, with Williams distributing Husky wrenches in its mechanic's tool sets. In January 1929, the Husky name was sold to the Olsen Manufacturing Company of

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

. The company relocated to Kenosha and changed its name to the Husky Corporation. Mandl went on to work for Blackhawk Manufacturing of Milwaukee. Sometime before 1932, the Husky name was again sold, this time to the New Britain Machine Company of New Britain, Connecticut, which was purchased by

Litton Industries Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States named after inventor Charles Litton Sr. During the 1960s, the company began acquiring many unrelated firms and became one of the largest conglomerates in the United States. A ...

in the 1970s. When Litton dissolved its hand tools division in the 1980s, it sold the Husky brand (and other assets, including the Blackhawk brand) to National Hand Tool. The

Stanley Works Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a Fortune 500 American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware and provider of security products. Headquartered in the greater Hartford city of New Britain, ...

acquired the Husky brand with its acquisition in 1986 of National Hand Tool. In October 1992, Stanley began supplying the Husky brand exclusively to

, and sometime later transferred the rights to the name to Home Depot.

Budget brands

Home Depot's Workforce brand of tools was a budget brand slotted below Husky in quality and cost. It has largely been phased out and replaced by the HDX brand of tools and supplies, introduced in 2012. These brands do not have lifetime warranties as Husky tools do.

Gallery

Image:Western Forge Husky Pro screwdrivers.jpg, Husky Pro

screwdriver A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver has been repla ...

s. Image:Husky adjustable wrench.jpg, A modern Husky adjustable wrench. Image:Husky tool set.jpg, Modern, economy toolset made for Home Depot by Iron Bridge Tool Works.

References

External links

Husky Tools web site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Husky (Tools) American brands Store brands Stanley Black & Decker brands Tool manufacturing companies of the United States Tool manufacturing companies of China The Home Depot

History

Budget brands

Gallery

See also

References

External links