DOWEL PIN

In the 1930’s, Mr. Katz opened a small dowel manufacturing plant on the goldfields of Johannesburg, South Africa. The business grew and in 1956 he sold the dowel rounding and sanding machines to Mr. Sanderson who relocated the business to Waltloo, Pretoria and called it Pretoria Dowel Manufacturers. Initially the logs were sourced from government sawmills, cut into boards, airdried and cut it into squares before rounding into broom handles for Academy Brush, Rand Broom & Brush and Leonard Broom & Brush (which was later sold to Addis). In 1972 a fire destroyed the factory, and it took about six months to rebuild before production could recommence. Eventually it was decided to buy spindle molders as well as tool & cutter grinding machines and so they started manufacturing their own tooling, which resulted in the rapid expansion of Pretoria Dowel Manufacturers.