Craftsman Restorer Tool
Craftsman Restorer Tool | Robert Kundel Jr. invented a power tool called The Restorer at his business in Vienna. Three years after hitting the market, it is now sold under the Craftsman brand.
Friday, December 20th 2019, 8:29 AM EST
The locally-invented Restorer is now being sold under the Craftsman brand.
You’d never realize it as you’re walking down the power tool aisles at Lowe’s, but one of those tools was designed right here in the Valley.
It’s called “The Restorer,” and three years after it first hit the market, it has a new look.
By day, the tool’s inventor, Robert Kundel Junior, is the COO of the crane division at Kundel Industries in Vienna. Many of his nights have a DIFFERENT focus.
“I tell everybody I’m the world’s smallest power tool company because I’m the only one technically employed with Wellington,” said Kundel.
For more than three years, he and his wife have devoted a lot of their free time to this tool that sands, strips, and textures a variety of surfaces.
“I haven’t actually taken any funds personally in all these three years of producing the products,” said Kundel. “It’s been going into the bank, saving it, buying inventory to grow the business, grow the company.”
It seems to be working. After being sold under the Porter Cable and Black & Decker brands, it’s now part of the Craftsman line, a big boost that also brought a few changes to the tool.
“Craftsman has a different set of standards that they get built by versus a Porter Cable unit. Their standards requested a more rubbery cord and a more powerful motor,” said Kundel.
And now, just a couple miles down the road from where he invented it, the Craftsman Restorer tool is on the shelves at Lowe’s selling for $99 just in time for the holidays.
It’s also being sold internationally under a couple of other brand names, and that’s just the beginning.
“Right now it’s in Greece and Crete under Batavia brand. It will also be in France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal by the end of the year,” said Kundel, who also noted that the tool is taking off in the UK with distribution expected in other countries soon as well.
Kundel says part of the international appeal is from the ability to restore older structures instead of simply replacing them.
The plans are even bigger for the future as more and more people start to pick up on the versatility of the tool.
“I actually plan to launch my own brand, hopefully, next year,” said Kundel. “It’s going to be very similar to the Porter Cable brand, but I’ll be able to sell it directly because currently, I can’t sell these products directly. I have to sell them through distribution. I want to expand the product line, the amount of rollers, and the different attachments you can get with the product. A lot of times, you can’t do that through distribution because they only want to pick up certain things.”
All of it, with an ultimate goal in mind that actually has nothing to do with the tool itself. The plan is to build a pastoral retreat center someday.
“It’s a long-term goal. It’s probably going to cost me about 10-15 million dollars, and I’ll probably need about 300 acres, somewhere around there,” said Kundel.
A higher purpose for a tool that already has plenty of purpose on your workbench.
The Restorer and its roller heads are on sale right now at Lowe’s. You can learn more about the tool, the story behind it, and the ideas for the retreat center on Kundel’s website: imarestorer.com.
The tool has a fun backstory as well. Originally, Kundel invented it to simply solve a rust removal problem in his company’s shop. Now, it’s evolved a couple of times into the current Craftsman version.
You can still purchase the Porter Cable version at a variety of stores as well, including online through Home Depot. One of the packages includes the Craftsman Restorer tool and a variety of rollers as a package deal for $154.49.