BLOGAHOMA

As  one assume staplers, as rule, are not taken care of. Oh sure,  when they were brand new, like  before the WWII when they were quite expensive and an office may have had just one and that was protected by most powerful secretary on staff. But they became more common and less valuable and things began to happen. They are considered work horses expected to keep fastening pages together receiving no praise and I would imagine many expletives when they jammed or ran out of staples. I have seen the results of this, scratches from home made tools trying to dig out staples.  Worse is the neglect of the staplers found covered in grease and grime or rust as evidence of long durations in a damp area, like a basement. And then there is the use of staplers as hammers as witnessed by dings in the plungers, top buttons.  Some have tilted buttons from a heavy hand hitting it harder than needs be (except in the case of strip staplers where slamming would cut and staple all at once). No matter the lack of regard for the humble stapler, users felt they needed to own a stapler and made sure of it by scratching their name on the bottom. One mistreated stapler that came into my collection has a name of a convicted violent criminal crudely scratched into the nickel plating!  I am collecting stapling machines and focusing on having examples of many types to do this sometimes I have to bid on the not-so-perfect. I don’t mind because I also like the cleaning up of staplers and restoring when needed. As I have yet to run into anyone else’s tips on cleaning staplers I am posting mine. No guarentees implied these have been established like all good directions through trial and error.

Speed Parrot "Babe" Stapler c1924. Before & After cleaning.

Directions for Cleaning Vintage Staplers…..

Note: For the most accurate information and history on old staplers plus hard to find staples at a reasonable price visit The Early Office Museum. Tell the curator Blogahoma sent you.

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Stapler Attachment
I started collecting staplers in earnest about July 28th 2009. At first it was ohlala look at this cool EM 230 Paris agrafeuse on Ebay and it’s so French! There was an identical one up but in red and they were asking $99 so I went for the one that was $8! Really! (Note the red one is still sitting there a year later.) And that is how it all started. I had bought staplers in the past then resold on Ebay wanting the whole time to keep them but then who needs more than one stapler? So how do I justify collecting them? Who wants to know? There are so many layers to collecting staplers. I love layers. Here are the dozen layers I have discovered: Maker, Type, Country, Year, Style, Inventor, Patent, Size, Material, Rarity, Color, Variation. So of course I have a database because I can. I use Bento for its visual appeal. But when all my best rationalizations for collecting stapling machines fail I pull out the art card. That’s right art doesn’t need a reason. I create Photoshop images and 3D animations and am currently working on stapler coveralls and a “This is Not Stapler” t shirt. Happy tangents to you!

I like the surprises doing a new thing brings. I now have invented ways to clean these little buggers. I have passed on this knowledge to other fledgling collectors when asked. Stapler collectors, I have discovered, tend to be detail and design fanatics which is ropes me in. Another enlightenment to me is their mechanical workings which, unlike newer gadgets like ipods and cellphones that leave me in the dark, the stapler can be understood one spring, one plunger, one anvil at a time. I now have stable of staplers numbering over 50 almost enough for a Stapler a Week (a great non-threatening stapler website BTW). I might just stay at 52. I have sold off ones I didn’t particularly like for various reasons. Not just dupes mind you. I like some staplers more than others like the Jakyneuf Agrafeuse which I just have to say “aucun merci” the next time it comes up for auction.  I’ve learned stapler in German (Hefter) and French which is pretty useless but fun nonetheless. And have come to realize that a package shipped from France can take 2 months but it will arrive. I’ve taken my staplers of interest to the Park Tavern for show and tell and on Facebook for the socialization. Because it’s NOT true “If you seen one stapler you’ve seen them all”.