# Stanley No. 25 TB 8 IN Sliding T-Bevel With Beech & Brass Handle



## sawdust1whisperer (Nov 11, 2014)

I was using my Stanley sliding T Bevel and remembering when I purchased it (1978) and where, New York City.

I build a loft in Williamsburg, a section of Brooklyn, NY in a building over 100 years old at that time and needed a sliding T Bevel.

This thing sent pleasant memories flooding back.

Does anyone know what year Stanley started making this beech and brass handle model No. 25 TB 8 IN Sliding T Bevel?

It was made in the USA.

I also exchanged The original Wing Nut. Because of it's width, it sometimes gets in the way, for a 1/4-20 Brass Knurled Nut.

I saved the wing nut and hang it above the Sliding Bevel in case I decide to sell it.









The gold leaf or paint in the branded Stanley logo can barely be seen now.










Two small brass pins run through the brass plates and wood holding the plates to the wood.









One of the sides of the handle has rays or flecks on it.


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## KYtoolsmith (Oct 13, 2018)

James, The #25 T Bevel was made from 1878 through 1984. The earlier versions had a brass thumb lever instead of the wing nut. Quite a useful tool for copying angles and marking. I've a couple that are a bit older, one from Stanley's sweet heart era of 1920-1930.
Regards, The Kentucky Toolsmith!


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## TechTeacher04 (Mar 17, 2014)

The body is likely beech not oak. I have the same one at home, I found this website that will narrow the window of manufacture some but not much. http://www.oldtooluser.com/typestudy/stanno25tbevtypestudy.htm


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

Strange, usually see them in rosewood. I was thinking it had to do with rosewood ban, but they also did stuff around WW2 where they switched to lower cost woods purely for profit reasons before the ban. That one also looks like a stainless steel blade so that may be the best clue to dating that.


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## sawdust1whisperer (Nov 11, 2014)

> James, The #25 T Bevel was made from 1878 through 1984. The earlier versions had a brass thumb lever instead of the wing nut. Quite a useful tool for copying angles and marking. I ve a couple that are a bit older, one from Stanley s sweet heart era of 1920-1930.
> Regards, The Kentucky Toolsmith!
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks Kentucky 
Those are nice old bevels.


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## sawdust1whisperer (Nov 11, 2014)

> The body is likely beech not oak. I have the same one at home, I found this website that will narrow the window of manufacture some but not much. http://www.oldtooluser.com/typestudy/stanno25tbevtypestudy.htm
> 
> - TechTeacher04


Thanks Tech
Your probably correct. I mistook the beach for oak. The other side had rays and flecks so I mistakenly identified it for oak, forgetting Beech when quarter sawn contains flecks and rays.


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## sawdust1whisperer (Nov 11, 2014)

> Strange, usually see them in rosewood. I was thinking it had to do with rosewood ban, but they also did stuff around WW2 where they switched to lower cost woods purely for profit reasons before the ban. That one also looks like a stainless steel blade so that may be the best clue to dating that.
> 
> - SMP


Thanks for the reply SMP. I was wondering the same thing so I tested it with a magnet and it picked it up.
There's also a discoloration on it I can't account for. 
I tried using Autosol on it but it wouldn't buff out. 
Could be lacquer over spray, can't remember that.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Have a few different versions…









Rosewood, Brass and steel…..I think I have one with a walnut handle…somewhere…

Beats them black plastic things floating around…


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

I was trying to find info I looked up before when researching old guitars. There was some issue in the early 70s with getting rosewood, so some guitars like Martin the last rosewood body guitars were like 1971 or 1973ish. Can't find what I am looking for though.


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## sawdust1whisperer (Nov 11, 2014)

> I was trying to find info I looked up before when researching old guitars. There was some issue in the early 70s with getting rosewood, so some guitars like Martin the last rosewood body guitars were like 1971 or 1973ish. Can't find what I am looking for though.
> 
> - SMP


Sounds like your on to something SMP.
There seems to have been a shortage of rosewood and it may have started to become to expensive for stanly to use it on their NO 25 T Bevels. Rosewood and ebony seem to have gone on and off the endangered list the latest inforcement of the Lacey Acr was the Gibson Guitar Co. in 2009 and 2011 when all wood and guitars made from Ebony and Rosewood from Madagascar were seized at two factories using the Lacey act that was created by congress in 1900.


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## sawdust1whisperer (Nov 11, 2014)

> Have a few different versions…
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Bandit. Your right. In my research to find when Stanley started making this type handle I noticed they now make them from plastic. I was glad I had this one.


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

This briefly mentions it if you scroll down to the section titled Indian rosewood, not exactly what I was looking for but you see what I mean:
https://reverb.com/news/70s-martins-what-you-need-to-know

BTW, here is my main one I use, which I believe is from the 40s. Note the blued blade, and the older style lever before they used wing nuts. I got it from a guy in his 70s and it was his dad's. Most of his tools were 30s-50s.


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## sawdust1whisperer (Nov 11, 2014)

-
[/QUOTE]



> This briefly mentions it if you scroll down to the section titled Indian rosewood, not exactly what I was looking for but you see what I mean:
> https://reverb.com/news/70s-martins-what-you-need-to-know
> 
> BTW, here is my main one I use, which I believe is from the 40s. I got it from a guy in his 70s and it was his dad's. Most of his tools were 30s-50s.
> ...


SMP thanks for the information 
Now I have a time frame of when Stanley switched to Beech, it
could be1969 forward. According to that Martin article.

I wish someone that worked at the Stanley factory when the switch happened would read this discussion.


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

What makes me most curious is where they got the QS Beech. That was usually used for moulding planes, which wasn't something stanley really made. And i believe they stopped making transitional planes long before. So I wonder if they had a stash of it somewhere or bought a company that used to make moulding planes that had a stash. Or maybe it was way easier to get, cause its really hard to find QS Beech now, especially in the US. There is an interesting story in all of this.


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## sawdust1whisperer (Nov 11, 2014)

That's a nice sliding bevel SPM. 
I think sometimes when Beech is plain sawn the boards close to the center of the log the grain sometime runs perpendicular to rings.

I use a lot of red and white oak. 
I notice on some red oak boards the sides sometimes have flecks.









Red oak with rays and flecks on their sides.


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