Council Tool Company is a family-owned and operated business based in Lake Waccamaw, North Carolina. The company was founded in 1886 by John Pickett Council, a turpentine producer and farmer in Bladen County, North Carolina. The company’s earliest product line featured tools used in the naval store’s industry. When the naval store’s industry began to wane, the company reacted by diversifying its product line.
The company grew during the early decades of the twentieth century, surviving the Great Depression, two World Wars, and a devastating fire that destroyed much of the manufacturing plant. As of 2015, the company’s full line of professional products included axes, picks, mauls, mattocks, striking tools, shrubbing tools, digging tools, wood-splitting tools, forged bars, C-clamps and a variety of specialty tools.
Council Tool Company was founded in 1886 by John Pickett Council, a turpentine producer in Bladen County, North Carolina. Dissatisfied with the quality of tools available, Council decided to make his own, and soon began selling them to his friends and neighbors. These tools were used for turpentine production, an important component in building and maintaining wooden ships. Council’s tools spread throughout the naval stores industry in the coastal regions of southeastern North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
In the 1950s the company began to focus more on hardware and drop forging markets due to the decline in use of gum naval stores and turpentine tools. In 1955 the company began modernizing its production equipment and machinery. In 1970 a fire destroyed most of the manufacturing facilities, however the company quickly recovered. Subsequently, Council Tool Company’s product line has included tools for forestry applications, fire fighting, law enforcement, and landscaping, as well as custom-built tools. Products have been shipped throughout the continental states and internationally.
According to lib.ncsu.edu; counciltool.com. Source of photos: internet
