ok, I'll watch. but just for fun and even though they may not easily make silky smooth shavings, they are part of the tool history. Do we even know the years they were made?

 

The Handyman line was the budget line. It took the place of the Defiance line of tools. That's right, tools. Each line up had a full range of tools. I even havd a trisquare with that red handle, with "Handyman" cast into it. Used to have a line up of three bench planes and a block plane. I am starting to change over to Millers Falls tools, so my Handyman tools (except for that square) are now sold off.

A #3, A #4, and a #5 size. Look at the totes as well. Some have almost no "foot" others have a normal foot.

Some had a chip breaker painted red, too.

Some are quite good, some…......

 

Years made? I think they started back in the 1950s?

 

Hmmm… I do think we could put together a list of individual planes, with their distinct differences. Then, we could maybe figure out the genesis for the line, what they looked like and how they changed from year to year. Then we can work toward an answer to Don's question… when WERE they made??? Someday… a Handyman Blood and Gore... with apologies to Patrick Leach.

 

Yeah, Bandit!! I wonder when hammertone finishes became the rage, it was undoubtedly the 1950's. Note also the kidney shaped holes in the lever caps, another giveaway. I'll have to dig up my Popular Mechanics magazines and see if there are ads for Handyman stuff.

 

should be a handyman snot and tears.......

 

I say let them rest in peace (or rust in pieces?).

 

My very first hand plane was a Handyman,bought it from ebay but while I was waiting for it to to be shipped I did a google search on it and boy ,everyone gave it a thumbs down,it felt like I couldn't have bought a worse plane so when I received it I just put it away ,later on I bought a couple of decent Canadian /US made planes and compared them to the old HANDYMAN,then I realised why it was inferior ,it weighed less ,looked rough and crude .
I use it just as often as my better planes which is not often LOL.;

 

Also in the tool box with the Handyman Square

A small, fancy screwdriver.

 

Don't go hating on Stanley now just because they learned how to market to a broader audience in the 50's. Yes, a lot of the line was cheaper, but some pieces were just rebranded from their regular line.
In addition to all the planes:
The handyman line included a set of chisels in a pouch - plastic handles that were squarish (flat front/back with rounded sides). I I've had/sold two sets that were a clear/gray color and I think there was another one with clear/red color handles.
t also had a few Yankee screwdrivers - at least the 233H, 133H and 433H if not more.
There were a few braces - the H1250/1253.
There was a small set of regular auger bits that is hard to find now.
They made individual socket chisels with cheap wooden handles, don't know the number but I don't see them that much so they either melt in direct sunlight or are getting rare.
Block planes that were copies of the #110 but with decals on the red lever cap.
I had (might still be buried somewhere) a small bench vise that bolts onto the bench but only if your bench was about 1" thick or less. It has 1.5-2" jaws on it.
An eggbeater drill.
There was at least one style square.
They also sold tool sets in wooden or cardboard boxes. Those included a short saw (very hard to find) and the brace also came with up to six screwdriver bits - 3 regular and 3 phillips.

 

... and I'll bet they are better made than the Chinese junk sold in Big Blue and Big Orange today !

 

I have a few handyman bar 6" bar clamps. They don't have very much clamping power, but at 4 for 50 cents it was hard to pass up.

 

This is my Dunlap push drill that I restored. I striped the old black paint off and the red stuff and made it purdy.

 

Oh, well…you guys are probably right. All the good research projects have already been taken, and done well. Perhaps I'll just break up my Handymans and create a spare parts depot on eBay….the frog screws have got to have some value, at least…or are they inferior too? Or, I'll donate them locally. Postal charges alone (Canada) preclude any incentive to sell them on eBay. Heck, I know I've got less than $100 tied up in those in the pic above.

Still, it's fun to talk about Stanley's dark days of plane making!

 

The Handyman line took over from the Defiance line.

Strange thing is, I once had a Handyman #1204, and a Companion #4 sized plane. Other than what was cast into the lever caps, and stamped on the irons, they were the same exact plane

except the Sears Companion could take thinner shavings. Don't know why…

 

Interesting comparison, Bandit! Somewhere, somebody has to have the authoritative last word on this this plane geneology of the last gasp of USA-produced planes in the latter half of the 20th century. Why this body of information has never been dug up and made public, I'll never know. I find the North American hand plane Swan Song to be as fascinating as the early days of plane production. (Glad we still have an upscale plane manufacturing base in North America!)

 

PK, we just wanna know how many planes do you REALLY have?
Bill

 

Aw, crap, Bill do I hafta count them again? BRB

[Edit:] Not many, really. Not counting spoke shaves or scraper planes, approx. 229. My Stanley 45s are counted as one apiece, even though they're 7 planes in one. Almost half are my weird collection of off-brand #3s and #4s, (A pictorial blog is coming about those.. soon), about 1/4 are my transitionals, and most of the rest are my core users, and boxed fresh NOS planes. Well, ok, also the additional 27 spoke shaves. I'll toss in one more stat: 18 sharpening stones, 12 grinding wheels, and 4 felt buffers, and some days I do actually get some work done. That's more than John Travolta; he only has two planes… he keeps his at his own house, too.

 

A Handyman Tri-square

VS a Defiance square

Been around awhile…

 

Thanks, Bandit! I swore I'd never bring home another vintage square, but I like the look of that 'Defiance'! I'd like to find an example of those that had the little scribe secretly threaded into the base, by the level. The old Starrets had that feature, maybe a few Stanleys too. So I should buy one more, right?

 

Model Number on the Defiance Square is #1221. One of the scales is in 32nds.

The other side of that Handyman Square actuallu shows a Handyman at work!

Not too bad a little square, though…

 

PK, I have a wide range of combo squares including a Defiance that was Grampa's , all have the scribe, not threaded in, fitted into a kind of friction fit roll pin in the base, and that includes some new ones.
It's pretty much useless other than , yes, it is complete. Things are so small they make a better cork board
pin than a scribe.

 

I almost bought a handyman combo square this weekend just to show I'm not completely prejudiced, but the price was to high for a low quality tool. And it was thin and light.

 

Just got done TRYING to tune up a BLUE nightmare of a smoothing plane, is there anything they didn't paint? A lever arm made from silly putty, warped frog etc. etc. etc. My friend is convinced its worth the effort. Think I'll hit the flea market Sunday and get him a proper 4.

 

Oh, the handyman #4 can be made to plane nicely

Just a bit fussy, is all. Not made for a Pro Cabinet maker, but for the average Homeowner, needing to fix things around the house.