About Oliphant Tool Company

Made in Huntington Beach, California

Oliphant Tool Company is a modern 90+ machine carbide punch manufacturing facility in Huntington Beach. Located on the sunny Southern California coast mid-way between Los Angeles and San Diego, Huntington Beach with its mild climate, miles of beaches, great schools and family atmosphere, is a wonderful place to live and work.

Three Generations of Tool & Die Craftsmen

Photo: Horace Oliphant (left) with C.L. "Kelly" Johnson (right).

December 18, 1972 at Lockheed's Skunk Works in Burbank, California

Horace Oliphant spent most of his life employed as a machinist and tool maker, including making war materials at Chrysler during World War II. Then beginning in 1952 be began working in the famed Skunk Works at Lockheed in Burbank, California. Throughout the height of the Cold War he worked on many secret projects including the U-2 and Article 121, the precursor to the legendary SR-71 “Blackbird”, garnering multiple awards from top Lockheed executives including C.L. “Kelly” Johnson.

After being honorably discharged from the U.S. Army where he served in the 6th Missile Battalion, 52d Artillery, the first HAWK missile battery in Germany during the building of the Berlin Wall, Bill Oliphant got his start in tool and cutter grinding at the same Lockheed plant his father worked. After managing a tool & die shop in the early 1970’s and partnering in a tool & die shop later in the decade, Bill founded Oliphant Tool Company in 1983. Enjoying programming for the 6809 and x86 processors a hobby, he combined his journeyman tool and cutter grinding expertise and computer programming experience with the electronics skills gained in the military to create our first prototype CNC centerless grinding machine tool.

Chris Oliphant

c.1985 at Oliphant Tool Company, Santa Ana, CA

Now with the third generation, brothers Jeffrey and Christopher Oliphant carry on this proud family tradition.

Jeff Oliphant is the resident electrical engineer and master of all things "8-bit". Since getting his TRS-80 Model I in 1981, he has had an intense passion for microcomputers. By keeping the electronics simple he makes Oliphant Tool Company CNC machines more robust and reliable. In addition to his engineering experience, Jeff also has 40 years of tool grinding experience having started at Bill's previous company, Emery Tool, while still a high school student, also in 1981.

Younger brother Chris started with Oliphant Tool as a middle schooler in 1984, first sweeping the floors on the weekends and then as a tool and cutter grinder operator and tool polisher during the summers that followed. Having graduated in the top 1% of his class with a degree in business from Penn State, he has been serving as General Manager, providing over 30 years of carbide tool and cutter grinding experience to Oliphant Tool Company and its valued customers.

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