English-made Stanley screwdriver?

[Southern Forester]

I picked up at a local hardware store sale a couple of new Stanley screwdrivers that are marked "Made in England." The item code is 66-049 and as far as I can tell looks like the ones in this link:

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/371508227704-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

I can't be absolutely certain as I can't access Ebay at work. In any case, it's a 3" slotted screwdriver that looks to be a decent one. It feels something like the Witte Napa Pro screwdrivers I have.

Who in England makes screwdrivers and what is their quality? Frankly, as they set me back about $1.75 each, I'm not concerned, but it'd be nice to know who actually manufactured them.

 

[SteveW1000]

Stanley have had manufacturing facilities in England since before the second world war. Planes, hammers, chisels, knives, screwdrivers and tape measures have all been and in many cases are still made here.

 

[Dave455]

Well, basically, Stanley make (or at least made) screwdrivers in England.

As I understsnd it, after the war they shifted the majority of their production to the U.K. (They already had one factory here) I think just about everything was made here, Screwdrivers, Chisels, Saws, Hammers, Hand drills, even 'Yankee' Screwdrivers were made here, although some items continued to be made in the U.S.A. (screwdrivers being one) presumably for the U.S. market!

Some of the British made tools were incredibly high quality - I'm thinking of the old wood handle screwdrivers for example, but in most cases Stanley were starting to cost cut, and the British made planes, for example, were never quite the same quality as their pre war counterparts!

Some items, such as the 5000 pattern screwdrivers, introduced in the late 60's, were designed and built in the U.K. purely for the British and European market. Other patterns were 'similar' to their U.S. counterparts, but you could tell them apart! Quality was fine on all but the cheapest pattern, though those may have been imported anyway!

Sadly, quality has steadily declined. The last of the British made drivers would have been the crappy 'magnum's, but since then just about everything has been outsourced and quality has declined to the point where few of the tools are really fit for the purpose!

Stanley still offer some stuff that's made in the U.K. but I'm not sure where since I'm pretty sure that their old factory is empty!

Post a pic of the driver and I'll tell you who exactly made it!

 

[davethorik]

I recently bought some Stanley strikeable wood chisels that were made in England. Only used them a handful of times but they seem decent. I think they were on sale at Lowe's.

 

[Fedwrench]

I have a set of Stanley demolition screwdrivers and the Proto red/grey trilobal handled screwdrivers that were all made in England. They seem nicely made.

 

[SMKS]

As already noted, the screwdrivers in question look somewhat similar to the Proto screwdrivers made in England. Likely they're made in the same or similar facilities. That's not surprising, as SBD owns Proto.

 

[Southern Forester]

So is the manufacturing facility a Stanley-owned plant or is it a supplier such as Pratt and Read?

 

[Dave455]

Stanley had at least 3 seperate sites in the Sheffeld area, all Stanley owned, and offices! I believe they are now down to one site in Hellaby (and the offices) but it is theirs not a suppliers!

The big factory, in Rutland Road which everybody thinks of as 'The Stanley Works' was vacated a few years back. There was another, smaller, place in Woodside Lane (also now vacated) but I'm not sure what was made there.

I drove past the Rutland Road factory when it was still operational, and although it was a sizeable place, the newest bits had a 60's feel and even they were tatty. The oldest bits dated back to the 19th century, and I can well imagine that the place was unsuited to modern production, not that that's any excuse for diving the quality and outsourcing just about everything!

The Rutland Road factory is now derelict, and I expect the site will end up as housing (more people, less jobs - how does that work?). Woodside Lane is obviously occupied by someone else.

Stanley have other sites in the U.K. but I wouldn't like to say how many, if any, are factories. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the (very few) British made tools are outsourced too, but then again I don't know how many British factories could, or would want to, supply stuff as cheap and crappy as Stanley would want.

Firms such as Henry Taylor, Robert Sorby or even Crown, for example, could undoubtedly make some lovely chisels, but I don't know if they could make them cheap enough for Stanley to sell on at a margin?

 

[Southern Forester]

So these screwdrivers are likely just old stock that hadn't been sold? I picked them up at a hardware discounter place, sort of like a Big Lots but for hardware (and good hardware at that). I picked up a couple of US-made Council axes, a bunch of Vaughn hammers, Jackson sledges, BIN primer, a couple of Allen-brand US made socket sets, and other things for cheap over the past two years. The socket sets became graduation presents for males in my family (might as well start off with a decent set of US-made tools for the car, right?).

All of that is to say that this place could have bought out the inventory of a hardware store going out of business and these screwdrivers were in the mix. Lacking a date on the packaging, they could be ten years old.

 

[Jmonnty]

Stanley has new production in England on their pro driver lines.