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Thanks for the links - pretty cool
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Very cool, but it makes me feel "old" !
Dave F. |
Dave-
The alternative to getting/feeling oldER is REALLY LOUSY. If you aren't getting older, you must be already taking the BIG DIRT NAP, which I have no interest in reaching anytime soon. |
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Well, for most of us here on this forum, whether we like it or not (and this is no ‘dig’ against anyone), we ARE ‘old’. In a few days, I’ll be same age my father’s dad was in 1974. As a 12 year old kid in 1974, there is NO WAY I would have thought anything about my grandfather was ‘young’, and he was a VERY active, hard-working man and would remain so for nearly two decades more. But I did NOT think of him as young; geez, I did not think of my Dad as ‘young’ at that point and he was only 37 then! Admittedly, some of what I just said is a common perspective from children; if you are older than about 28 or 29, then from a child’s perspective you look old. BUT, by the time one gets into their latter 50s — as I suspect many of us here are — then yes, we are ‘old’. Again, no dig against anyone here; and I don’t care about the comments “Well, I *feel* like a kid inside!”. Well, ok, great...BUT, we are still ‘old’. Sorry. :o ;) Earl |
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I was able to get a line on a 1952 Xacto catalog. Once it arrives, I’ll scan and and if acceptable to him, I’ll forward to Scott for posting on the forum.
Earl |
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Send away! |
REALLY looking forward to seeing this 1952 Xacto catalog posted.
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It's 'on the way' to me; I hopefully will have it around the end of this week. Will scan after receipt and get to Scott to post, maybe by mid next week; sooner if I can. Earl |
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Yeah, I am really trying to seek out these vintage catalogs, but they are really, really rare surprisingly. Slowly, I am pulling together info to help me better date the production time frame for knife sets, parts, and pieces that come up for sale. I’d really like to find more catalogs from the very early 70s to better date products from around the time of the 1971 Centuri catalog. What I have basically discovered over the course of the last three months or so (starting out as a TOTAL noob Xacto collector) is that the knife set images Centuri used in their catalogs (and the images were Xacto supplied images) were really representative of the way the #82 and #86 knife sets looked probably in the 1950s through maybe the latter 60s, what with the black metal blade holders under the lid, the balsa stripper with the black Bakelite knobs, etc. The info I have collected so far seems to indicate strongly that, by 1971, the blade holders under the lid were clear vinyl strips (no black metal), the balsa stripper had metal knobs. And those changes had occurred, I *think* even by that 69-70 Xacto catalog. But, I really need to try to find a 1971 catalog and maybe a 1972 catalog to more definitely nail that down. In a couple of Xacto instruction manuals and carving guides that I have been able to obtain do seem to reflect theses changes in the early 70s in some of the knife sets shown in those publications. Like a number of things in vintage rocketry, it’s a detective job to nail down some of these details. But the challenge makes it fun...most of the time! :o :) Earl |
It’s a shame but the old hardware stores just like the old hobby shops are becoming extinct. I’ll bet most old hardware stores that have gone out of business in recent years probably had these old catalogs like Xacto in their collections.
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There are still a couple olde tyme hardware stores in my hometown.
Good places to find banned ( i.e. EFFECTIVE) insecticides too. |
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That little Hobby Work Bench Display in the back of this 1952 X-Acto catalog is just too cool :cool: |
Agree about the hobby workbench display. Would really like one, fully stocked.
Noticed in this catalog that the #6 knife had already changed to the "modern" style, which dates those "big honker" #6 handles as pre-1952. Also noticed the #6L handle looks different. The #5L was available as a separate item also. |
Seeing the prices clearly shows how far we have "slipped", over time.
Dave F. |
I noticed in the beginning of the catalog it states that jobber and retailer prices are fixed.
They must sell for "retail" to the public. Courts in modern times have ruled such arrangements are anti competitive and illegal. The only current retail arrangement such as this that I know of now is one particular brand of golf balls. I don't know how they get away with it either. Maybe it is because they only set a MINIMUM retail price they must be sold at, with no maximum. I will not disclose the brand here, but most can guess what it is. Oh yeah, almost forgot , I'm NOT old yet, I'm not even 50 YET. |
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Hmm . . . TITLEIST ? Dave F. |
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You are correct, setting a minimum selling price is illegal under US law. However, is is perfectly legal for a manufacturer or distributor to mandate a minimum ADVERTISED price to their resellers. They can use MAP along with a co-op advertising rebate scheme to control reseller pricing behavior. A reseller in the US can sell at any price they wish. Advertising the availability of a product below that price may cut off the flow of critical advertising or marketing support, though. James |
If one sells the particular balls below their minimum retail price, I have been told one will no longer get their products to sell. I cannot confirm this is true, it is what I have been told.
I have not named any brand here, it is however a major brand. |
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I noticed the same thing about the #6L that handle does look different. |
Any style of #6 Xacto handle is great in my book.
Would really like to obtain a #6L and #5L handle, but figure it to be all but impossible. |
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What do the #5L and #6L handles look like ? Do you have a pic ? Dave F. |
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The last versions of the #6L and #5L look just like the #6 and #5 handles, but with a wider collet slot to accommodate thicker material blades.
The first version of the #6L apparently has a "rounded" non-hexagonal handle unlike the standard #6 handle, per Earl's 1952 catalog posting. Interested in any #6L/#5L. Have been watching for week but no luck. Most likely "Needle in a Haystack" scenario. |
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Yeah, it took me a bit of looking at the illustrations in the 1952 catalog to understand that the handle on the 6L was 'rounded'. I could tell it was certainly not multi-faceted but was not sure at first just what the exact shape was they were trying to depict in the illustration. Then I finally figured it out that it was 'rounded'. I have not been looking at Xacto stuff on ebay too very long now, just a few months, but I have not see one like that come up for auction. But you never know; I never thought those totally mint #80 carving sets with wooden boxes and still in the outer cardboard boxes would come up, but they did. And they are OLD; probably late 40s, but look (and smell!) absolutely mint. As I commented at the time, the guy out in California who ran the leather craftwork business that listed those must have had them well stored all those years...he was the original owner of the knives! Earl |
Amazing how well these tools hold up with just a modicum of care.
Like good firearms, should last several lifetimes. |
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But that doesn't mean we shouldn't buy some new ones to pass down along with the heirlooms! Nothing could be finer than to have a vintage Remington Model 11, 700, 870, or 1100 to go along with these fine vintage X-Acto examples. Just buy a new 700, 870, or 1100 (the 11 is long discontinued) to go with them and hopefully pull them out of bankruptcy. I haven't shopped for modern X-Acto products in over a decade. Do they produce anything now that we'd want to get our hands on? P.S. I don't want to turn this into X-Acto vs Excel or Remington vs Browning vs Winchester. I'm just promoting collecting both vintage and new fine instruments. ;) GH, I bet you never thought I'd weave a John Moses Browning design into this thread and have it fit! :D |
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/X-Acto-X32...fe/223834172410 Dave F. |
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You left out "Ford v. Chevy" . . . LOL ! Dave F. |
#89 cabinet '52 Catalog.
I just looked through the '52 catalog.
Pg. 25 has the #89 Toolmaster Cabinet. A lot different from the #89 in the '69-'70 catalog! It appears that the #99 was derived from the older #89. Agree on the Bench Display; where's Sherman and Mr. Peabody? ;) Bob |
The two-panel #88 set in the '52 catalog is closer to the modern #89, but has less content.
Same with the three-panel #89 in the 1952 catalog; similar to the modern #99, but less content. I also noticed in the 1952 catalog there are no sliding clear flat-top sets like the later #88N and #84 sets. That little bench #205 set is super cool. Would be really surprised if they sold many, and would be more surprised if even one survives. That stocked bench would have been a really nice display in the window of a vintage hobby shop. |
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And until we can fill in more catalog ‘gaps’, we don’t really know how many years some of these items like this hobby bench was even offered. Could have been offered just this one year; we just don’t know. But yeah, it is pretty neat, if not a bit on the small side (if you compare its overall size to the tools in and on it, one can see it is not all that big...but neat, nonetheless). Earl |
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Earl, Any benefit to contacting "Xacto" directly ( I think they are owned by Elmers, at present ) ? Dave F. |
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I have thought of that and may yet do that, though I seem to recall having read somewhere in the past few months where someone had contacted Xacto for some history-related question (something about a past product or some such) only to be told by the person they spoke with that, in effect, “that was all under past ownership; we don’t have any of those records”. So...not what one would want to hear and that’s not to say the inquiring person was speaking to the *right* person. So, there might still be a reason for trying that route. Earl |
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The Library of Congress might have something . . . Dave F. |
1949 Xacto Catalog
Ok, just scored a 1949 Xacto catalog. Will scan when it arrives (hopefully, in about a week) and will send to Scott for posting here.
Earl |
I put all of the scanned catalogs and the catalog link in post #1 vs having them spread out throughout the thread.
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Ahh, yes. That will certainly help newcomers find those links. Thanks much.
Earl |
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