anvilsteve wrote:
Funny I've heard that from someone before...

Steve Kraus in gray, deletia

Moving Simonds to Columbia was definately done to keep costs down and stay competitive.

Nonsense. Mustad's move to Columbia was made solely to increase profits and the move was made with a multinational's typical disregard for Simonds' work force.

I find it strange when I talk to farriers that complain about the high costs of farrier supplies and then complain when the company does cost cutting moves, that they don't approve of.

The "high cost of farrier supplies" is directly related to the avarice of a multinational corporation. Can you think of any multinational that has an effective monopoly on farrier supplies and fits that description? I can.

You think you know all the answers? It's not as simple as you think. It is not just labor costs, but governmental regs. that drive companies overseas.

Child labor laws, safety regulations, environmental laws, and similar stuff can affect a multinational's bottom line. We can't have that.

Remember in the early 80's when there was not a sharp rasp to be found at any price?

Nossir, I don't remember not being able to find a sharp rasp at the time and I was shoeing horses every day. On the other hand, I do recall the orwellian newspeak that was foisted off on the American farrier when a certain multinational corporation effectively cornered the market on horseshoe nails, then increased the price per nail with a propaganda campaign that attempted to convince farriers we were getting a good deal by their packaging nails by the piece instead of by the pound. Of course, nails were still being packaged by the pound, but we simple farriers weren't supposed to be able to figure out that we were being gouged. Can you recall the name of that company?

The EPA banned a critical compound used for sharpening and it was a while before a good substitute could be found.

Since you brought it up, please specify the "critical compound" and state why you feel the EPA's banning of the substance was not in the interest of the public.

Anyway, Mustad is not likely to acquire anyone else at this point. Our goal has always been to offer a complete line of quality supplies and tools. Isn't that what we all need to do our jobs?

Tell it like it is: Mustad's is a multinational corporation and their only goal is to make a profit. Not just a little profit, but as much profit as is possible, without consideration for such bothersome niceties as the workers who make their products, the environment in which they're made, or the consumer who uses them. Acquiring Simonds - then moving the operation to a Third World country with cheap labor, no effective labor laws, and no effective environmental regulations - is the result of a multinational's avarice, it sure as hell wasn't the result of any corporate desire to "produce quality supplies and tools."

I was going to say something similar but Mr Stovall beat me to it and as usual I think much better than I could have.

I too had no problem with the American made rasps back in the early '80s. They were fine.

The worst ones I had ever seen for inconsistency were relatively recent and made by-you guessed it-MUSTAD!!!!

I've had 2 of them. 1 was a free sample given to me at a convention. For some reason those give aways are always the best rasps we'll ever use by whatever company. So that one was serviceable.

Then I used one last summer which was the worst POS I ever used. File side was like sandpaper. Wouldn't cut at all. I barely got one horse done with it and threw it away.
George

Today I rcd a fax,

Australian Horseshoe Nail Company is now part of the Mustad Hoofcare Group.

Anyone wishing a copy contact me 413 863 2443 or e mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Regards

Ray Steele

Ray,
I guess that answers your question anyway.

In addition to the price gouging that this allows, has anyone considered that when a BCCI or Enron type scandal occurs and this company gets run into the ground, where does this leave people like us?

It has the potential to devastate our industry when all tools, shoes, and especially nails are all produced by the same corporate raiding company.
George

Tom,
Its not the child labor laws, and regular saftey issues that are expensive its the 100's and thousands of permits and ludicrous fee's charged to operate a business. As it stands a corporation or large company could never use harsh labor or child labor in america this day in age. The population would not stand for it regardless of laws. What these laws in fact do is keep a responsible 13 year old kid from getting an after school or summer job down at the feed store or the like. No wonder a lot of kids have nothing to do these days and have seem to have not much of a sense of responsibility.

As for government action for the good of the public. Give them an inch they will take you and your neighbors land and give it to a hotel. Just ask those in New London CT.

I remember some lousy rasps in the early 80's. The quality was just inconsistant. For a while there, it seemed like I was always switching brands. That was a long time ago but as I recall I was using diamond, ballota, save edge and somons. There may have been others but I don't remember. I still see some inconsistancy but nowhere near the range that I was seeing back then. These days, I stick with the hellers and just put up with the fact that some are almost too sharp to use and a few just aren't very good. They are, however, the best overall that I've ever used, especially when compared to what I had back then.

As a former and long time manufacturing engineer, I'm sure I could have a real interesting conversation with someone who is familiar with the manufacturing process, controles and testing. Heck, if they made me the right offer, I might even be able to fix it. LOL

Looks like I' ve driven a nail a little close to the quick on some of you guys. As I said, you may think you know all the answers, but you don't. I can't believe you are revisiting the change from weight to unit packing. I proved many times how the farriers were being short changed by Stanscrew/Stanadyne when they produced Capewell nails and sold by weight. Do I have to go over all that again. I suppose you will only believe what you want to, regardless of what I say, even though I was part of that history. Yes, Mustad is a multi-national company. In today's world most companies are that way to be competitive and productive. I wish all products could be made here, but that is not reality at this point. Ray is having products made by the Chicoms, is that OK? Maybe you guys should try to produce a nail or rasp. Mustad gives more back to the industry then any other company in the form of clinics and sponsorships. They have also stepped up many times when I have asked them to help farriers in need and stuff that you don't know about. It is easy to believe what you want, when you don't know the facts. I have been with them over 30 years and I know the facts.

The critical compound was potassium ferrocyanide and there was a problem due to the banning of it, maybe you were lucky to find rasps that were made before the change.

George, you are right, the Mustad brand rasps were not good. You can't imagine how long we have tried to produce a good rasp. I 've tested and rejected hundreds of them. Hence, Simonds was acquired because that was the only way to gain the technology. You have to understand some companies might have disappeared if not acquired by Mustad, like Capewell and Cooper.

Steve Kraus

SlowShoe in gray, deletia

It's not the child labor laws, and regular saftey issues that are expensive its the 100's and thousands of permits and ludicrous fee's charged to operate a business.

I'll concede that Big Brother often pokes his nose where it's not needed, but I used child labor laws to illustrate that fact that multinationals favor those Third World workplace environments that either do not have, or do not enforce, child labor laws and similar niceties. Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, Indonesia, China, Viet Nam, Pakistan, etc. Think Wranglers, Deltas, Nikes, Hathaway, Milwaukee, and similar stuff.

As it stands a corporation or large company could never use harsh labor or child labor in america this day in age.

Multinationals don't routinely violate child labor laws in the United States, but their use of child labor in other countries is well docµmented. On the other hand, many (most?) multinational service industries operating in America that rely on unskilled labor routinely violate immigration laws by hiring illegal aliens, a practice that increases our trade imbalance, takes jobs away from American citizens, and erodes our tax base. Congress could stem the flood of illegal aliens tomorrow by making it a felony to hire anyone without a valid social security card - but, that'll never happen because that would adversely affect the bottom line of many multinational corporations that depend on cheap labor with no benefits.

The population would not stand for it regardless of laws. What these laws in fact do is keep a responsible 13 year old kid from getting an after school or summer job down at the feed store or the like.

Around here, any kid who wants to work, can work. It's hay season and everybody is shorthanded. Agricultural is a different deal.

No wonder a lot of kids have nothing to do these days and have seem to have not much of a sense of responsibility.

Hot damn, we've found common ground! I think the fellow who invented handheld video games oughta be drawn and quartered and his head hung on a pike at the city gates. Damn, but I hate them things! One of my grandurchins brought one to our place; alas, the game is no longer functional.

As for government action for the good of the public. Give them an inch they will take you and your neighbors land and give it to a hotel. Just ask those in New London CT.

I don't need to go up Nawth to find an example of that particular kind of robbery, the city fathers in Freeport, Texas are trying to use eminent domain to condemn private waterfront property (a cannery) in order to sell it for development (condos), thereby increasing the city's tax base. However, I had in mind the kinds of laws that protect the citizenry from businesses who want to dump their toxic waste upstream from the water supply and similar corporate sins - I can think of quite a few well-publicized examples here in Texas - the lack of fail safe procedures that led to the explosion at the BP plant in Pasadena, the only underwater Superfund site, a gift from the folks at Formosa Plastics, the many Superfund sites that exist in and around Houston, courtesy the oil bidness, etc.

Multinational corporations have been kinda hard on America, especially here in Texas.

Mr Kraus,
Why in the world couldn't your buddies at Mustad leave the American operations running? They did so with Capewell.

This destruction of our industrial base and machine tooling capacity will come back to bite us in the butt as a country.

My apologies to Miss Joni Mitchell but "We dont know what we got till it's gone, we paved paradise to put up a parking lot"
George

Tom,
I think we're basically poking at the same fire with different sticks.

"Remember in the early 80's when there was not a sharp rasp to be found at any price? The EPA banned a critical compound used for sharpening and it was a while before a good substitute could be found.

Steve Kraus

Anyway, Mustad is not likely to acquire anyone else at this point. Our goal has always been to offer a complete line of quality supplies and tools. Isn't that what we all need to do our jobs?[/QUOTE]"




Hi Steve,

By mentioning the above"critical" but banned in the USA compound, are you saying that, that compound will be used in the manufacture of Simonds rasps by Mustad in South America?

Regards

Ray Steele

Hi Ray-

I am not sure about that yet, but I did mention that info. to them. I originally got that info. directly from a guy who worked for Nicholson.

Steve Kraus

G'Day Mr. Kraus

As per U.S. Customs & Border Protection Laws

Country-Of-Origin Marking:
U.S. customs laws require that each article produced abroad and imported into the United States be marked with the English name of the country of origin to indicate to the ultimate purchaser in the United States what country the article was manufactured or produced in. These laws also require that marking be located in a conspicuous place as legibly, indelibly and permanently as the nature of the article permits.

Mr. Kraus, will all rasps entering the United States that were manufactured by Mustad in Colombia be appropriately marked "COLOMBIA", as per the above stated U.S. Customs law??? (Not on the box, but actually on each and every rasp)

It is my understanding that the Colombian made rasps that have been imported into the USA to date, are NOT stamped "COLOMBIA".

Is this information accurate??

If so, why is Mustad disregarding the laws of the United States of America.

Best Regards

anvilsteve wrote:
Ok, let me get this straight. You point your finger at a company and Mustad buys them. Is that what your saying?

Tell Mustad this for me. Tell them I'll save them shipping costs as well. Peddle them in their damned banana republic! I will not buy them or anything else from that company.
George