July 19, 1998
Upper manufacturer on the cutting edge ... since 1912
By Carol
Bogart
Correspondent
It began as such a simple thing.
In the late 1800s, an Upper Sandusky mail carrier named James Caldwell needed a way to cut twine quickly as he bundled mail during 10-minute whistle stops.
His pocket knife kept getting lost as he bounced along aboard the mail train.
Caldwell decided what he needed was a little knife that would fit right on his finger, so he invented one. And thus began what is now Upper's oldest manufacturer.
The Handy Twine Knife Company patented Caldwell's little knife in 1912. Today, boxes of 12, sized the same as rings, are shipped all over the world.
Last year, a million finger knives, priced at $1 each, were shipped throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and assorted European nations.
The handy little gadget can quickly cut through twine, ribbon, plastic strapping, wire or cardboard. The company name, but no phone number, is stamped on each aluminum finger ring.
At the turn of the century, Caldwell was selling his knives for a quarter each to other mail carriers. By 1912, the finger knife had become so popular that he needed help and took on two partners.
Brian Caldwell, four generations removed from the inventor and company founder, says the business has come down through his and two other families for the last 100 years. Today, sales support five families.
Handy Twine has been in business so long that sometimes, Brian says, people interested in the product send letters addressed to: Handy Twine Co., Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
Brian says people see the name stamped on the ring and track them down. It's how much of the company's new business is generated.
With no retail outlets, Brian still does all the books ''by hand. Maybe someday we'll get a computer,'' he says, chuckling, ''but maybe not. Everybody (with computers) worries about how to deal with the year 2000. It'll be just another day for us. Won't faze us a bit.''
Brian's dad, Robert, retired in May. Four years ago, Brian and his wife, Nancy, assumed much of the business end of Handy Twine.
Brian and Nancy left behind thriving careers in Akron to come ''help out.'' Brian says at first the adjustment to rural life was tough. Now they've learned to love a business that allows them to knock off early ''and take our daughters swimming.''
Fifty percent of Handy Twine is controlled by the Caldwell family. Descendants of early partners are Brian's present-day partners. Lynn Getz and Selma Tschantz each control 25 percent. None of whom, Brian says, ''would sell you the stock for any amount of money.''
John Tschantz, grandson of an early partner, left behind his career as a Detroit, Mich., physician to help mother Selma with the assembly operation at their horse farm outside Nevada, Ohio.
Getz, at his home in rural Upper, bends the aluminum and does the stamping. Two Getz sons are not currently involved in the family business.
Whether his own girls will one day take an interest, Brian says, he doesn't know. He didn't at their age. But when his father called four years ago and spelled out how much he could make working hours of his own choosing, Caldwell promptly closed up the wholesale produce company he owned in Canton. Nancy left a job working at Akron City Hospital.
Of her current job helping husband Brian box and ship out orders of finger knives, Nancy says, laughing, ''It's hard to explain to people what you do for a living.''
The business generates ''five or six new clients a week,'' Caldwell says, even though it doesn't advertise, use salesmen or hire distributors.
Handy Twine's biggest client is the U.S. government, although Brian says, ''You might go two years without hearing from them, and then they buy 100,000 knives or more.''
Unlike some people, Brian says his own father has adjusted to retirement well.
For the time being, Brian and Nancy commute 20 minutes each way from Marion.
As for the future, Brian does have one wish. He'd like to
see his great-grandpa's first finger knife displayed in the
Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.