Sneeboer’s craft: forging tools

Sneeboer is a family-run business in the Netherlands that has been making garden tools of the highest quality for more than 100 years. Made of stainless steel and hand-forged. 100% craftsmanship! Sneeboer combines craft with innovation. Examples include developing innovative tools to make life easier and reviving forgotten tools. That’s also one of the reasons why we like working with Sneeboer so much. “Sneeboer is a fantastic family business with plenty of common ground with Krepel in terms of craftsmanship and sustainability, for instance”, says Antoon Pelgrim, Sales Manager at Krepel.

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A family-run business with a passion for craft

When the Sneeboer family talks about their profession, you’re listening to 100% passion! Their products are of incredible quality, which is quite logical according to Wilma Peelen and Jaap Sneeboer (the owners of Sneeboer). “We know what we’re doing. I guess you can compare it to a chef, he also knows exactly which ingredients to put in a dish. And so do we. Everything is made and tested in our own “kitchen”.” According to Wilma, the forging of the tools is very much a trick of the trade. “The forges are and always will be the heart of our business. That’s the strength of our tools. Forging isn’t something anyone can start doing just like that, it's a true craft. It takes years for a smith to get the hang of it. You have to know exactly when a scoop has the right hardness, for instance, you have to sense it and that takes experience”, Wilma says.

Diversity in tools across the world

With more than 200 different tools, Sneeboer has a very wide product range. “That’s not so strange”, Wilma explains. “We have an international customer portfolio. There is a lot of diversity in tools in the various countries. And we offer both newly developed tools and tools that have been used for decades, such as the Old Dutch Plant Trowel. It’s a favourite hand tool which we redesigned and which is always used to plant bulbs at Keukenhof (a typically Dutch park full of flowers and highly popular with tourists).”

Popular gifts

The hand tools are the most popular. “They make very nice gifts too. That's why we offer various gift sets, from a children’s set to an exclusive titanium set that was made to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sneeboer in 2013. Krepel Timeless Wooden Packaging takes care of the packaging for these products, among others”, Wilma says.

Collaboration with Krepel

Our collaboration started with the development of a maintenance box, which resulted in a wonderful product. “We deliberately opted for Krepel as the supplier of our wooden packaging”, Wilma says. “Krepel came up with ideas and gave us the opportunity to start out on a small scale. We thought that was really wonderful. The contact we have is also very pleasant, there’s always room for new challenges and they come up with ideas about sustainable applications, for instance. The wooden packaging in itself is a fantastic sustainable choice as customers won’t throw it away but will use it to keep their tools in. And it’s made of FSC wood, which is also mentioned on the packaging. We think it's important for customers to know where our products come from. In the future, we will definitely do more projects with Krepel.”