Thread: When Did Stanley Stop making planes in Tasmania?

I can't help with the date but I would sure love to see a photo of the plane and the box.
If you could manage it, it would be much appreciated.
SG

Found this on the net:

Stanley started operations in Australia as Stanley-Titan in 1963 when it bought a 50% share of Titan, previously, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP. Stanley-Titan operated out of its factory in Tasmania. In 1970 Stanley-Titan acquired the Turner Industries Ltd Company, and in 1971 formed the "Stanley Works Company" and moved its head office from Tasmania to the Turner plant in Nunawading, Victoria. Stanley immediately converted Turner branded tools to Stanley brand, or ceased manufacture within two years. In 1976, Stanley acquired the BHP shares, becoming the full owners of the firm. Stanley continued the pattern of acquisitions, notable examples were Rota Tool Boxes in 1990 and Sidchrome / Dawn in 1991. By 2001, Stanley had ceased all manufacture in Australia.

Hope it helps,
Jim

Here are a couple of photo's, I will take some better ones in daylight.

Regards

Brendan

Originally Posted by jimbur

Found this on the net:

Stanley started operations in Australia as Stanley-Titan in 1963 when it bought a 50% share of Titan, previously, a wholly owned subsidiary of BHP. Stanley-Titan operated out of its factory in Tasmania. In 1970 Stanley-Titan acquired the Turner Industries Ltd Company, and in 1971 formed the "Stanley Works Company" and moved its head office from Tasmania to the Turner plant in Nunawading, Victoria.

Thanks Jim,

The box is definitely labelled Stanley Titan, and gives the Tasmanian address. By the above information it must date from between 1963 - 1971.

This is a great forum, someone always knows the answer - or where to get it.

Regards

Brendan

How good is that? Great find, I'm green with envy. I hope you enjoy it.

This could become (another) obsession - in photography the term is GAS, Gear Acquisition Syndrome, and is incurable!

I suppose there is a woodie term for it as well

Regards

Brendan

Great find, and great information.

I've just cleaned up a "Made in Australia" Stanley No 4 I bought for $30 last year, and I was wondering about the Stanley story in Australia. It's certainly not in "nearly new condition" like yours, more like just barely usable!

Originally Posted by Brendan1152

This could become (another) obsession - in photography the term is GAS, Gear Acquisition Syndrome, and is incurable!

I suppose there is a woodie term for it as well

Regards

Brendan

At the extreme you end up reading catalogues from firms like Dick GmBh which are nothing but tool ,
Jim

Hi Brendan - I've got a #5 which must be very close to the same vintage as yours. It was bought some time prior to 1970 by my brother, who gave it to me around 1973. It's my favourite all-rounder, and gets used at some stage on virtually every job involving a plane. Fortunately, it worked pretty well right from the start, but a little attention to details like cleaning up the frog & cap iron, and fitting a thicker blade (Lee Valley HSS) made it a beauty. I reckon it's as good as the Clifton #4 which I acquired a few years ago.

On the strength of that one, I bought another Australian-made Stanley ( a#4) in 1981, and I was never able to make the damn thing work to my satisfaction. After a lot of mucking around it was useable, but I just couldn't get it to work like my trusty old #5. Now I'm more experienced with planes of all sorts, I could probably get it going (with a lot of effort), but it has long since been passed on to a new owner, (who thinks it's perfectly ok) and replaced with a Clifton. IMO, the Clifton is a bit overrated, but at least it worked reasonably well out of the box (after a honing, of course!).

So I hope yours IS the stablemate of mine - you could be in for a long & happy relationship.........

Cheers,

Glad to see some of you had good luck. I received Stanley 4 1/2 from my wife's grandfather, in the box and never been used. Worse craftsmanship I think I"ve ever seen on a plane. The sole was between 1 and 1.5 mills out of flat. Works a beut now but only after long hour flatening that sole. Never again would I bother but this one somehow just struck a nerve and I wanted to make it work. I'll stick with Lie-Nielsen from now on, expensive but well worth the cost (but only if you buy it in the U.S. prices in Australia are way too high).
I really only checked the forum to see if Stanley was still in Tasmania. If this is any indication of quality, I can see why they're not.

It's great that someone has retained this knowledge - and passed it on through forums such as this.

The history of USA built Stanley planes is well documented (1869-1984).

English Stanley production started in 1936 (or '37) and rumour has it that the last ones made in Sheffield, rolled off the production line in 2004.

From the above posts it seems that Australian Stanleys were made in Tassie from 1963/64 to 1970/71, and then in Nunawading, Victoria from 1971 to 2001?

If you ask on any Canadian forum about the years of Canadian manufacture, no one seems to know...

Then there's the current Indian (Bailey #4 & #5) production, and the current Mexican (Sweethart series) planes that no one seems to be documenting either.

My 2d worth.

Cheers, Vann.

"My 2d worth."
Bloody inflation.......

Also have an Australian Stanley plane, though a later model than your fine example. It's godawful.

Originally Posted by snafuspyramid

Also have an Australian Stanley plane, though a later model than your fine example. It's godawful.

With lots of work though it can be made to work quite nicely. Flatten the soul, and the blade, a good sharpening was all it took. Did take quite a while and lots of sandpaper though to get that sole flat.