Stanley knives

[old foolParticipant @old-fool]

I seem to remember in a recent MEW a discussion about “Stanley Knives” While sorting through a box of junk recently I came across a pad-saw blade designed to fit them. Not seen any advertised for years Are they still made? I recall there were two teeth pitches 1 very course ideal for cutting plasterboard  and a finer g.p. one

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Yes is the answer and listed on Stanley’s site, but without photos
https://www.stanleytools.co.uk/product/0-15-276/stanley-saw-blades-wood-fit-fixed-blade-knives-190-mm

https://www.cromwell.co.uk/shop/hand-tools/saw-blades/0-15-277-steel-saw-blade-190mm/p/STN5853077H

Personally I prefer ones that cut on the pull stroke akin to a Japanese saw.

Bill

[VicParticipant @vic]

Yes, I’ve got a Bahco one that cuts on the pull stroke. It works very well.

[Mark EasingwoodParticipant @markeasingwood33578]

Black ones for metal, silver for wood. Drywall saws have different and harder teeth. Plaster board is very abrasive and soon destroys normal saws etc. Can’t find a wood blade at the moment.

 

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

Sounds a strange name but I have a Silky boy pull saw for garden pruning. Sharp as a tack folding saw its brilliant.

I remember the Stanley knife saw blades but never used one, never struck me as useful.

I use a Milwaukee recip saw now for general cutting, but a Milwaukee portable band saw is my favourite saw for the shop, cuts beautifully.

Mick.

 

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

The Stanley wood saw was a “keyhole saw”, also known as a padsaw. This is a clue to the reason it was cutting on the push as you didn’t want it to pull out the unsupported wood on the surface of the door. I wonder where mine’s got to.

[David George 1Participant @davidgeorge1]

I modified one of my stanly knives to take a hacsaw blade. It just needs a hole for the hole in the hacksaw blade hole and a capscrew and nut no problem and interchangable to pull or push cut and if to long and you have a pull blade and a push blade.

David

[Mark EasingwoodParticipant @markeasingwood33578]

They are/were much used by us Joiners on site.

The wood cutting blades are useful if you need to cut a small hole in wall board, (ply/hardboard/upvc), to fit around an electrical back box or similar when boarding out a room, think 1970’s-80’s fake Oak planking etc!! They can also be used to start a cut for a larger hole so you can then use a tenon saw or panel saw. Not many jigsaws around back then, and no cordless tools.

The metal cutting version is useful to cut through nails and screws, when removing a timber door frame or window frame, which has been nailed into the brickwork, amongst other uses. Or even cutting through the bolt of a lock with no key!!

The Eclipse handle for holding a broken, or new, hacksaw blade are better. Sadly I don’t think they are available anymore.

Mark.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

There is still an Eclipse padsaw handle around, but it’s of a different form to the old one(s)

https://www.spear-and-jackson.com/products/eclipse-professional-tools/metal-cutting/specialist-saw-frames/padsaw

Personally I quite like these
https://www.rdgtools.co.uk/product/eclipse-15tnd-mini-hacksaw-300mm-12-strong-frame-with-10-extra-24tpi-blades/

Bill

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

Not many jigsaws around back then, and no cordless tools.

While sorting through some of my dad’s tools after he died I found a Rawl plug hammer drill. It was cordless and came in a box with a supply of fibrous plugs, very different from the plastic ones we use today.

Saying it was a cordless tool is accurate, but misleading. It was a chisel type handle with a hardened tool bit held in a tapered socket. Operation was with a hammer, hitting and turning the handle countless times to “drill” a single hole.

My dad underdrew the staircase at our home, installing a false ceiling and battening the walls, using this very tool.  I can’t imagine how hard it was for him, hammering away into engineering brick.

What he would have given for my battery hammer drill and rotary masonry bits.

I threw out the rawl drill but still have his brace and bit drill which he used for years before Black and Decker became a thing.

How would tradesmen cope nowadays if electrickery were to be ereased from history?

 

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, this is the one that my father had, for holding broken hacksaw blades.

Regards Nick.

[Plasma]

On Plasma Said:

While sorting through some of my dad’s tools after he died I found a Rawl plug hammer drill. It was cordless and came in a box with a supply of fibrous plugs, very different from the plastic ones we use today.

 

I threw out the rawl drill but still have his brace and bit drill which he used for years before Black and Decker became a thing.

How would tradesmen cope nowadays if electrickery were to be ereased from history?

 

I still have one of these and three sizes of drill bit and some of the fibre rawlplugs and still remember using it to fix my model railway board to the wall in my bedroom.

It took about 20 to 30 minutes to make each hole.

Andy

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Still got one, somewhere.

Definitely slow and hard labour, but that was before the happy days of masonry drills and hammer function drills, with or without power cords!

Howard

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Hang on to the rawlplugs – often needed when the modern plastic thing doesn’t fit. We get a lot of the ‘drills’ coming into the Men’s Shed with collections of tools – every man had one back in the day.

[Colin HeseltineParticipant @colinheseltine48622]

I still have my fathers and grandfathers rawlplug chisels and boxes of fibre plugs. Have used them quite a lot in past. Also have all four of those various padsaws.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I always prefer my Footprint one, different blades, you can mount them either way so push or pull is possible, adjust amount of stick out which is handy if you are push cutting with little room behind the cut.

These days like most tradesment the cordless multi-cutter has taken over a lot of what a pad saw may have been used for

[PlasmaParticipant @plasma]

I’m trying to imagine a young couple in their new home with my dad’s tool box.

Maybe that’s why the walls are made of compressed straw.

But I’m told handy men are doing a roaring trade changing light bulbs in our area because people have been convinced ladders are dangerous and they need an electrician to isolate the circuit. God I hot swapped more stuff than I can remember.

 

[OldironParticipant @oldiron]

On 24 January 2025 at 04:56 Plasma Said:
While sorting through some of my dad’s tools after he died I found a Rawl plug hammer drill. It was cordless and came in a box with a supply of fibrous plugs, very different from the plastic ones we use today.

————————————————————————————————

I always go to Screwfix Live when it is on at Farnborough Airport. The Rawlpug stand there usually bring part of their museum along to display. Among the exhibits are many old Rawlplugs that contain Absbestos. They have them sealed in plastic boxes to prevent contamination.

Anyone who still has any of the old fibre Rawlplugs may want to dispose of them responsibly.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

Plasmas comment reminds me ! Last week it took me an hour to change one of those horrible GU10 bulbs, the ones that are completely enclosed, often in a 3 bulb array. Took the fitting down after unwiring as I could not turn or withdraw the bulb. The trick I came up with was to put insulating tape on the front of bulb to give more grip, then I could turn it and pull it out. LEDs seemed a good idea, but they fail almost as quick as the Halogen ones. Noel.

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

Showing my age, I used to use the chisel type Rawplug drill to fix curtain rail to areas that had reinforced concrete lintels. I did have a mains drill and tungsten tipped drill bits, but they would not touch the lintels (although fine for engineering bricks!).

In my area the Rawplug “Chisels” were referred to as Jumpers, I don’t know if this was the correct name for them.

 

Andrew.

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

Noel,

I use a valve grinding sucker on it’s wooden handle to do the same, but I like your variation and might just try it next time, it will certainly have more grip than the sucker.

Brian

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Jumpers seems a reasonable name in some areas of the country. It is the term used for the chisels used to make holes in stone blocks for splitting wedges.

[Bazyle]

On Bazyle Said:

Jumpers seems a reasonable name in some areas of the country. It is the term used for the chisels used to make holes in stone blocks for splitting wedges.

And also the hammered drills used to make holes in mines for explosives.

Rod

[old foolParticipant @old-fool]

I too remember the rawlplug jumper tools, don’t know what happend to mine. worth hanging on to, I found the “bit” is the only thing hard enough to split hardened valve seats in old engines, when re-ground. (S1 Land-Rover)

Bob

[Dod MoleParticipant @georgeclarihew]

I still have my 3 Rawlplug jumpers and some fibre plugs and I remember using the Rawlplastic asbestos loaded cement putty stuff for with the pointed poking in tool that came with the kit to pack the hole and form the screw hole.

My three Stanley knife handles still get used regularly for assorted jobbies, I find the fixed blade type much easier to use than the retractable types.

Wonder how many have the slip over blade protector that came with the knife when new, mine is still occasionally seen in the depths of the toolbox.

[Author]

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