Thread: Vintage Stanley Plastic Handled Chisels

Originally Posted by planemaker

Hi James. The black Stanley No.60 Butt Chisels I am referring to have the Stanley details marked on the handle and not on the steel shank of the blade as shown in the photo's.

Stewie.

These are my references, Stewie:


1949 Stanley Tools Catalog




1950 Stanley Tools Catalog

Only the earliest production chisels were marked on the steel tang -- after that they were marked on the black sleeve/handle ..........



.......... at least up to circa. 1958 (as far as I have traced them) -- maybe they resorted to all black plastic handles after that year.

Of course, Nos. 40, 50 and 55 (Glazier) chisels had black handles with markings on the handle sides from 1934 on:


1950 Stanley Catalog

My curiosity is aroused, Stewie: could you please post photographs/Catalog page scans of black handled Stanley No. 60 chisels showing markings. Thanks.

James

Hi James. I will take a couple of photo's for you. From the the research you have already done so far my guess is that you have already found your answer without realizing it."Of course, Nos. 40, 50 and 55 (Glazier) chisels had black handles with markings on the handle sides from 1934 on:" It would have made complete sense for Stanley to have manufactured the No.60 black handled butt chisels at the same time he did so with the No. 40,50,and 55 from 1934 on.

Stewie.

Originally Posted by planemaker

Hi James. I will take a couple of photo's for you. From the the research you have already done so far my guess is that you have already found your answer without realizing it."Of course, Nos. 40, 50 and 55 (Glazier) chisels had black handles with markings on the handle sides from 1934 on:" It would have made complete sense for Stanley to have manufactured the No.60 black handled butt chisels at the same time he did so with the No. 40,50,and 55 from 1934 on.

Stewie.

Hi James. As an aditional comment. It looks as though Stanley stopped manufacturing the black handled chisels with the markings on the handle after the release of the 1949 Cat. but before the release of the 1950 Cat. as seen in the illustrated reference pages you added to the post. Would seem fair to say from what you have gathered in information these type marked handles were made from 1934 to 1949.

Stewie.

Originally Posted by planemaker

Hi James. I will take a couple of photo's for you. From the the research you have already done so far my guess is that you have already found your answer without realizing it."Of course, Nos. 40, 50 and 55 (Glazier) chisels had black handles with markings on the handle sides from 1934 on:" It would have made complete sense for Stanley to have manufactured the No.60 black handled butt chisels at the same time he did so with the No. 40,50,and 55 from 1934 on.

Stewie.

Hi Stewie. I cannot find any No. 60 chisels with all black handles listed in Stanley Tools Catalogs up to and including This 1958 Edition -- Nos. 40, 50 and 60 are always with solid black handles and Nos. 60 and 61 with the amber/black two-tone handles as originally depicted in the 1934 Catalog.

It is evident that any No. 60 Chisels with all black handles must have been manufactured after 1958, Stewie,

James

Originally Posted by planemaker

Hi James. As an aditional comment. It looks as though Stanley stopped manufacturing the black handled chisels with the markings on the handle after the release of the 1949 Cat. but before the release of the 1950 Cat. as seen in the illustrated reference pages you added to the post. Would seem fair to say from what you have gathered in information these type marked handles were made from 1934 to 1949.

Stewie.

Hi Stewie. Refer to my previous post. I assume here you are referring to the STANLEY within the orange cartouche marking along the side of the handle versus the white colored marking around the base of the handle for the Nos. 40, 50 and 55 chisels?

Actually that change occurred after 1950 as can be seen here in my Tabulation depiction.

James

Originally Posted by SGBarnes

Hi Stewie. I cannot find any No. 60 chisels with all black handles listed in Stanley Tools Catalogs up to and including This 1958 Edition -- Nos. 40, 50 and 60 are always with solid black handles and Nos. 60 and 61 with the amber/black two-tone handles as originally depicted in the 1934 Catalog.

It is evident that any No. 60 Chisels with all black handles must have been manufactured after 1958, Stewie,

James

Hi James. I was having a look through ebay-usa and found your missing link.

Stewie.

STANLEY CHISEL 1" BEVEL EDGE No. 60 | eBay

Originally Posted by planemaker

Hi James. I was having a look through ebay-usa and found your missing link.

Stewie.

STANLEY CHISEL 1" BEVEL EDGE No. 60 | eBay

Yes, I have seen that before, Stewie -- that is no missing link for my research. I am always skeptical regarding e-bay photographs. That is either a pre-1958 No.60 chisel with the amber portion of the handle spray painted black for cosmetic reasons, or Stanley did indeed produce all black handled No. 60 chisels after 1958, which is beyond the scope of my research for I don't have any Catalogs to verify against after that year. Studying the production of Stanley plastic handled chisels after 1958 would be an interesting project but I don't have the time, or the reference documents, to undertake it at this time. Want to take a shot at that, Stewie?

One other possibility for the "eBay" chisel depicted above is that it is a factory mistake on a pre-1958 manufactured No. 60 chisel -- that it was accidentally painted all black during the production process and missed during inspection. In that case it would be a rare collector item -- the trouble would be proving that. Certainly, Stanley does not depict any such chisels in Catalogs or advertising materials through 1958 -- at least not in any that I have examined.

James

As you know, Stewie, my study only covers the period 1934-1958 because I only have references (Stanley Catalogs, Ads, Brochures, etc.) for that period, which does pretty well cover the genesis and development of Stanley plastic handled chisels. And although I have searched in vain for No. 60 chisels with black plastic handles in those references, it does not mean that there weren't any manufactured in the years at either end of that period. There may have been prototypes produced in 1930-1933 -- I don't have many references for those years but I may come by some and find the chisels you are looking for listed there. There may have been some produced in the WWII years -- although Stanley committed just about all its resources to producing war effort material -- I do have a small amount of (very sparse) Stanley Tools reference material from that period -- I have a 1942 Catalog on the way to me right now -- but have not found anything yet. I think the chisels you are researching may have been manufactured after 1959 --A 1963 Stanley store Catalog is also on the way to me. Mybe it will have listings for black plastic handled No. 60 chisels. Rest assured I will post any information I uncover, Stewie.

James

Hi, Stewie.

Here is the substance -- paraphrased -- of an interchange I had with Jeff Nagel on another Forum:

.......... I will attribute the information to Alan Martin (Stanley Historian) -- I called him to check if Stanley did indeed stop using "Stanloid" for chisel handles after WWII -- he confirmed that and the change to the descriptive term "plastic" -- but he pointed out that it didn't occur right away but was phased in. BTW, Jeff, he mentioned that he had an enjoyable conversation with you confirming black plastic handled No. 60 and No. 61 chisels production starting in the 1970s ...........

Jeff had previously called Alan to ask about the start of production of the black plastic handled No 60/61 chisels.

James

Nice work James.