From: Patrick Leach Newsgroups: rec.woodworking Subject: Re: Stanley Box Types? Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 07:53:17 EDT Message-ID: <9510111153.AA26284@tubuai.bedford.progress.COM> "Sexton, J. Andrew" writes: >Has anyone pulled this study together? Not that I know of. I'll do a brain spasm of my observances - The earliest boxes are unknown, since the chance of finding many common planes (bench and block) made in 1870, in their original boxes, is fairly remote. They quite possible may have been made of wood since there does exist several Millers Patents, made at that time, in their original wooden boxes. It's impossible to tell whether the same material was used for the other planes, since this was a special purpose, and expensive, plane that had an extra feature which allowed the plane to be stored in the box with its arms attached (I had a chance to buy one of the first ones ever to surface, and like the idiot I am, punted since I didn't think it was origi- nal). The #51/#51 chute board came packed with excelsior in a wooden box. But this is a later plane, made after 1900. Its size made it necessary for a packaging material more rigid than cardboard. Planes that were meant to be stored in boxes were provided with packaging that could last for years (see below). By the late 1870's, Stanley was shipping stuff in cardboard boxes. These boxes are white in color, and are more like a wrapper, stapled around the tool. The label is also white with black printing. I've only seen one plane, a #9 1/2, in a box from this era. During the 1880's the box was colored a lime green. These are true boxes with reinforced corners and a top that slides over a bottom. The labels are white, or a lighter green, with black printing, and if there is room enough (on the larger boxes), a printed picture of the tool. These boxes are quite scarce for the larger tools, like planes, but are around for the smaller tools, like trammel points, bit gauges, etc. The transitional planes, the wood bottoms, were offered wrapped in paper pre-1900. I've only seen the tattered remains of one such 'box'. It looked as if you simply wrapped a plane in newspaper, then slapped a label along a seem (one wonders if plane wrappers cut their teeth first by wrapping fish dockside?). Around the turn of the century is when the hideous orange boxes made their debut. The labels on these boxes are deep green with white printing. Carrying the tradition of putting a picture of the tool on the box, the earliest green labels often have a picture of the tool to the left. The labels have pro- nounced notches at each of the corners. The plane's number is printed in large letters to the right. Between the picture and the number is a description of the box's contents. It's possible to find these labels on boxes that contain planes made at a later date. Stanley was simply using up their supply of labels. These picture labels were used widely up until around WWI. During that time, many of the labels had the picture removed, and the new script logo of Stanley added. The description of the tool is moved to the left of the label, and the logo is between the description and the number, which is still located to the right. After WWI, the printing on the labels became less busy - there was more green background and less whit printing. The notching at the corners of the labels is less pronounced, Most of the labels have the familiar sweetheart logo, as tiny as it is, at the middle of the label. Towards WWII, the orange paper became textured, with a sorta fine weaved appearance to its surface. The sweetheart logo was dropped ca. 1935. After WWII, the notching to the label disappeared. The latest orange boxes have external corner reinforcements made of metal. The cardboard's thickness is noticeably thinner than the older boxes. These boxes were used during the 1950's. By around 1960, the tried and true orange was dumped for a flourescent yellow, and the boxes continued to use the metal corner reinforcements. Stanley made so much stuff that it's impossible to enumerate all the box styles. What I just listed is stuff I've observed used for most of the planes that Stanley made. There are some examples that have labels which have white backgrounds with green or black printing. These boxes were made right around WWII, so there may have been an interruption to their source of the green labels. During the picture box era, the smaller boxes, owing to the size of the planes, didn't have the printed details, nor the pictures, that the larger planes' boxes did. Stanley also packed their 2nd quality stuff in different boxes. I have a sweetheart era #17, marked "IMPERFECT", which is in a flimsy (for the era) cardboard box. The label is white with black printing. There is ab- solutely no mention on the box that it's a Stanley product. Planes that were meant to be stored in boxes, like the #45, #55, #444, came packed in boxes that could withstand heavier use. These planes came packed in wooden boxes that have finger joints and a sliding top (there is a very early #45 in a green cardboard box). These wooden boxes just had the green label affixed to one end. The wooden boxes became too ex- pensive to produce, so Stanley offered the planes (#45 and #55) in metal boxes, painted the familiar orange with painted labels. Stanley also, for a short time, offered the same two planes in orange painted wooden boxes with thier insides containing compartments to hold the parts in place when the plane wasn't in use. They later settled upon cardboard, although a much heavier cardboard with cloth reinforcements at the corners, as the box for these planes. I've only seen the #444 is the wooden box and the heavy cardboard box. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick Leach Just say If you read all the way to here, seek professional help. etc. --------------------------------------------------------------------------