Page History: A Brief History of Yager/K2000 Planers

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Page Revision: 2008/06/20 17:20

I intended for this narrative to expand on the information we have for K-Line planers. It’s also about Richard Kneisley, and a network small industrial manufacturers in and around Toledo, Ohio, many of whom have gone out of business or evolved with the times. My curiosity about Kneisley Electric Company began when I bought a Yager planer in March 2007. Publication reprints on the .com site and discussions here provided a little information. What was known was that these planers were sold or badged by at least four different companies, Kneisley Electric Company in Toledo, Foster Manufacturing Co. in Buffalo, NY, Montgomery Wards and Astro Wood Planer Co., Bristol Conn. Later I learned that Freeman Supply in Toledo sold the K2000 as a M7A precision planer. The smaller 10” planer was made as both a Yager and a K2000 (A2000 by Astro) both basically the same design with some differences in casting.

A Google search for Kneisley Electric Co. (KECO) listed it as a manufacturer of motion picture equipment formerly in Toledo and now located in Iola, Kansas. The folks in Iola had no knowledge of Yager or K-Line planers. A few pages deeper in the list of Google hits for KECO, I found a paragraph mentioning the late Garrison Kneisley as a donor to a University of Toledo scholarship fund and that he work for his family business - Kneisley Electric Company. Another search for Kneisleys living in Toledo found Robert Kneisley, an investment advisor. I blindly emailed him and asked if he knew any information about the Yager and KECO. To my surprise he responded saying “Yes, the firm did manufacture the Yager planer line” and he gave me his phone number. Bob was a tremendous help. He and his brothers Garrison, David and Tom as well as a sister, all worked at some point for their father Richard Kneisley and KECO. Bob was the youngest and suggested I talk to older brother Tom Kneisley to get more information. Tom, using his fathers laboratory notebooks and personal recollections, provided most of the following information.

More to come...