Old Stanley screwdrivers

[pcolbeck]

I have recently picked up several old wooden handled Stanley screwdrivers and am going to clean them up and restore them.
I have noticed that they all have a thin ring of what was obviously some coloured material that has faded and started to disintegrate on most of them just before the chrome feroule joins the shaft.
Mine look like they would have been red, yellow and some of them white. Does anyone have an idea on what the rings were made from and what the colour represent or any links to information on old Stanley screwdrivers.

 

[ED65]

I don't recall seeing any old Stanley screwdrivers with a coloured ring below the ferrule, but over the years they have made a great many different models so that's not saying much, and I could easily have seen other examples of what you have there where the ring has just disintegrated completely.

What are the tips like, any badly mangled ones or are they in decent enough shape?

 

[pcolbeck]

The tips are OKish. A touch up on the grinder will sort them.

 

[pcolbeck]

Here are some Stanley 55s with a red ring, not mine I just found the image on google).

 

[ED65]

Now that I see them yes, I could easily have seen one or two of those with the rings missing. As the plastic (celluloid?) projects it doesn't look like it would take much abuse to damage them and when I see wood-handled screwdrivers they're often in terrible shape, where in addition to any hardships experienced in their former lives they'll often have rolled around in a box of rusty tools for months going to successive car boots looking for a buyer.

Just to mention, you may find you need to do a bit on the the flats of one or two. With old drivers the ends may have been addressed a couple of times over the years and this moves the edge back, and as the tip is typically a wedge shape (in two directions) they end up both wider and thicker than they once were.

To return them to original spec where they'll probably prove most useful some filing of the flats is in order. Member AES posted a monograph on files and filing that is now a sticky in the Metalwork forum here and there's a pic or three showing this, here's the link if you need it.

 

[Rhyolith]

I have alot of these, red and yellow versions. I would be interested to know what the colours mean, might take a loom through the old catalogues see if it says.

They all had black painted handles originally.

Very good screwdrivers!

 

[Rhyolith]

According to the american stanely catalog from 1934 the rings are for insulation as the screwdrivers were meant for electricains.

 

[Rhyolith]

Heres the drawing.

 

[AndyT]

Thanks for that, Rhyolith. I have one, with a red plastic ring on. It's an excellent screwdriver but I'd not realised it was insulated.

 

[pcolbeck]

That's interesting. I'm not sure how the insulation was supposed to work since its a ring round a metal component and the shaft goes right through it anyway. I might find a really crappy one and saw it in half to have a look.

 

[AES]

Thanks for the "publicity" ED65

FWIW to the OP, personally I find it MUCH easier to "touch up" screwdriver blades with a file than with a grinder (or belt) - UNLESS you have a real large amount to cut back, and even then, with the right file it goes pretty quickly. The problem I find with using a grinder (or a disc/belt) is that everything happens too quickly, and difficult to get exactly the right angle at 1st "stab". And it's TOO easy to accidental ruin the temper of the blade - but that's probably all just ham-fisted me!

Also FWIW, I also have several "old" Stanley screwdrivers, including some inherited from my Dad when he died in 1977, but all of them have plastic handles, even though they were quite old when he died. I wonder just how long plastic handles have been the norm?

 

[pcolbeck]

A lot of what we think of as plastic handles were actually cellulose acetate. Acetate isn't made from petroleum products but from wood pulp and cotton. It was discovered mid 19th century but industrial use only took off in the early 20th. No idea when it became the norm for screwdriver handles. Probably in the 50s or 60s.

 

[Eric The Viking]

I've got a wet, "Tormekalike" grinder. It's not much use for sharpening, but it's handy for repairing damaged edges, etc. (and doing primary bevels). It's also pretty good for cabinet screwdrivers, because a careful hollow grind gives you a nice square tip. I completely get the problem of overdoing it - you have to sneak up on the final finish, but it's brought one back into use recently.

At my desk at the moment but I'll try to add a pic later...

E>

 

[ED65]

That's interesting. I'm not sure how the insulation was supposed to work since its a ring round a metal component and the shaft goes right through it anyway.

Took me a minute or two to get it, as I read it it insulates the bolster from the ferrule so you can't get a shock from that. If the pictures in the 1926 catalogue are detailed enough to go on they previously did this another way, because the nos. 25 and 55 screwdrivers (both listed as having an "insulated head for electricians use [sic]") didn't have that Pyralin washer then.

Incidentally Pyralin is celluloid as I'd theorised.

 

[swb58]

I've got a wet, "Tormekalike" grinder. It's not much use for sharpening, but it's handy for repairing damaged edges, etc. (and doing primary bevels). It's also pretty good for cabinet screwdrivers, because a careful hollow grind gives you a nice square tip. I completely get the problem of overdoing it - you have to sneak up on the final finish, but it's brought one back into use recently.

At my desk at the moment but I'll try to add a pic later...

E>

+1 for the hollow grind. Making the end straight and square Is only half the battle.