What's new
What's new

Harbor Freight reproduces a rare Stanley tool

mixdenny

Cast Iron
Joined
Feb 5, 2005
Location
North Olmsted, Ohio
I was walking through the local Harbor Freight when I spotted the unmistakable little 'dog house' of the Stanley #1 Odd Jobs tool! What a quirky tool to reproduce. Fairly well done, a brass casting with a 12" maple rule. The caasting is nowhere near as fancy as the Stanley, but decent quality.
 

Attachments

  • ODDJOB.JPG
    ODDJOB.JPG
    41.3 KB · Views: 5,510
The amazing thing is they are even using Stanley's name for it.... the "Odd Job"...... I guess it pays to renew any copy-writes you may have.....
 
Ya gotta watch these...

...repops although Harbor Freight may actually be selling a tool that can be used.

I once got in a spirited Email conversation with the "head historian" at Stanley tools. A fine fellow with historical interests at heart, we were discussing a reproduction "Millers Patent" combination plane that the folks at Franklin Mint were offering under Stanley license.

Priced at slightly under a hundred dollars, the repop looked appealing. But the brochure included a caviet "For Display Only" which to me indicates "non-functional." I made an inquiry to Stanley about the wisdom of spending a bunch of money to make and buy "non-functional" when perhaps a third more $ would make "functional" a fact. I even pointed out to him the marketplace demand for upper end user hand tools and the success that Lie-Nielson was having with other former Stanley Products.

Also I noted that Stanley currently did not offer anything along the lines of a plow plane and that a true Stanley Miller functional repop would be certain to be a success again due to lack of current producers. It would be a blast from the past that would make every tool afficionado/historian happy (except those few with original Miller's appreciating on the shelf) And a worthy goal for a Stanley 150th year commemorative in 1997.

The reply I got back from him was sympathetic to my point of view, to say the least. However he did indicate there was market demand for "static display" tools which was a market that Franklin Mint was exploring at their own risk. And that while I was probably right in that a functional Miller Patent plane could be made, he was glad to not be the engineer who would have to make it happen for less than $200 each delivered. He also pointed out the limited market for upper end user tools and that the current used tool marketplace seemed to satisfy demand.

(Sure if you want to spend $500 for a usable Miller Patent plane. Money that would be a week's earnings for an interior joiner - and a pile of junk for www.backyardcasting.com should it be inadvertantly dropped.)

We concluded our discourse in good humor but neither really seeing the interests of the other except in general terms.

And I note that Franklin Mint hasn't exactly shut out the mantle and coffee table available space yet with their repop miller planes. Also noted that Lie Nielson is still going great guns and widening their functional upper end user planes availability.

Now if Lie Nielson would only make a #2 Stanley/Bailey in cast iron. I'll give the collectors the #1 S/B terrain.

Best,
Joe
 
I think it was...

...Veritas who a year ago showed a pix of this early Miller on the cover of their catalog.

Veritas themselves make a very good product (anything they do) but tend towards the "modern" stylistically. The early Miller was a surprise on their catalog but it was a pleasure to see Hamler as someone doing repops (actually one-offs in multitude.) Likely he maintains quality levels higher than the originals which were mass produced.

Makes me think of the Phillips Plow Plane I inherited and later sold. It was a nice ornate plane, made in the late 1860s by C.C. Harlow of Bridgewater, MA where my family was from. It wasn't a real good operating plane, however. The side rakes on the specialized irons used were relatively ineffective at clearing the groove and made plane operation difficult. So I sold it through a local antique tool dealer.

Turns out only 6 planes of this ilk are extant. (!) It it pictured prominently in PTAMPA 1827-1927 by Smith.

One never knows.

With that level of scarcity, it's better off in the hands of a collector rather than a user anyway. (sour grapes)

Best,
Joe in NH
 
So what does it do. And hod do you use it.
David/toledo

It is a square (90 and 45 degrees), a depth gage, a level and plumb, a depth marking tool for mortises, and of course, a rule. It has an extendable pivot point to scribe arcs and circles. I'm probably overlooking a few things. Basically a combination square with a fancy shape and an added pivot. After Googling a bit, I see they are all over the web, sold by several companies. Garrett Wade is selling it for $45, it appears to be the same casting! One online dealer is offering an original with box for $1500 to give you a comparison.

Dennis
 








 
Back
Top