Brades Tools: The Forge That Armed An Empire Then Lost Its Edge

Brades Tools began as one of the great toolmaking names of the Black Country. Founded by William Hunt and Sons at the Brades Steel Works in Oldbury, the company built its reputation on axes, spades, hoes, chisels, trowels, bayonets and edge tools made from its own steel. For generations, a Brades tool meant a hardened working edge that could survive farms, pits, building sites, battlefields and export markets across the British Empire. This was the forge that armed an empire. Brades tools travelled from British collieries and gardens to tea plantations, sugar-cane fields, military stores and archaeological trenches. Its steel was trusted because it did not simply look strong — it worked when the job depended on it. But the empire, the pits, the farms and the old ironmongers all changed. British manufacturing costs rose, imports took shelf space, the Oldbury works disappeared, and the Brades name was absorbed into larger tool groups. The forge that armed an empire slowly lost its edge. This video tells the rise, decline and survival of Brades Tools — and why old WHS and Brades tools still matter wherever real steel meets real work. #BradesTools #BritishToolHistory #BlackCountryTools