Out for a ride with my father, sister, and niece yesterday; handled a bunch of overpriced tools in four antiquey-shoppes along rt6 in central northern-tier of PA.
Two soft-face hammers in one place caught my attention. They had identical heads with brass spacers separating the rusty steel from the worn-away plastic tips, but the handles were different. By means of the remnants of orange paint clinging to one, I managed to convince myself that it was a Stanley-made Bonney PH-15. But after removing the rust and crud, and weighing the head, I doubt it. The head is 12oz - Bonney offered 8oz and 16oz models, but not 12oz, and none of the catalog illustrations show anything like the brass spacers. Even the handle, which at first encouraged me, isn't right. The bottom is flat instead of rounded, and shows the center marks from the lathe, so it hasn't been cut or worn flat. After cleaning the crud off the wood, the legend "D.OGDEN" shows. I assume that is the owner, not the maker.
Ah well, it's still a good hammer. I just wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't thought it was Bonney. There was a 4" S-shaped adjustable wrench made by Oswego Tool Co I would have bought instead. Damn you, Orange Paint!
To console myself, I pawed around in my dad's tools and found a pair of 10" Button pliers, made by the original manufacturer.
