You may have seen posts on our social media accounts or website that reference Daka-ware.  Most likely, you haven't heard the term before and are wondering where it originated from and what it means. We would like to give you a brief Davies Molding history lesson to explain Daka-ware.

Where did the name Daka-ware come from?

As you probably already know, Davies Molding has been around for a long time. We've been designing and manufacturing insert-molded knobs, handles, cases and custom components since 1933. We have over 80 years of thermoplastic and thermoset molding experience! When we were molding products in the 1960's, we used Daka-ware as a trade name.

Daka-ware referred to our line of compression molded phenolic knobs, handles and ashtrays. Yes, you read that correctly, ashtrays- they were quite popular at that time. Daka-ware, phenolic parts, can withstand much higher temperatures than ABS or PVC plastics. We still have tools that have the Daka-ware name on them, so chances are, you will still come across the Daka-ware name when you see a Davies knob.

To learn more about Davies Molding, please visit http://www.daviesmolding.com/Pages/Company/About-Us.aspx

We recently received an email from a history buff inquiring about the brand name Daka-ware and how it's related to Bake-lite, another name brand in the plastic molding industry.  In his email, the history buff explained that "Daka-ware is a common search on search engines but there's no real official answer". So we created this blog post to help fill in some of the gaps of this topic and provide a (hopefully) helpful "official" answer.  

In my discussions with Derran Smith, president of Davies Molding, he explained it this way: Dakaware was a trade name used by Davies Molding in the 1960s for a line of compression molded phenolic knobs, handles, and ashtrays. We still have tools that have the Daka-ware name on them, and we have a few hundred of the Dakware ashtrays in stock (available for purchase!).  See the vintage catalog on the left and on the right, a picture of a "vintage" looking daka-ware control knob. 

Bakelite, on the other hand, is a brand name of a specifically formulated phenolic material created by a Belgium chemist and has been recognized as the first synthetic plastic by the American Chemical Society (according to the Bakelite wikipedia page) But similar to the Kleenex brand, the Bakelite name became genericized, and was used throughout the plastic molding industry to describe all phenolic material regardless of the brand, much like how we use kleenex to describe all facial tissues. Check out the picture of The Harry Davies Company (now Davies Molding) with Bakelite, along with other brands of plastic molding material, advertised outside its doors.

Interested in more history on Davies Molding?  Check out some of these links: 

Interview with Derran Smith, President of Davies Molding:

http://daviesmoldingllc.blogspot.com/2013/01/davies-molding-celebrates-80-years-of.html

Infographic on Davies Molding History:

http://daviesmoldingllc.blogspot.com/2013/01/celebrating-80-years-of-molding-knobs.html