Since 1826, C.S. Osborne & Co. has been manufacturing the finest 

leatherworking tools at its New Jersey factories.  The company has 

always been family-owned and operated beginning with Charles 

Samuel Osborne  and to this day,  the Osborne family continues to 

operate the business making it one of the oldest family-owned 

companies in the United States.

C.S. Osborne & Co. began manufacturing tools for harness makers 

and saddlers in the early 1800’s. As horses and carriages represented 

the primary means of transportation for the better part of the 

nineteenth century, tools used in horse–n-tack, harness and saddlery 

were in major demand, not just in the United States, but all over the 

world.  Not to mention, Newark, NJ represented one of the largest 

concentration of tanneries on the east coast…so it made perfect  

sense that a tool manufacturer like C.S. Osborne & Co. would flourish 

at this time by making the highest quality leatherworking tools in the 

country.

Great pride, workmanship and the finest materials have always gone 

into C.S. Osborne’s tools. Towards the turn of the century (1900 that 

is), the company would exhibit it’s tools at major international fairs 

including the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, the Exposition 

Universelle International in Paris 1878, and the 1881 International 

Exhibition in 1881 in Melbourne, Australia. It was not uncommon for 

C.S. Osborne to take home the gold medal when exhibiting at such 

competitions.

To this day, C. S. Osborne & Co. puts the same craftsmanship into its 

leather working tools as it has in the past. The company controls the 

entire manufacturing process from forging the raw steel to hand-

sharpening the final cutting edge, and does so one tool at a time, 

piece by piece. It is this dedication to making the finest quality hand 

tools that continues to drive and inspire C.S. Osborne & Co. into its 

next 100 years.