In the late 1940s this company sold home-shop machinery. We have mainly seen their planers and bandsaws. All of their products were made by someone else. Here is a list of products, where they shipped from, and who made them.
Model |
Description |
Shipped from |
Maker |
4500 |
8" tablesaw |
Providence, R. I. |
Peerless Precision Products Co. |
A-3200 |
12x36 lathe |
Boston, Mass. |
Darra-James Corp. |
B-4000 |
14" band saw |
St. Paul, Minn. |
Bett-Marr Manufacturing |
C-711 |
9" drum / 8" disk sander |
Bridgeport, Conn. |
Darra-James Corp. |
D-6100 |
?" or ¾" shaper |
Sylacauga, Ala. |
J-M Machine Works, Inc. |
D-6000 |
½" shaper |
Sylacauga, Ala. |
J-M Machine Works, Inc. |
F-4700 |
8" radial arm saw |
Port Austin, Mich. |
Flexsaw Co. |
H-4400 |
8" tablesaw |
Buffalo, N. Y. |
Henry Power Tools Ltd. |
H-4300 |
8" tablesaw |
Buffalo, N. Y. |
Henry Power Tools Ltd. |
H-4100 |
12" bandsaw |
Buffalo, N. Y. |
Henry Power Tools Ltd. |
H-3300 |
9x34 gapbed lathe |
Buffalo, N. Y. |
Henry Power Tools Ltd. |
H-1300 |
18" scrollsaw |
Buffalo, N. Y. |
Henry Power Tools Ltd. |
H-5300 |
12" drill press |
Buffalo, N. Y. |
Henry Power Tools Ltd. |
H-6300 |
½" shaper |
Buffalo, N. Y. |
Henry Power Tools Ltd. |
H-8300 |
4" jointer |
Buffalo, N. Y. |
Henry Power Tools Ltd. |
K-2000 |
12¾" planer |
Hudson, Mich. |
Kneisley Electric Co. |
K-2100 |
10" planer |
Hudson, Mich. |
Kneisley Electric Co. |
R-6200 |
½" shaper |
Detroit, Mich. |
Barron Tool Co., Inc. |
S-4600 |
Spee-D-Kut 12" tablesaw |
Long Beach, Cal. |
Spee-D-Kut Products, Inc. |
W-4900 |
12" tablesaw |
Waterbury, Conn. |
Toolkraft Corp. |
The products used the Foster Line name except for the planers which used K-Line.
Address (1949 Popular Mechanics): 247 Delaware Ave, Buffalo 2, New York. A Foster toolbox has the address as "One Kinsey Avenue, Buffalo 17, N. Y."
Information Sources
- The list of makers was compiled with assistance from Bob Holcombe, who reported the following.
According to Tom Kneisley, Everett Foster was a basic manufacturer’s representative. Tom said, “Everett Foster was Foster Manufacturing. He marketed and sold the planers (and other machines), and had nothing to do with their manufacture". He rebadged as Foster the Darra James 12” cabinet saw and the Spee-D-Kut 12” tilting arbor. Foster also rebadged a 4” jointer, 12” bandsaw and 8” table saw all manufactured by Henry Power Tools.
Tom said Everett purchased a new Cadillac every year and logged at least 100,000 miles on each. Seems like Foster started marketing products heavy in 1947 and pretty much vanished by 1953.
- Brian Kachadurian pointed out that the sander sold as the Foster Model C-711 was also sold by Montgomery Ward with the Powr-Kraft model-number prefix TCE.