TURNERS FALLS — Mayhew Tools has been in Franklin County since it first opened in 1856, and is now expanding with the purchase of a Florida company called Bestway Tools.

The sale was coordinated largely by John Lawless, who co-owns the company with his brother Bill Lawless. John Lawless said he and other managers have been between Massachusetts and Florida since negotiations started in June, and will continue to go back and forth probably through the spring; but operations at the Turners Falls plant will not be affected.

Mayhew and Bestway have historically specialized in different markets, John Lawless said. Mayhew sells mostly for industrial applications, and Bestway is stronger in the do-it-yourself market.

“We see it as a benefit for getting us more into the hardware business, and we’ll take their products into the professional market,” Lawless said.

The owners of Bestway were nearing retirement age, and were interested in selling their business, Lawless said. Negotiations began in June, and the sale was completed Nov. 1.

The plan is to expand operations at the Bestway plant, which is in Ormond Beach, Fla., by hiring more employees and adding more working shifts, Lawless said.

Bestway is the fifth company that Mayhew has acquired under its present ownership. The most recent was about four years ago, when the company bought two plastic plants, one in Leominster and one in Clinton, and combined them into one larger plant in Westminster. Lawless said that purchase allowed Mayhew to vertically integrate the manufacturing of the plastic handles that it uses for its tools.

Mayhew Tools was founded in 1856 in Shelburne Falls. It has been owned by the Lawless family since the 1950s, when the present owners’ grandfather, who had been a plant manager at the Shelburne Falls facility during World War II, bought the company with three partners, John Lawless said.

Over the years, the other partners sold their shares of the company. John and Bill Lawless took over in the 1980s after they graduated college.

Mayhew’s present location in Turners Falls was built in 2001. In 2014 the company completely vacated the Shelburne Falls building, which it now leases to the town of Buckland as a garage.

Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 261.

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