Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Stapler of the Week Archive- Milwaukee M12 Crown Stapler

Milwaukee M12 Crown Stapler plastic, steel and electronic components

Perhaps the Milwaukee M12 Crown Stapler belongs more on a tool blog rather than here, but I feel it has a place.  I have owned a great many manual staple guns and used them for stretching canvases and household projects.  Three years ago I assisted in the installation of a twenty-eight foot high painting from Mexico.  In order to transport it, the canvas had to be removed from its stretcher, rolled and re-stretched upon arrival for display.  This experience proved the value of a good electric or pneumatic stapler but I could not quite justify acquiring an example of the industrial electric staplers lent to us by the textile conservation department.  Yet when I saw Milwaukee introduced a portable electric stapler, I bought one.

It is a much less strenuous experience than using the Arrow T50 stapler of my college years although it conveniently uses the same staples.  The action cycle does not allow for rapid repetition of stapling but also does not have the problem of double-stapling I have with the sensitive trigger of my pneumatic crown stapler.  It's not often when so many of my interests overlap so completely in one object that is useful, practical, aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable to use.

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, May 27, 2020.


Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Stapler of the Week Archive- Mercury Sr.


Mercury Sr. steel chrome and grey finish

The Mercury Sr. appears to be the patriarch of the Mercury stapler family.   Like the previously featured Arrow 210, the Mercury Sr. is an incredibly versatile stapler.  It's anvil rotates to provide three stapling configurations: stapling, pinning and temporary stapling.  In just moments the upper portion of the stapler can be removed from its base and used as a tacker to put up announcements on your office cork board.  I am partial to the swooped detail of the plunger cap that echoes the winged mercury emblem.  As the Roman god of shopkeepers and merchants, travelers and transporters of goods, I imagine Mercury would've appreciated a good stapler now and then.


Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, May, 12, 2020.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Stapler of the Week Archive- Zenith 561

Zenith 561 steel gold and beige 
The fabrication of staplers has changed throughout their history.  Early models were often made from heavy metal castings and those of today frequently feature injection molded plastics.  The Zenith 561 comes from the era when sheet metal was punched and formed by big presses and then assembled with slots, tabs and spot welds.  In my youth, my father was a punch press operator at the Tonka Toys factory and this stapler exhibits the same assembly  techniques used to make those iconic trucks.  Its interesting to ponder the order of the stapler's assembly and how each part comes together to its finished state.  

Zenith 561 stamped details

Excerpt from the Stapler of the Week, May 6, 2020.