What's happened to Stanley tools?

[Doken]

I've been using Stanley hand tools for ages but over the last few years the quality seems to have fallen off a cliff.
I always used Rabone folding rules but the numbers scrubbed off the back of the last one in a few months, I later found out that Stanley had bought Rabone.
Stanley Power Lock tapes (the chrome ones) have been standard issue for years but a brand new one failed on me in under a month last year, and the 54mm blade in a Stanley hole saw I bought 6 months ago has also just failed.
I've got the impression that Stanley have moved into the mass sales/price segment of the market and that quality has taken a back seat.
Any thoughts?

[andrewr79]

I'd attribute the issue to the "made in china" sticker on 95% of their products.

[Nads]

I was a fan of Stanley tools, but now its all crap.

[Twisted Tenon]

A lot of the wisdom I have come across on this forum says that the standard for Stanley products has been on the decline since the 60's. I often read here where people are advising to buy the pre war (ll) stuff as it was made to a better standard.

TT

[Claw Hama]

It went down hill after WW2, so if you can pick up pre war tools its the better. And yes the later it gets the worse it gets. I have a No4 plane that was built up from several planes picking the eyes out of them, just as a hacker plane, its not bad. I know I have one chisel that I use to cut off nails, I have a couple of stubby screw drivers and thats it. Screw drivers are just mild steel rubbish, compaired to some Sandvic ones I have had and not had to do anything to in 30 years. Even the "cheaper" brands have better quality than Stanley these days.

[jimbur]

I was a fan of Stanley tools, but now its all crap.

It's not quite all crap. Another member has a nice set of sweetheart chisels made in the UK.
However, somewhere along the line pride lost out to profit.
Cheers,
Jim

[dakotax3]

I recently purchased a Stanley Fatmax hammer and Fatmax masonry chisel and am very happy with them.

[Virgil]

Nothing wrong with Stanley. My 1910 No7 jointer is still going fine.

Cheerio,
Virg.

[Avery]

Nothing wrong with Stanley. My 1910 No7 jointer is still going fine.

Cheerio,
Virg.

Yeah, but try and get online support for it from the Stanley website.

[GraemeCook]

Yeah, but try and get online support for it from the Stanley website.

Why should he?? Virgil's 1910 No 7 jointer ain't broke.

It is really quite sad, and its not just Stanley. So many companies spent decades and generations of enthusiastic employees building superior reputations, and then they just throw that reputation away.

Cheers

Graeme

[Doken]

Why should he?? Virgil's 1910 No 7 jointer ain't broke.

It is really quite sad, and its not just Stanley. So many companies spent decades and generations of enthusiastic employees building superior reputations, and then they just throw that reputation away.

Cheers

Graeme

Even sadder is that quality general purpose hand tools are almost impossible to find now, if it isn't made in Shanghai forget it..
I forgot to metion that a few months ago the handle of a Stanley butt chisel disintegrated while I was using it, where do I find a good quality replacement?

[Avery]

Why should he?? Virgil's 1910 No 7 jointer ain't broke.

It is really quite sad, and its not just Stanley. So many companies spent decades and generations of enthusiastic employees building superior reputations, and then they just throw that reputation away.

Cheers

Graeme

Even sadder , there are quite few quite modern companies that built huge reputations for quality and service and then...


I am thinking Hewlett Packard, Qantas, BBC/HardwareHouse/Bunnings...

[andrewr79]

I recently purchased a Stanley Fatmax hammer and Fatmax masonry chisel and am very happy with them.

I think some of the FatMax line are still coming out of england, I know the Fatmax wood chisels still have a "Made in Sheffield" stamped on the blade and are actually fairly decent. Not all items are though - take a look at their coping saws as an example.

I've recently been given a set of Irwin Marples Chisels, the made in china not the others sadly, but they are surprising me with how well they are built. It appears that irwin has outsourced but not sacrificed quite as much quality

[dakotax3]

I am among the first to condemn the maker and origin of poor quality tools and workmanship and I avoid them like the plague. But QUALITY tools today, hand or power, are better than yesterday; an over-generalisation perhaps but it's what I believe. Remember yesterdays chisels which needed the tradesman to carry a mallet around with his hammer so he could actually use the chisels? If he used a steel-faced hammer on them they soon shattered, wooden OR plastic; remember? Remember those light wooden handled hammers whose handles got slippery when wet and broke when pulling out nails? Remember the single pocket nailbags with no other pockets for accessories and their skinny belts and buckles? Remember the heavy single speed power tools with those uncomfortable & unergonomic handles? Remember keyed chucks? Think people.

I am still cursing the greedy bar steward who stole my leather pouch full of Stanley Butt Chisels bought in my apprenticeship in the '70s but it has caused me to consider cheaper alternatives and I found one in the name of Plumb with through-tang and strike cap for less than $20 today, a ripper.

The moral to the above? Yesteryear had only one type of tool; hardworking, longlasting, built for the job. Today we have light duty tools being made to a cost aimed directly at the paleskin shiny bum who might use them as a once off; then they're left to rust away. One problem is you guys aren't comparing apples with apples.

[jimbur]

Dakotax3, much of what you say is true in that the market has changed. But I think the problem in most people's mind is that a trademark which was synonymous with a certain level of quality is not any more.
Cheers,
Jim