Recent content by wolfcj

It occurred to me today that this might be in one of my vintage catalogs, and, sure enough, here it is in the 1982 Consumer Products catalog. I also realized today that B&D didn't have a specific housewares division until a few years later when they purchased the Housewares Division of General...

The Stowaway Step stool was introduced in 1979, produced by their Housewares division, along with Dustbusters, clothes irons, and the like, not the Tools Division, so there was no relation to the Workmate that I know of. It was on the market until the mid-1980's. However, in 1995 they also...

The blue metal frame goes all the way back to the first Workmates made by Ron Hickman's Mate Tools Company, before Black & Decker bought the rights. https://h-frame.weebly.com/mate-tools-workmate.html Most of the UK Workmates from Black & Decker continued with the blue frames into the 1980's...

The 79-001 is now a 44-to-52-year-old model; no parts available.

You didn't say what model your Workmate is, but I'll guess that it's a 79-001. Original replacements are no longer available, but you can modify a handle from a newer model to work. See my web page about how to do this: https://h-frame.weebly.com/handle-replacement.html

Very cool photo!

That's why I was careful to say "From the components I can see", and to include the link for your information. I didn't think the feet on yours were visible in the photos you posted. Checking again and enlarging the photo, I can make them out in the shadow.

Some don't have a date stamp for reasons I have never figured out. I show that you reported the dates for your other two, made within 4 days of each other in January 1977 (702 23 and 702 62—a rare Saturday one). From the components I can see on your latest, it was made between September 1975...

I just came across what is now the earliest North American Workmate made at Brockville, Ontario that I have found. It's a 79-001 Type 1 (of course) for sale on Kijiji, located in Ontario. Its date code is 440 4, which translates to October 3, 1974. This makes it about 10 days earlier than the...

Thanks, that makes yours the earliest one I have documented with the revised leg clip, manufactured May 11, 1977.

There's a pair of early Workmate "swivel grips" in unopened packaging on eBay right now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/317345443859 Your second Workmate is of particularly interest to me. Yours was made in the spring of 1977 and it might help me narrow down further the date of a change they made in...

Yes, there are would-be owners who would pay much more than $5 for it. The trick is finding them. The only flaw I see in the photo is that it's missing one of the eight rubber feet it should have. You can read about the 79-001 Type E at my web site: https://h-frame.weebly.com/79-001-type-e.html

Here is probably the best view of the Workmate in that episode "Breaking Point".

Episode 9 of season 2 of "The Rookie", called "Breaking Point", is scheduled to be shown next Friday, July 11, on the Lifetime network at 6 p.m. EDT. It's also available on Hulu.

The Workmate appears for the second time in that episode at about 28:55. I'm now pretty sure it's a Workmate 200, which would have been new that year. That could support the idea that this appearance was product placement.