Thread: New Premium Handplanes From Stanley Works

Originally Posted by Rob Lee

Hi All -

I look forward to seeing what Stanley has done... more choice is always a good thing.

From my perspective - our competition isn't necessarily people in the woodworking industry - it's anyone that's after your discretionary spending...iPods, Flatscreens, Game systems, Travel, even gasoline (ours went up 13 cents a litre overnight ). Anything that reduces your available woodworking spending has a larger impact on us than someone making tools - after all - that cash we have NO chance at attracting....



Cheers -

Rob

You mean like that new push bike I just bought? You should have seen my wifes face when I brought that home. You can sneek tools in to the house but the bike I had to explain, damn!

Rob, I don't think you have too much to worry about, the babyboomers who are retiring or semi retiring have resurrected the hand tool market and I would assume there is more to come. Stanley have probably done their homework on that one. But when all is said and done ipods etc are only going to get cheaper and they attract a different market, quality hand tools will always be sought after and if we are truly honest with ourselves then we must all admit to being tool junkies to some degree. with that in mind everytine you bring out a new plough plane or rebate plane, there will be those of us that will just have to have one, just for the sake of having one. Otherwise all we need is a #4, #7, block plane, a set of chisels, a hammer and a hand saw and we can do most jobs.
In short we like to indulge ourselves and thta's not going to stop.

I love your tools by the way.

Cheers

Chris Swartz over on Woodworking Magazine's Weblog is reporting on a new range of chisels from Stanley as well as the forthcoming new planes.
See:
http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/

I wonder what other goodies are in the pipeline?
Woodworking Magazine Weblog

New Premium Chisels Coming From Stanley in November
Posted 17/09/2008 in All Weblog Posts | Chisels | Handplanes


Stanley Works will unveil a new premium bevel-edge chisel this year that bears some similarities to the company's vaunted Everlasting line of chisels that were made between 1911 and 1942.

Like the Everlasting chisels, the new Stanley chisels will have the blade, head and shank made from one piece of solid steel with wooden grips. The vintage Everlastings were a little different in that the wooden handles completely surrounded the steel shank. The new chisels will have the beech handles infilled into the steel, much like a H.D. Smith perfect-handled screwdriver.

Stanley officials said the chisels will be made from high-carbon steel hardened to 59-62 on the Rockwell "c" hardness scale. The tools will be hand-finished and be available in the following sizes: 1/4", 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1-1/4" and 1-1/2". The tools will be sold individually or in boxed sets of four and six sizes, officials said. They will be available only in woodworking specialty stores. Estimated pricing for the individual chisels is $17.99 to $19.99 each.

Company officials released the two computer renderings shown above. Production models are not yet available for testing.

Stanley has been testing prototypes of this chisel with woodworkers and builders, and 74 percent of those who used it said they'd consider switching to this tool. Because of its heavy-duty construction, Stanley officials said the tool will be ideal for both workshop and installation work.

From a furniture-making perspective, woodworkers will be interested in how narrow the side bevels of these chisels will be. Narrow side bevels are ideal for hand-dovetailing. It's hard to tell from a computer rendering what the tool will look like in steel, so I wouldn't make too much of the illustrations.

Also, many chisel users are keenly interested in how long their chisels will hold an edge. In my book, Stanley has always done well in this department. The yellow-handled Stanley U.K. chisels have always maintained a terrific edge for me. And the company's FatMax chisels have also been surprisingly durable and easy to sharpen (I have a set at home).

We'll obtain a set of these new chisels as soon as we can and report all the details. The chisel market is a crowded one (just open any woodworking catalog), so the quality of these new tools will be closely watched by competitors and consumers.

Also, a Stanley official sent me updated computer renderings of the company's new line of premium handplanes that we reported on here. There have been a couple changes to the details, particularly in the shoulder plane. I've posted these new renderings below.

— Christopher Schwarz

The standard-angle block plane.



The low-angle block plane.


The low-angle jack plane.


The No. 4 smoothing plane.


The shoulder plane.


Regards from Tele Point
SG

Scribbly,

every time I see this I find myself checking the date

what really intreagues me is that the plane images are only "computer renderings" and "updated" ones at that !

You would think that if Stanley are going to introduce these new tools in November there would be some pre-production / early production models floating arround the WW magazine reviewers.
And Stanley would certainly have finalised the design sufficiently to generate the "final computer renderings" some months ago.

November is about 6 weeks away.
and it's only about 13 weeks to Christmas.

If Stanley are looking to introduce these new tools onto the US market in time for the US "holidays" spending season I'd think that they would want to start stocking the warehouses about now — which implies real tools comimg off the production line


ian

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

Also, a Stanley official sent me updated computer renderings of the company's new line of premium handplanes that we reported on here. There have been a couple changes to the details, particularly in the shoulder plane. I've posted these new renderings below.

— Christopher Schwarz

The standard-angle block plane.



The low-angle block plane.


The low-angle jack plane.


The No. 4 smoothing plane.


The shoulder plane.


Regards from Tele Point
SG

Originally Posted by ian

Scribbly,

every time I see this I find myself checking the date

what really intreagues me is that the plane images are only "computer renderings" and "updated" ones at that !

You would think that if Stanley are going to introduce these new tools in November there would be some pre-production / early production models floating arround the WW magazine reviewers.
And Stanley would certainly have finalised the design sufficiently to generate the "final computer renderings" some months ago.

November is about 6 weeks away.
and it's only about 13 weeks to Christmas.

If Stanley are looking to introduce these new tools onto the US market in time for the US "holidays" spending season I'd think that they would want to start stocking the warehouses about now — which implies real tools comimg off the production line


ian

Very good point Ian.
If this was Lee Valley we would be seeing some teaser pics of production models by now.
LV have the marketing nous to release a model at a time to capitalise on interest and make the most of each model.
I guess that Stanley are really facing a huge logistical problem here, because it appears from the releases that there will be multiple models in their launch. I don't know how this will work for them. If it was me, I'd release one model and promote it heavily with the promise of more to come as LV do.
Mind you this is all very second hand information and may be way off the mark. You will notice that the shoulder plane is now slightly different. The wood and brass end that fits the palm is gone, and the cam lock on top has a different design. Quite different castings needed now.
Oh well ....wait and see.
Regards from Tele Point
SG

Do these changes mean they're having problems on computer generated wood?
Jim

Now that the LV planes have hit the streets, I thought it would be nice to go back and review the computer generated pictures of the upcoming Stanley planes. But it seems they have all disppeared? And the links all seem dead?

What's happening?

Now that the LV planes have hit the streets, I thought it would be nice to go back and review the computer generated pictures of the upcoming Stanley planes. But it seems they have all disppeared? And the links all seem dead?

Chris Swartz's blog still has the pictures
see here http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com...andplanes.aspx



ian

Thanks. I did a google search, and by looking at the cached page, got the old pictures up. But this got me thinking, wasn't Stanley supposed to release the new planes in November? Seems like there isn't much time left, and nothing being said.

as I said back in September

every time I see this I find myself checking the date

Even if the images eventually become hardware, I'm a bit like Clinton in that I have been burnt by the marketing experiments performed by Stanley marketing "gurus".

They made expensive junk based on a once excellent reputation.

It appears they have flown a kite to see the reaction and have gone to ground.

Marketing Gurus - play your silly little games with someone else, I'm sticking with my LNs - they make excellent products and their advertisements are supported by stock.

Apparently Standley are now aiming for a Jan-Feb release date. And according to this latest blurb, they are planning to compete head to head with LV and LN.

Rubbery release dates which miss the Christmas buying period and still only computer generated images.

Yeah, I'm holding my breath waiting.

I wonder if the smoother has a Norris style adjuster which would control blade depth as well as lateral movement.
If this is the case, what does the brass knob on the back do?
Puzzled
SG

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

what does the brass knob on the back do?
Puzzled
SG

yeh.. I see what you mean the only thing I can think that it would be for (if lateral isn't it) would be variable pitch.

That would be something to get excited about.. that is if the planes aren't complete car wrecks.

The new rendering look interesting.. I still think that using the SW logo is downright tacky

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

I wonder if the smoother has a Norris style adjuster which would control blade depth as well as lateral movement.
If this is the case, what does the brass knob on the back do?
Puzzled
SG

Keeps the brass knob on the front from falling off...