My google-fu is failing me today. But trying to scratch a curiosity itch.
What is it (specifically) that makes the post WWII Stanleys garbage compared to previous years?
Long before I read more than a smidgen about planes, I acquired the sharpening book by Lenard Lee, having bought a few spoke shaves from Record and Kunz, I got my first block plane (I have previously stated the Veritas was my first, but I guess technically no).
This was a Buck Bros. plane I bought at Home Depot. I proceeded to get abrasive and a glass plate and went to work to flatten the sole. Chunks actually came out of the plane. (I had previously tuned up my spokeshaves, so knew this shouldn't be happening). It was definitely garbage.
That "tool" went to the trash. I went to Woodcraft and purchased a #4 Stanley. This I again followed the advice of Mr. Lee's book and though it took a lot of hours to flatten the sole to flat, the plane cuts just fine and I used it to flatten and thickness a whole project and it took good shavings. (Yes, you read that right, I didn't yet know about jack planes or taking heavy shavings... Doh!)
Subsequently I got a new Stanley #5 (2004 vintage), it didn't see much use, but recently when I got back into wood working, the threaded rod for the front handle snapped off after several heavy hours of use.
Now, when I got the Stanley's I noted they were made in Sheffield England. Which I equated to "English steel, and the tool capital of the word back in the day), so I actually took that to be a sign of quality. However, I despised the included plastic handles, and the blisters I'd get after planing for a while. I bought some 3rd party handle/knobs to replace them and that fixed the blistering problem. (Though the handle for the #5 never worked right, I tried shimming it/ drilling out the hole a bit deeper, etc. But it was just horrible to use as a result. But since I'd tossed the plastic handles... just had to live with it.
So the plastic handles are an obvious undesirable quality of the modern Stanley. The rod in the #5 front knob breaking is a very bad thing. But the #4 still works fine. So if this is the worst of the quality in the Stanley line (made in the first decade of the 21st century), what makes all the others after WWII so bad.
PS. Long path to get to the question, but I am feeling "chatty".