R&S Cutterhead Manufacturing was founded in 1975 as R&S Tool Sales by German immigrant Chris Fischer in Lake Villa, Illinois. During his first entry into the business of manufacturing cutting tools, Chris and a partner purchased Victory Tools in Antioch, IL in 1972 but after 3 short years due to personal differences, the partnership was dissolved and Chris went on to start up R&S from nothing. Beginning in 1973, Chris started the development of hogging heads which used an aircraft grade aluminum body with carbide-tipped steel segments bolted into the body. However, the design process was slowed by the orientation of his partnership into the manufacturing of metal cutting tools. Once free of the partnership which restrained him, Chris was free to perfect his design and in the years since, the manufacturing of hogging heads has become our specialty in the woodworking tool business, as well as, offering a full range of tooling to supply all of our customers’ needs.
In the years since our founding, we have seen tremendous growth along the lines of our industry focus. First we moved in 1980 from Lake Villa to Antioch, then in 1983 to Crystal Lake, and in 1986 R&S moved to our current manufacturing facility in Richmond, IL. R&S strives for continual product and manufacturing improvements and it is because of advances made in our manufacturing processes that we have been able to keep our prices at an extremely competitive level while improving the quality of our products.
Today, R&S continues to thrive under its second generation leadership in Richard Fischer who is continuing his father’s legacy of staying at the forefront of technology and leading the industry in the manufacturing of tooling oriented towards the manufacture of engineered wood and other products.