Reply by jamesicus

I started my apprenticeship as a truck cab and body builder at Oswald Tillotson’s ,Burnley, Lancashire (northern England) in 1947. Woodworking hand tools were hard to fiind in hardware stores (Ironmongers shops—Brit.) and most of mine were old used tools such as wooden bench planes, Warrington pattern cross-peen hammers, hand saws, various types of chisels, try squares, marking gauges, boxwood rulers, etc. of a variety of makes mostly of pre-WWII manufacture, purchased from some of the older craftsmen. The first old craftsman I worked for particularly liked American tools: Stanley Bailey bench planes and bevel edged chisels in particular – North Bros. spiral ratchet screwdrivers – Disston saws – and he constantly extolled their virtues and quality. Due to his influence my subsequent tool kits always included such tools. I also used numerous Marples tools which were held in high esteem by most apprentices and craftsmen . Stanley Bailey planes (of American or British manufacture) were favored by most of the older craftsmen although several used Record planes. My first introduction to, and use of, woodworking hand tools was during Public School Woodworking Class (Towneley School, Burnley, England) starting in 1940. By mid-war in 1943 I had become reasonably proficient in the care, maintenance and use of most of them.

As I mentioned, new woodworking tools—especially American made—were in short supply in British hardware shops immediately following the end of WWII. It was not until 1948, when importation from America resumed and British manufacturing had recovered from wartime damage and production demands, that new tools were available for sale in any quantity. Even then, availability was uncertain.

I probably used more Stanley hand tools than any other make. They were readily available (after 1948) and were renowned for their durability and excellence in my time as an apprentice. I mostly used Stanley planes, nail hammers, paring chisels, boxwood rules, marking gauges, try squares and bevels.

The first post-war Stanley Tools catalog I remember was the 1948 No. 34 edition that contained their usual array of woodworking tools.

-- Woodworking with hand tools - http://jp29.org/wwtools.htm