An example of the first production ‘Workmate’ Mk1 combined vice and workbench sold, by Mate Tools Ltd, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, UK, 1968-72.

In June 1968, Mate Tools was formed in Hoddesdon. The trademark Workmate was coined, the welded steel frame was replaced by cast aluminium, and the third clamping bar was abandoned in favour of one stationary and one moving jaw. The small vice could finally be dispensed with. Patent applications were filed at this point.

Workmate was first launched in this form at the DIY exhibition at Olympia in August 1968. In the two weeks of the exhibition orders were placed for 320 Workmates. David Johnson, Editor of DIY Magazine put his name to an advert for Workmate saying ‘I have no doubt that within just a few years from now, Workmate will become as valuable as the electric drill’.

From 1968 to 1972 Mate Tools sold 25,000 Workmates by mail order, with a quarter of the cost of each workmate being reinvested in advertising. Production doubled each year for three years, until in 1971 Black & Decker asked to reopen negotiations for a licence.