Our story began with one person. The man whose name appears on every product we’ve ever made and who set our future in motion: our Original Pro, Raymond DeWalt.

Raymond began his training building wagon wheels with his dad, John, in Pennsylvania. He saw the opportunity to do more, and to do it more safely, more efficiently. In the early 1920s, he invented and patented the Wonder-Worker, an adjustable radial arm electric saw. Raymond later remarked about the necessity that inspired his invention: "The president of the company wouldn't let me increase our payroll, so I simply had to get more work out of the men we had. … You see, in every shop or construction position I have ever had, the question of high costs had been dinned into my ears."

Saving the user from tedious, backbreaking labor, the tool could accomplish 29 different cutting operations without significantly changing the setup, thus revolutionizing productivity and profitability on the jobsite.

The Wonder-Worker was the full trade solution of its day—it could do diagonal and cross cuts, bevels and compound bevels, tenons and dadoes, and could rip, route, shape, sand, grind and bore.

As an inventor and machine shop educator, Raymond came up with solution after solution to improve the jobsite experience.

Rugged innovation was his signature, and he believed in passing on his knowledge to the next generation. As a trades teacher for the National Youth Administration and at Mechanicsburg High School, he equipped young tradespeople with the drive and skills to build the future.