This old Swingline

[ChuckF]

I'm briefly living at home and working my ass off, as my mom decided I should paint the inside of the house. I do it without complaint because I enjoy painting, but I've been looking for a new distraction.

Some people restore things as a hobby. Like furniture. Or maybe a little bigger - a car. Or maybe a lot bigger, and they restore a house. I have decided to undertake a much smaller restoration project, in hopes that I can wrap it up in the 5 or so weeks remaining before I fly away again.

I'm going to restore this early 1960s Swingline stapler:



Why? Because I love office supplies, and I especially love a quality stapler. So many of the ones you see around today are plastic and rubber, they break, or are even electric. I love the feel of a pound of solid steel stapling power.

This particular Swingline was presented to me facetiously as my "inheritance" from my grandfather's estate. It lived in his tool shed for 40 or so years, and is in pretty good shape considering. I base the age estimate on the design and the circumstances of my grandfather setting up shop. I think it's late fifties/early sixties, but I can't find any markings to be sure.

It is pictured above almost exactly as I received it, though I did clean some of the crud off of it. It weighed 18 ounces, but now it weighs 16.5 because I tore out the rotted rubber posts at the bottom:



The screwdriver indicates where they were.

A top view reveals the most significant damage:



And the gaping maw view:



My current plan is to strip off the grey paint, paint it a snazzy red, and polish all of the exposed chrome as much as possible. I see several obstacles:

1) The construction is very sturdy, and the stapler cannot be readily disassembled, cleaned, painted and reassembled. At least not without serious study.

2) The damaged rubber bit on top. I can't decide whether I should discard it entirely or preserve it and try to make the best of it. I welcome your input.

3) I would like to put something where the rotted rubber posts used to be on the bottom in order to give it additional weight. Any ideas?

I hope when the process is done I will have my own high quality, custom, vintage Swingline stapler (not some neo-retro Chinese-made knockoff) that I can pass to my successors, so they may staple with it for two more generations.

I will post photos as the process progresses.

[livius drusus]

Macte animo, generose puer. Sic itur ad astra.

[ChuckF]

Then I shall staple myself to the firmament.

[S.Vashti]

I would dearly love to get rid of my old Swingline 545 in favor of those new soft touch staplers, but I cannot, because it still staples just fine.
I'm such a tightwad about little things like this. Besides, I just bought 5000 staples for it.

I stood in front of the stapler display at Office Max so long, debating whether or not to toss a perfectly fine stapler, old as it was, or just buy replacement staples. As staples were cheaper than a new stapler, the staples won.

I covet my mother's stapler, just a soft squeeze is all it takes to staple thick sheafs of paper together.

An Amazon reviewer does give my stapler a five star review:

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
An old classic thats just right., August 22, 2005
By Brendan Scarborough "Mildew" (Lemmington, SQ) - See all my reviews
After the incident with the hole punch (see previous review) I found this stapler perfect for attaching my defiant floating wig back to my head. Firm enough to break the skin, but gentle enough to not penetrate my skull. Just right.

[Dingfod]

Is it rubber or is it plastic? I was thinking you could patch the crack with epoxy, sand it smooth with the rest of the surface, then paint it. As for the rotted rubber posts, you might be able to get some self-adhesive rubber feet at a craft store that would work in their place. Just cut off the rotted rubber feet flush with the surrounding surface, stick on the new rubber pads. Or maybe felt would be better. Some new staplers have the entire bottom covered with a pliable plastic thing, maybe you could cut some 1/8" rubber sheeting to fit, then glue it on. Myself, I'd probably just toss the thing and spend the eight bucks to get a new one.

Solid steel casing, weighted just right, it's like having a Mighty Cock of Awesome Power that I can grip firmly with everyone watching, and not go to jail for it.

[ChuckF]

Originally Posted by Chris Porter

I would dearly love to get rid of my old Swingline 545 in favor of those new soft touch staplers, but I cannot, because it still staples just fine.

The 545 is the kind of stapler I've come to detest. Dinky and frustratingly functional.

Originally Posted by Dingfod

Is it rubber or is it plastic? I was thinking you could patch the crack with epoxy, sand it smooth with the rest of the surface, then paint it. As for the rotted rubber posts, you might be able to get some self-adhesive rubber feet at a craft store that would work in their place. Just cut off the rotted rubber feet flush with the surrounding surface, stick on the new rubber pads. Or maybe felt would be better. Some new staplers have the entire bottom covered with a pliable plastic thing, maybe you could cut some 1/8" rubber sheeting to fit, then glue it on.

Capital ideas. The broken rubber bit is moot; upon closer inspection, I saw that it was coming apart from the steel, and that one of the rubber posts had rotted away, so I pushed them through and it fell off.

I'm considering replacing it with a small piece of polished and shellacked wood.

Myself, I'd probably just toss the thing and spend the eight bucks to get a new one.

I have a new Swingline that I got probably 10 years ago. It's fine, and it works really well, but it's not about the stapling.

Originally Posted by Uthgar the Brazen

Solid steel casing, weighted just right, it's like having a Mighty Cock of Awesome Power that I can grip firmly with everyone watching, and not go to jail for it.

It's more about this. I can't afford a big car.

[JoeP]

I believe you are having an affair with my stapler.

[Doctor X]

Icouldburnthebuildingdown.

--J. "Put Strychnine in the Salsa" D.

[Artemis Entreri]

An idea for the bottom
You could get a piece of textured rubber mat, cut to fit using the bottom as a template and then epoxy it to the bottom after you've polished and painted it. You'd also need to cut an access for the release on the bottom. But it would give the bottom a finished look and keep it from marring your desk when you're pounding it hard... over... and over..

If you make the mat before you paint the stapler you could heat the bottom edges really hot then press it down on the rubber. That would melt the rubber a little giving you a nice groove in the mat, giving a better fit and finish.


I love stuff like this

[ChuckF]

I have another day of painting ahead of me, but if I have the energy I'm going to strip the paint off tonight. I enjoy using extremely toxic chemicals.

Originally Posted by ChuckF

I have another day of painting ahead of me, but if I have the energy I'm going to strip the paint off tonight. I enjoy using extremely toxic chemicals in small, poorly ventilated areas.

[ChuckF]

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

I'm considering replacing it with a small piece of polished and shellacked wood.

Yes! This one. Something exotic with a caramelly red sheen under gloss shine. Maybe with some black stripes in the wood. You can stick on some very thin rubber mat thing that doesn't show so it won't take off across the desk.

[freemonkey]

That stapler is gonna look HOT in red.

[seebs]

Man, I sorta want one of those. We have a crappy stapler that won't open all the way.

[Sock Puppet]

Nah, I think it's a faboo idea. Are you going to try to untarnish the staple-holding rail thingie? Rust-O-Leum used to make some clear stuff that would remove the rust and provide a rust-proof coating, but I don't know if they make that stuff anymore. Just about any metal cleaner would probably do the job (possibly not on the blacker bits), but I assume you're going for the deluxe treatment all the way here.

[ChuckF]

Fortunately that isn't rust, only tarnish. I'm going to Brasso the bottom, and maybe see if I can get some marine varnish or something to keep the new paint from chipping. I'm between house paint coats right now, so as soon as I put a second coat on I'll be done for the day and I'm going to get down to business of stripping paint off of the stapler.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Artemis Entreri

An idea for the bottom
...
when you're pounding it hard... over... and over..
...
I love stuff like this

(quote mining is a good thing, right?)

Originally Posted by JoeP

(quote mining is a good thing, right?)

It's worked really well for Rocky.

[Doctor X]

IsaidnosaltNOSALTbiggranulesof salt.

Anyways, as I am sure someone mentioned in some other thread, Swingline never had a red stapler as loved by Milton. They do now to meet the demand.

--J. "ICouldSeetheSquirrelsandtheywereMarried" D.

[Dingfod]

Swingline most certainly did make red staplers.




They've been making the Swingline Tot 50 mini stapler for over 40 years. If I looked hard enough, I've probably got one of these around here somewhere.

[ChuckF]

omfg want

[Dingfod]

Chuck, you Brasso.

[ChuckF]

So my stapler is from 1968.