Thread: Are there Counterfeit Stanleys out there?

I don't think so
as part of their retreat from quality, Stanley introduced a line of "Handyman" planes numbered 12-00n marketed towards the DIY / hobbiest
I've seen reference to the "Handyman" line in catalogues
here is one such from 1985 https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...st-aus1-lo.jpg

I've seen 12-004s in heat molded plastic packaging on the shelf beside #5s in cardboard boxes

I suspect with the reintroduction of "quality" Stanley planes -- the new Sweetheart range -- the packaging and pricing of the "handyman" line has been revised

There are genuine counterfeit Stanley/Bailey planes around here. They were made years ago at the railway workshops.....so the story goes.
No identifying marks on a #5 sized plane.
I want one.

I like that - their own product has declined in quality so much that it is mistaken for a counterfeit product!!!!

With the older Stanleys the #1 and #2C have been copied/ faked apparently with the intention to deceive. The #1's are a slightly off copy, the #2's have corrugations milled into a smooth base, which is too thin so the corrugations tend to be shallow.
Agree with the above comments concerning new stock.
Regards from Bill

Actually, those are about one third of the price charged by Bunnings for the Stanleys that they stock.
Maybe some factory in some country that doesn't give a rat's elbow about copyright or intellectual property rights, has done a knock off of the current - poor as they are - Stanleys.
What a hoot!
A lousy copy of a lousy copy.

Reminds me of my watch purchasing fun in Saigon.
I was after a Breitling.
Genuine question: Do you want original copy, or copy of original copy?
Not wanting to appear cheap, I asked for the original copy.
Nothing but the best for me.

Ha ha - we have come this far .................

Why would you bother, an imitation of an imitation,both crap!!

Don't know about the plane, but a few years ago at one of those dodgy tool stands at a market I found a chalk line.

Looked like a Stanley one, the packaging looked real, even the logo looked the same, but it was spelt 'Stan Lee'. Don't know if it was bad translation or a way around copyright, but I regret not shelling out the $5 just for a piece of shed art.

Maybe it was used by Spiderman!

Perhaps I could start collecting "lousy copies of lousy copies"?
Might be a new Niche market?
I think I will go back and read the box for any tell tale spelling errors. Even the box cardboard felt like it was soft and inferior!

Originally Posted by pmcgee

Maybe it was used by Spiderman!

Awwww....you beat me to it.

Bet it was a Marvelous stringline.

Sadly those look real enough. I saw the same models out of their boxes at the local bunnings and it's what the others have said - the quality has declined so badly they look like rubbish. At least your store has the sense not to charge $120 for them.

Originally Posted by seanz

There are genuine counterfeit Stanley/Bailey planes around here. They were made years ago at the railway workshops.....so the story goes.

I did my apprenticeship at a railway workshops (Otahuhu) - unfortunately we didn't have a foundry, and I never saw a workshops Stanley clone.

However, later in my career I spent some time at another workshops (Hutt) that did have a foundry. In the pattern shop they had patterns for every part of a Westinghouse brake pump (steam powered variety). Apparently during WW2 they couldn't get parts from the States, so they made their own to keep the trains running.

I guess the same would have applied to tools such as planes.

I don't know what happened after the war, when patents would have applied again, but I saw those patterns in the 1980s.

Cheers, Vann.

ps Isn't "genuine counterfeit" a contradiction in terms?