The info wore off the grip and I do not recall what it was. I think it was a German brand. These have been one of my favorite tools for a decade. The jaws are much more narrow than what is typical for side cutters and these handle like a surgeon’s scalpel. Best of all, they can be sharpened many many times. Unfortunately, these are getting close to end of life from all of my sharpening and pivot pin wear. I want to get another set, but I have never been able to figure out the brand to find them again. They were given to me by a tech for a computerized Guru bicycle fit machine we had installed in one of our bike shops in 2012.
Marubi would be the romanized spelling of the Japanese word. Marbee is probably anglicized.
In hiragana the word would be written as まるび.
Given how maru can be used in Japanese when preceding another word I’m guessing Marubi translates to Maru = Best, Bi = Tool for BestTool.
That’s what I suspected with the name, and I tried to do a little poking with some translators, but it wasn’t really working as I had no understanding of the correlation between the syllabic spelling vs the hiragana. Thanks for the little breakdown!
I’m just shocked I remember as much as I do from my high school Japanese class. It’s been decades but it’s still rattling around in there.
In a fun twist, the circumscribed “B” logo also fits maru (circle) bi (B).
A la circle K/marukei.