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Craftsman has been making powerful and positive effects in the tools industry. The brand has been around for more than 90 years, and it’s still going strong.
You need to know how to figure out how old the Craftsman tools in your workshop or garage are.
If you know where to look and how to sort the model and serial number, it’s easy to find out when a Craftsman toolbox was made.
We’ll tell you exactly what you need to do to find out how old your Craftsman tools are.
How To Date Craftsman Tools?
You can use the following approach to know the exact date your craftsman tool was built. Your craftsman tools can be dated by looking at several sections of the tool.
Each component has a unique serial number. This number identifies the date and location of manufacture.
You can do so in several ways, including:
Take A Look At The Markings
These instruments are often left without a date on the metal handles or other sections of their bodies.
However, you may be able to tell the age of an older instrument by looking for specific markings.
In addition, you may find other markings on Craftsman tools that might help you determine the tool’s age.
Find The Origin
Check if the tool’s packaging has the “Made in USA” stamp. It is a strong suggestion, but it is not proof that the tool was made in the United States.
If you purchased your Craftsman tool outside of the United States, check the package for a “Made in China” stamp.
If your Craftsman’s tool packaging says “made in China” or has no serial number, the tools were made in China.
If the Craftsman tool you have were manufactured in China, the box for the tool would contain a serial number.
The serial number is either incomplete or missing entirely.
Examine The Markings For Detail
If you cannot identify the place of origin, Investigate the Marks That Can Identify It.
These tools do not have marks to tell you when they were made or where they were crafted. Therefore it is difficult to determine their provenance.
You can inspect other markings on the tool and information stamped on the handle.
You can then determine the location of the manufacturing plant that produced the tool.
The Craftsman symbol under the maker’s nameplate is the best way to date a tool.
If you examine your hand tool and see the artisan sign followed by the letter ‘S.,’ It means it was manufactured between 1954 and 1972.
Because of these “other” indications, you could determine the age of the craftsman hand tool you have.
The CT Markings
When hand tools have markings that look like CT, they were made in Taiwan. There are a few other elements to consider when dating a craftsman’s ancient tool.
There are a lot of tools that Craftsman use that don’t say where they came from. Craftsman used many ways to stamp information onto the handle or body of a tool.
Some tools, for example, have raised nubs. However, others have engravings cut into the wood or molded or cast.
How the model was made could be easy to understand or hard to figure out.
A magnifying lens can tell if the letters on your Craftsman’s tools are raised nubs, carved, or cast into the wood.
Your craftsman hand tool was cast, molded, and engraved by hand, so it may not be flawless. No two tools will ever look the same.
Because casting, molding, or engraving faults must have occurred over time. To discover more about craftsman tools, look up when and where your model was produced.
It could be helpful. If you notice a mistake or missing information, your older craftsman hand tool’s value won’t likely decrease.
Check The Date On One Of Their Tools And Compare
If your hammer has no markings, compare it to others that are dated simultaneously. The other equipment’s production year may match your hammer’s.
Search Online
You won’t have to hunt hard to discover a seller for Craftsman tools. Check out some fantastic sites to learn how your hand tool stacks up against others similar to it.
You can check online for information regarding the year that Craftsman Tools initially released this specific model.
Check The Date That Is Stamped On The Ratchet Head
Look at the head of your ratchet and see if there is a patent date on it. If the patent exists, you can use the age of the patent to identify when the tool was initially made.
Your best bet will be to look for a patent date in the early 1940s. It was when most Craftsman hand tools produced between the 1930s and 1950s were made.
If there is no date, look for a mark like a diamond followed by a number. The number relates to a catalog published that year by Craftsman Tools.
It was the same year that the tool was first made available.
Check Pictures Of Old Craftsman Tools
If you are curious about how to date craftsman tools, you first need to examine what they appeared to be like and how they were marked distinctly from modern tools.
When you come across photographs of ancient antique tools, pay attention to the markings on those instruments and search through your current collection of hand tools for anything that remotely resembles those markings.
New Method
This procedure establishes the Chronic Number for the Tool Compartment as the first step.
You will find either a distinguishing proof or a chronic number on the Product Identification Label. The chronic number has 11 different characters.
Up to 11 different letter sets and character sets of symbols. The format often includes the initials CM somewhere inside it.
Verify the 11-character number. You can use the first six digits of the chronic number after you become familiar with the chronic number.
You can use the first two digits of the underlying six-digit number to derive information about the production date.
It’s feasible that it might be anywhere from 0 to 12 or even higher.
The two-digit numbers that came right after the first six digits of the 11-character chronic number hinted at the production date.
There is a possibility that the date range will be between 01 and 31.
Conclusion
It is not an easy task to determine the age of a craftsman tool. However, there are certain things you can do to know your tool’s age.
Suppose it does not have a patent or a D-Diamond number stamped on the head, and the only information you have about its age (which we assume from this blog post).
In that case, you should look closely at pictures of old Craftsman tools introduced in catalogs during that year.
They were published before 1950 for assistance in identifying the type of markings that yours may bear.
We hope this post has answered your answer or your craftsman tools age.
