About Us
THE PECK TOOL STORY
For the last 86 years, The Peck Tool Company has been importing fine German woodworking hand tools. Many woodworking professionals are familiar with Rudy Peck, our founder.
Rudolph Peck, “Rudy,” was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1910 and emigrated to New York in 1927. In 1929, while working as a Fuller Brush door-to-door salesman, a woman approached Rudy anxious to sell a German woodworking bench she had recently acquired. She asked Rudy if he knew anyone who might be interested in purchasing such an item. Determined to find a buyer for the woodworking bench, Rudy traveled to a nearby town where he came across a woodworking shop full of German woodworkers. They were delighted to discover German products in the U.S. and thus inquired about the availability of other German tools. And so, The Peck Tool Company was born.
The Depression years forced Rudy to continue westward in search of new customers. In 1931 he made his first of literally hundreds of sales trip across the U.S. in his Model A Ford. Along the way, he established relationships with several woodworking shops. At that time, motels were in the form of “cabin camps” and Rudy would joke that $3 per day was all he needed: $1 for food, $1 for gas, and $1 for lodging. (Yes, this was a long time ago.)
In the 50s, Rudy relocated to Los Angeles, California where he met his wife-to-be, Francelle. Together, with the help of their three children, they continued to foster the family business selling woodworking hand tools. “Quality tools at a fair price” was his motto and this philosophy continued unchanged to the very last day of his life. One of his favorite sayings was, “Arbeit macht das Leben süß,” which loosely translated means, “work makes life sweet.”
Rudy died in June, 1996 at the age of 86. We all miss him dearly.
