History & Progress Report

This “Progress Report” has been prepared especially for you—by us. All too many reports of this nature are created not by the companies themselves but by their advertising agencies or public relations firms.  As a result, many such brochures tend to exaggerate the truth, often present a ‘corporate image’ that adds gilding and gloss to the simple unvarnished facts. You want to know just how we operate, something about our facilities, our personnel, our products, and the steps that brought us to this point in our business history.

Sigma Tool, a Tool/Die, and Metal Stamping facility, and Alpha Industries, a Wholesale Dist. Of furniture hardware formed a working relationship in 1956 to manufacture and distribute furniture construction hardware. In 1957 Sigma Tool and Alpha Industries decided to join forces and moved to 96 Crockford Blvd. in Scarborough, a 6000 square foot facility.

Herb Leistner (Sigma Tools Principal Shareholder) and Al Hertz (Alpha Industries Principal Shareholder) began manufacturing and distributing t-nuts, leg brackets, headboard brackets, etc. to the furniture industry. Then in 1959 Al began selling bulk nails manufactured by the Ergon Nail Co. Al showed Herb, Ergon’s machine for making bulk nails and another new idea resulted: The manufacture of T-Nails glued together in strips in one continuous operation, to be fired from a gun, like staples… a modest beginning. Herb and Al became partners and founded Falcon Fasteners Reg’d in 1960. This was, hopefully, but unknowingly, only a stone, compared to the foundation they were to lay.

Equipped with an ancient nail making machine that produced only standard bulk nails, Walter Leistner (Herb’s younger brother) was given the challenge to successfully modify this machine to make and collate T-Nails. Find a gun that could drive the finished product was the next problem.

Al wrote to a friend in Chicago for help, and was sent the yellow pages of the Chicago phone directory, that dealt with nails and staples. Falcon let its fingers do the walking and immediately sent out letters in search of the gun we needed.

Paslode responded; they had a staple gun which could be modified for Falcon’s purposes. Al and Herb arranged a meeting in Chicago.

Falcon and Paslode agreed that Falcon would manufacture and distribute its own T-Nails, as well as Paslode’s T-Nailer in Canada. The Paslode Company would purchase its T-Nail requirements from Falcon. This was the turning point for Falcon.

By 1963, Falcon Fasteners Reg’d had adopted the new name of Paslode Canada Reg’d for all Canadian sales. We were now manufacturing and/or distributing all of Paslode’s tools and fasteners in Canada with Sigma Tool producing the machines to make the fasteners.

In late 1963, Sigma and Falcon moved to their present location; later expanding the premises to its current area of approximately 115,000 square feet.

Falcons product line today includes clipped head nails, coil nails, angle brads as well as finish and regular head t-nails. We collate our fasteners using mylar, wire weld, paper tape and plastic. A new modern wire drawing facility ensures a quality wire supply.

The necessity to offer a full line of products was recognized and in 1988 Specialty Nail Company of Fayetteville, Arkansas was founded with Tom Willcutt as President and shareholder, to manufacture and collate all nails with plastic collation. Together Falcon & Specialty are able to supply the industry with every type of collated nail and brad required today. Bright steel, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, brass, spiral wire, hot dip galvanized nails are all available.

After many years of growth and improvements, the maturity of our industry made clear the need for Falcon and Paslode to separate. In 1992, Paslode Canada was sold to I.T.W. Paslode and once again Falcon became a totally independent manufacturer of its own branded products.

In 1999, Specialty Nail Company had outgrown the building in Fayetteville and made the move to its current location just down the road in Prairie Grove, Arkansas. This allowed Specialty Nail to double its size to 80,000 sq ft.

As in 1956, our goal is to supply our customer’s needs with superior quality products, service and reliability. We have come a long way from a two-man partnership, and a dream. Hard work, determination and perseverance are a big part of our success, but without our many friends, customers, and employees, we couldn’t have made it.

If we appear boastful at times it is only because we have an enviable story to tell you. We have bared all and ask only one small indulgence before you proceed with reading this report. If you happen to be in some competitive line, please forget what you see here, we want to stay in business.

Let us look forward to a future of successful, enjoyable business and continued good health.