Unfortunately today it seems as if the woodworking hand tool has very much become the second-class citizen in many tool shops around the world. It seems that more and more people are ready to use power tools such as table saws and band saws for carrying out those tasks that were once only done using hand tools.
Although power tools can be very useful, there is much that can be said for the hand tool as well. In fact one company that seems to keep going even in this world of power mad woodworkers is Stanley Woodworking Hand Tools.
The Stanley Company has been around now for more than 160 years and is familiar to people in more than 130 different countries across the globe. Certainly the name of Stanley Tools has been familiar to woodworkers and homeowners for all this time.
Originally the company was set up by Frederick T Stanley in New Britain, Connecticut to produce door bolts. But since it humble beginnings the company has now flourished into one of the biggest suppliers of locks, woodworking and hand tools that is easily recognizable around the world.
Certainly if you were to look in any good woodworking workshop around the world and not just a professional one you will find that they will have an assortment of various Stanley woodworking hard tools in their tool racks or boxes.
Certainly one of the most successful items that Stanley has ever produced is the Stanley Plane. Since the 1870's Stanley have sold millions of their cast iron hand planes much of which are based on patents that they purchased from Leonard Bailey of Boston, Massachusetts. They so perfected this tool that many modern day plane makers still use a lot of the same principals in their tools.
Since the first plane was manufactured the Stanley woodworking hand tool division of Stanley has purchased many other patents as well as entire plane manufacturing companies and have also continued to improve the design of their planes right up until the first half of the 20th Century.
It is because the Stanley company has been around for so long and are so well associated with the world of woodworking and producing such high quality hand tools that they seem to be able to compete effectively with power tools.
So when you are next considering purchasing some good quality equipment for your carpentry workshop then I would suggest that you look no further than buying some Stanley woodworking hand tools.
