Chrome Vanadium Chinesium: Finest quality. Superior workmanship.

  • May 1, 2019
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HerpDerp Mucking About With Things The Diary of Lupin Pooter TØØLS
That particular staple won that round.Backup pair FTW.

A recent haphazard domestic DIY escapade furnished me with the above photo: replacing the shredded sisal twine and fabric on our cats’ scratching posts. The sisal materials were fixed in place using beefy little round-crown staples, so I ordered some staple removers (the ones with a screwdriver form factor, ending in what looks like chisel-edged, forked flathead screwdriver tips). While I was waiting for that stuff to arrive, I tried clearing the worn-out sisal and removing as many staples as possible with the tools I had at hand.

I levered quite a few out using a pair of Stanley 84-047 135mm/5″ “Precision Long Nose” pliers before the tip of one of the jaws bent backward. The legs on these staples are about 22mm long and their crowns are narrow, about 5mm across.

The product packaging (backup pair FTW) says they’re made of chrome-vanadium steel. Were they hardened? Are they actually made of CrV or were they crafted from Chinesium (i.e. melted-down imported scrap metal). Without a hardness testing rig or spectroscopy apparatus, I have no way of knowing. These red-handled Stanley tools may be produced exclusively for the Chinese market or for sale in China and Southeast Asia. I got mine on Taobao.