# The Complete Stanley Hand Tool Collection?



## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Just wondering… other than perhaps a museum in New Britain CT, or possibly a catalog of some sort, is there anybody in the world that has attempted to collect one of each Stanley tool, by numerical designation? y'know, like a #95 butt- scribe, Miter boxes, tape measures, wooden levels….
*anyone know of a private collection*? What, maybe 5000 tools, and I'm not even suggesting hinges and hasps or other hardware… That would be cool!


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

I don't even know if there is a book with pictures of such a thing.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Being about 20 minutes away from new britski id have a season pass! No such luck that i know of though.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Catalog #34. I'd like one of everything in here…


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

@smitty: I gotta get me one of those catalogs! There's gotta be somebody out there who has put together a Stanley collection in numerical order. Yes, I know, Stanley used the same number we associate with a plane, to designate other tools. Confusing, but the mega-collector knows all about it! Where is this person?
Don..possibly this could be the next step, when the collecting bug subsides…Not!


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

I've got the one above in my nightstand, and thumb through it alot… That's weird, I know. But it's also relaxing.


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## Dcase (Jul 7, 2010)

Smitty, you thumb through it? No no no… You should make photo copies of all the pages and then put the original in plastic with a cardboard backer like you would a comic book. What kind of collector are you??? hahaha


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

I bought this book hoping it was something like you describe, but it didn't even come close.

@Smitty, I've looked at buying those catalogs, but they don't come cheap either. A catalog or another plane, how do you decide?

A correction of what Dan wrote, "Smitty, you thumb through it? No no no… You should make photo copies of all the pages and then put the original in plastic with a cardboard backer like you would a comic book. Then paste the copies through out your shop. What kind of collector are you??? hahaha"


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

Yes, I thumb through it! And I drool on occasion too. Bwah-ha-haa!


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

Poopie, I have no idea; however, the Smithsonian museum has far more items behind closed doors and locked away in warehouses than what they display. I'm sure they don't have all of them but however many they do have I'd love to see them all out on tables. People donate whole collections of all kinds of things as time goes by.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## sikrap (Mar 15, 2009)

There is a gentleman in Shaftsbury, Vt. that runs a private museum of Stanley tools. I had the pleasure of speaking with him one day and he told me that he has (almost) every tool Stanley made.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

Dave, I have lived within 15 minutes of Shaftsbury VT my whole life. I've. Never heard of that guy. Shaftsbury VT had a running Stanley plant up until a few years ago. I believe they made mostly the levels.


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## dhazelton (Feb 11, 2012)

I saw a very nice 1950s or 60s Stanley motorized plane with a helical knife head yesterday at a yard sale. It had a rosewood tote just like a handplane and was only $10. But I have way too many paperweights that were only $10 already. I just thought it was neat as I never knew they ever made such a thing.


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## cjwillie (Sep 6, 2011)

I had a friend, he died about 4 years ago, that was an avid collector of not only Stanley, but Winchester, Keen Kutter, Millers Falls, and some I never heard of. He was constantly going to auctions, garage sales, flea markets, and E-bay looking for tools. He had several of each rare or unusual tool. There were thousands of tools everywhere. He had to put an addition on his house just for the collection. It was nothing for him to spend $5000 at an antique tool auction, several times a month. I'm sure his collection was worth well over a million dollars at the time of his death. The whole collection was taken to Donnelly's Auctions to be sold. I wish I was able to attend! I learned a lot about some great old tools from him. I still think of him whenever I find an old tool that I'm not sure what it is or what it's worth. The greatest value I saw in all those old tools was the education I got about them and a great friend.


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## sikrap (Mar 15, 2009)

Don, I can only tell you that that's what he told me. He said he had worked at the Stanley plant and that was how he acquired most of them. He did give me a card. If I can find it, I'll post the info. Who knows, maybe we can plan a LJ get together at this place.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Y'know…I was wondering…could we put together perhaps an online scrapbook of Stanley tools? Hmmm how would we organize it? Like.. all stanley planes, a pic of each 'type', a section on levels, a section on marking tools, and perhaps even a section for clapboard gauges? And then a second volume for Sargent, Millers Falls…. etc. an online photo depository, with watermarked photos. There's gotta be a way to manage the influx of photos, to compile a coherent progressive group of pics. Can we do this within Lumberjocks, or would we need a independent website, a wikipedia-like compendium of viewer-supplied pics. Somebody with higher vision than me would know how to pull this off…and it would be an epic project!!! Your thoughts?


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

Dave, that would be GREAT!!


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## cjwillie (Sep 6, 2011)

Great idea! This could get really big. There are a lot of uncommon old Stanley tools out there in collections and workshops. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes up.


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## sikrap (Mar 15, 2009)

Umm, it seems I was mistaken. He doesn't live in Shaftsbury, he lives in Manchester Center. I'm definitely going to go over and check out his "museum". If anyone else is interested in going, let me know and we'll put something together for a group of us to head over and get to meet each other as well.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

Count me in.


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## JuniorJoiner (Dec 24, 2008)

Back before there was Lie-Nielsen, and after the quality makers had closed up. if you wanted great tools, you had to hunt. and since it was also before e-bay, there was a business catering to woodworkers and collectors. 
these old catalogs of tools for sale are a amazing education on what is out there, and probably the most complete inventory of quality tools.


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## sikrap (Mar 15, 2009)

@Don- Well, there are at least 2 of us ) Let's pick a day and see who else we can get to join us. The only time(s) bad for me is the weekend of July 7 & 8.


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