Craftsman stamps

Cooter Brown said:
Here's another Craftsman stamp I don't thing has been in the thread yet.

It's on a boy's axe that was my grandfather's. I don't have any idea how old it is, but Granddad was born in 1894 and most of the tools he had were '30s and '40s vintage, some older.

It's a nice little axe and takes a good edge.

Cman%20Boys%20Axe%20Logo_zpshmblw41r.jpg
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That's a new one for me. Thanks for posting it. The font looks similar to my craftsman but your oval is different - shaped more like the double oval.
 
Double ovals are from the late 30's into 40's if I remember right, as are singles. Maybe representing different quality lines for them?
 
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DarthTaco123 said:
Double ovals are from the late 30's into 40's if I remember right, as are singles. Maybe representing different quality lines for them?
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I bet some of the differences are due to the various makers. Sears has always outsourced much of it's production to other large manufacturers. I never saw the single ovals in the catalogs I reviewed but I didn't have time to get past the late 40's or early 50's.
 
Resurrected. Here is an observation I had on a craftsman axe I just scrounged up. Its 4 lbs 1.4 oz's, 7-3/4 inch long, and 5-3/4 at wide at the bit. big and heavy. In pretty nice condition. Anyway, It has neither an oval, or bars =Craftsman= or =Reg. U.S. PAT. OFF.=. But it does have nicely convexed cheeks, like you see on older axes. So I guess my 2 cents is that this stamp probably came before the stamps that had bars, as they seem to be mostly if not entirely flat-cheeked. But probably still after the single oval. Maybe someone else would have more to say on that.

IMG_20160122_184252082_HDR_zpsxecvzew8.jpg


IMG_20160122_183646424_zpsb3dcvoa3.jpg


IMG_20160122_184233922_zpsoynjcab7.jpg
 
My father bought a 6-pound splitting maul that is marked Craftsman with the double-line logo back in the early 1970s, I will see if he can come up with a specific year for it.

I hope everyone here knows about the Alloy Artifacts website. It has very extensive articles on Craftsman tools and has a lot of photos of their wrenches and socket sets etc. all dated in a very professional manner. For instance it shows Craftsman tools with the double-line logo as far back as the 1940s. It also has a lot of information on the Fulton and Dunlop lines:

http://alloy-artifacts.org/craftsman-early-tools-p3.html#sockets
 
That is a nice one. I was going to restore mine, make a handle and rehang it and give it to a friend, but it's so dang heavy. I think I'm just going to keep it for a splitting axe and find him something a little smaller. Just working on it with a file some, it seems like good steel
 
So coming off of the Plumb dating conversations we were all having, I decided to dive deeper into other similar issues we have discussed before on here.

I have a few emails into varying sources I found on the interweb that deal with Sears, Crafstman, old tool logos, etc, in order to try and help up put this beast to bed as well once and for all.

I will keep everyone posted and let you all know what I find out.

Thanks!
 
Steve Tall - I am told that the EAIA has a discussion about this very fact - do you have that on your DVD by chance?
 
Ok so if anyone has a Craftsman stamp that isn't already pictured on here, please post it up. I need any and all stamps/imprints/logos etc so I have representations to submit to show. We will get to the bottom of this.
 
Boys axe for $3 is a flippin steal!! Good find!

I am finding/seeing that there are so many varieties of the the Craftsman stamp that this will be interesting trying to pinpoint time ranges, but we will get there.

Thanks!
 
Operator1975 said:
Steve Tall - I am told that the EAIA has a discussion about this very fact - do you have that on your DVD by chance?
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It's not in the index, and it's not jumping out at me, but I'll look deeper.

Edited to add:
Did some keyword searches of the whole DVD. Nothing relevant came up. Only one reference to "Craftsman brand" (about a hammer). Nothing about "Craftsman stamp", "Craftsman axe", "Fulton brand", etc.
 
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Operator1975 said:
Boys axe for $3 is a flippin steal!! Good find!

I am finding/seeing that there are so many varieties of the the Craftsman stamp that this will be interesting trying to pinpoint time ranges, but we will get there.

Thanks!
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I thought so too! I'd been looking for a boy's axe for a while with no luck (my Norlund is essentially the same, but still). My wife and FIL go to a yard sale in a new part of town, the last place I would look for axes, and came back with it for me! Gotta love it.

And the stamps are all over the map, and I imagine with the numerous makers they contracted with it should make for a nice puzzle!
 
Operator1975 said:
Ok so if anyone has a Craftsman stamp that isn't already pictured on here, please post it up. I need any and all stamps/imprints/logos etc so I have representations to submit to show. We will get to the bottom of this.
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I'm skeptical that we ever get Craftsman stamps ever sorted out but I applaud you for the effort. I'm certain that good information will come out of it. You always provide that.

I only had a few hours to peruse the collection of Sears Roebuck catalogs at Seattle's Museum of History and Industry. But what I saw raised as many questions as it answered. I believe there is another catalog collection in Chicago that is as good or maybe even better than Seattle's collection. Chicago was of course the headquarters of Sears Roebuck. But Seattle was their west coast catalog center and their 2nd largest footprint. If I had a week I could go through every catalog and take high-res photos of all the axe pages. But that surely won't happen until at least retirement age if ever.

This is my most uncommon Craftsman stamp. I don't recall seeing another. I think it's already been posted earlier in this thread. FWIW, the shape of the cheeks reminds me of old Warren stuff.

Single%20oval%20boys%20axe.jpg


Sorting out who made axes for Sears during which years is, I'm certain, an impossible task. I doubt Dunlap could have done that even for just the years he was there.
 
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Here's a site with some Craftsman catalogs that can be downloaded. The years range from 1931 to 1972. They could give some clues regarding what Craftsman logos were used during which years.

http://www.blackburntools.com/articles/rose-tools-catalog-archives/sears/index.html

For example, here are the axes from the 1964 Craftsman Hand Tools catalog:

AxesCraftsmanCatalog.png


An unusual Craftsman hatchet is item #2, with a hardened poll: "Heavy Hatchet-Axe" with 1-3/4# head, and 4-1/2" cut, on a 17" handle. "Striking head and blade individually hardened." I have one of these stowed away somewhere, I'll have to rehandle it and start using it.
 
JPA88 said:
Resurrected. Here is an observation I had on a craftsman axe I just scrounged up. Its 4 lbs 1.4 oz's, 7-3/4 inch long, and 5-3/4 at wide at the bit. big and heavy. In pretty nice condition. Anyway, It has neither an oval, or bars =Craftsman= or =Reg. U.S. PAT. OFF.=. But it does have nicely convexed cheeks, like you see on older axes. So I guess my 2 cents is that this stamp probably came before the stamps that had bars, as they seem to be mostly if not entirely flat-cheeked. But probably still after the single oval. Maybe someone else would have more to say on that.

IMG_20160122_184252082_HDR_zpsxecvzew8.jpg


IMG_20160122_183646424_zpsb3dcvoa3.jpg


IMG_20160122_184233922_zpsoynjcab7.jpg
Click to expand...

That style font with the big c on craftsman tools is much earlier ( I believe the 2 line =CRAFTSMAN= logo started in the 40's ) by the way if it has an M stamped on it anywhere it was made by Vaughan ( M was and still is craftsman manufacturers identification code for Vaughan & Bushnell )
 
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