In the U.S. we buy power tools from companies such as Bosch, DeWalt, and Milwaukee. But if you lived in Russia, you’d be equally familiar with Interskol – which according to the pie chart on this trade organization’s website is that country’s best-selling brand of power tool. Plenty of more familiar brands are on the list: Makita is in second place, followed by Bosch, DeWalt/ B&D, Hitachi, and Skil. As interesting to me was a German company I had never heard of.
It’s called the SBM Group, and it produces tools under the Stomer, Bort, Defort, and Hander brands. I browsed their catalogs and it confirmed what I’d been told by European carpenters I’d worked with in the past – that in Europe, tradesmen rarely use circular saws, almost never use recip saws, and are in love with jigsaws and anything that drills or cuts concrete.
