CNC Brand Profile

Scotchman and the Cattle Oiler That Named an Ironworker Company

Scotchman builds ironworkers in a South Dakota town of fewer than 800 people, and the company's name comes from a cattle oiler. Here is how a junkyard owner's thrifty idea became an ironworker company, and what to check on a used one.

Scotchman at a Glance

A Junkyard, a Cattle Oiler and a Name

Art Kroetch bought an auto junkyard in Philip, South Dakota, in 1956. Out of salvaged drive shafts he built a cattle oiler: a burlap wrap soaked in insecticide that cattle rubbed against to treat themselves. Industrial Machinery Digest, writing for the company's 50th anniversary, says Kroetch called the method "pretty thrifty," and the name Scotchman stuck. He sold more than 60,000 of them.

When the insecticide was taken off the market, the business turned to gates, chutes, corrals and stock racks. Along the way the company was called the Wick-O-Matic Automatic Oiler Company, then Little Scotchman Industries, before dropping the "Little" in the late 1970s.

1967: The Ironworker

The turn came from a newspaper ad. Kroetch saw that a Minnesota man had invented a hydraulic ironworker, agreed on a price for the patent and brought the machine to Philip. In 1967, six full-time employees built the first Scotchman Industries ironworker.

An ironworker does several fabrication jobs in one frame: it punches holes, shears flat bar, shears angle and notches, all driven by one hydraulic system. For a fab shop, that replaces a punch press, a shear and a notcher with one machine and one footprint.

Art Kroetch died on July 3, 2007. The 5014-CM ironworker finished that day sits in the lobby in Philip, covered in employee signatures.

How a Scotchman Ironworker Is Laid Out

Scotchman lists the features of its ironworkers in the same order a fabricator uses them:

Two design points show up again and again in how Scotchman describes its machines. The punch station sits outboard, on the outside of the machine, so larger plate can reach the punch. And the Dual Operator models let two people work at once. Scotchman says the front pedal runs the punch and tool table and the rear pedal runs the notcher and flat bar shear, with no loss of power. Jerry Kroetch told Industrial Machinery Digest in 2022 that a tool table changeover takes two or three minutes.

The Lineup in Shop Language

Scotchman's current ironworkers run from 45 to 150 tons:

The model numbers appear to encode the machine. On the 9012-24M, Scotchman's spec sheet lists a 90 ton punch station, a 12 inch throat and a 24 inch flat bar shear, and the 6509-24M appears to follow the same pattern at 65 tons. Not every model follows that pattern, and we found no Scotchman statement explaining the letters, so read the spec plate rather than decoding the name.

For scale, Scotchman lists the 9012-24M as a single-operator, four-station machine at 5 hp and 4,204 lb shipping weight, punching a 1-1/8 inch hole through 1 inch plate and shearing 6 x 6 x 1/2 inch angle.

Cold Saws From a Dutch Partnership

In 1983 Scotchman added circular cold saws, starting by distributing saws from BEWO of Holland. In 1988 it began building them through a joint venture with BEWO, and in 1993 it bought out BEWO's interest. Industrial Machinery Digest reported that Scotchman describes itself as the largest manufacturer of circular cold saws in North America.

The current saw line includes the CPO 275 and CPO 350 manual and semi-automatic cold saws, a non-ferrous CPO 350, automatic and CNC saws, and upcut saws, along with measuring and stop systems. For why a cold saw runs slow on purpose, see our Machining Monday on the cold saw.

85 Miles From the Nearest Stoplight

Philip had a population of 779 when Industrial Machinery Digest visited in 2022. Jerry Kroetch, Art's son and the company's president, told the magazine he has to drive 85 miles east or west to reach the nearest stoplight. The company employed 69 people then, many of them long-term.

Scotchman says every ironworker is designed and built in Philip by American craftsmen. That claim is specific to the ironworkers: the same 50th anniversary article noted that pipe notchers and upcut saws were imported from Europe.

2023: SMX Industrial Solutions

In September 2023, Scotchman Industries and Steelmax Tools combined to form the SMX Industrial Solutions group of companies, with investment from Emko Capital, a private equity firm focused on American industrial companies. Scotchman now describes itself as part of SMX Industrial Solutions. The ironworkers are still built in Philip.

Tooling for Machines Built Decades Ago

For a used buyer, this is the most useful thing about Scotchman. Its tooling page lists punches and dies not just for current models but for machines long out of production, including the 207, 314, 424, the 4014 series, the 5014CM and 5014TM, the 5075, 6012, 7012, 7575 and 9075, and older FI and DO models. Scotchman says it stocks hundreds of punches and dies, keys its shaped punches for alignment and can make custom shapes.

Scotchman also sells its own demo and used machines, and a TractorByNet forum thread on ironworkers reports that used Scotchman units hold their value well.

What to Check When Buying a Used Scotchman

Read the plate. Model, tonnage, throat and serial number. Call Scotchman with the serial to confirm the build.

Check the hydraulics. Look for leaks at the cylinders, hoses and fittings, and listen to the pump under load.

Check punch and die alignment. Look for chipped or mushroomed punches and confirm the stripper and hold-down work.

Check the shear blades. Look at blade wear and the blade gap on the flat bar and angle shears.

Count the tooling. Find out which punches, dies and tool table accessories come with the machine.

Confirm the guards and controls. Every guard and foot pedal should be present and working, on both stations of a Dual Operator machine.

Confirm the power. Voltage and phase, and whether your shop needs a phase converter.

On a cold saw, check blade condition and runout, gearbox play, vise squareness, coolant and any automatic feed or stop system.

Built in Philip

Scotchman is still a small-town builder, and its long tooling support is a big part of why older Scotchman ironworkers keep working. For more on fabrication equipment, see our Bystronic brand profile and our TechniDrill brand profile.

Resell CNC Take

A used Scotchman is worth more than its age suggests because the factory still supports it. Read the plate, call Philip with the serial number, check the hydraulics and the punch alignment, and count the tooling that comes with it. Tooling you do not have to buy is part of the price.

Frequently Asked Questions