lurker
Le dullard de la commune
That’s going to cost you thirty some odd quid, which to my mind is the going rate. It looks fine to me, at worst you will need to fettle it slightly. See Paul Sellers you tube
General purpose plane
- Thread starter cpmczak
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Corset
Established Member
Basically as far as i can tell and i have sold about 120 planes this year this is the pricing.
stanley planes go more than record planes. No logical reason why
A stanley plane with uncracked wooden handles is worth a minimum of £18 as this is the cost of a wooden handle set (give or take a bit) Shiny planes regardless of handles will start at around £25 for a number 4. If its in abox around a tenner will be added to it. No 5s witha decent handle are abut £35 but on the whole there seems to be a lot more snapped handles on no5s (maybe the screw puts extra tension on), i have bought smashed no5s and 6s just for the handles. A good no5 will be £50. Add about a tenner for each increas in sizes and half that for a 1/2 size. 4 1/2 seems to be popular with joiners and i find these are the most abused... Clearly 5 1/4 nd oddball collectors special dont fit into this.
I am no tool dealer but lest say i am a bit sad and scan ebay a lot.
I personally like record planes but the older stanleys are nice. Made in the USA does seem to bring a better unit but they are older so that carries it own risk. Dont list handles as rosewood if you sell to soemone in the uSA as custome burns them (dont ask how i know)
I would personally look for something around £30 a number 4 with nice handles (its nice to hold something comfortable) by stanley or record. If you learn to sharpen freehand a stayset is nice. Ignore mising paint, a bit of surface rust etc as these are so easy to fix. Big pitting is a pain but unless its around the mouth or heel i am not convinced it makes a difference, i like to think of it as an economy corrugated plane sole..
stanley planes go more than record planes. No logical reason why
A stanley plane with uncracked wooden handles is worth a minimum of £18 as this is the cost of a wooden handle set (give or take a bit) Shiny planes regardless of handles will start at around £25 for a number 4. If its in abox around a tenner will be added to it. No 5s witha decent handle are abut £35 but on the whole there seems to be a lot more snapped handles on no5s (maybe the screw puts extra tension on), i have bought smashed no5s and 6s just for the handles. A good no5 will be £50. Add about a tenner for each increas in sizes and half that for a 1/2 size. 4 1/2 seems to be popular with joiners and i find these are the most abused... Clearly 5 1/4 nd oddball collectors special dont fit into this.
I am no tool dealer but lest say i am a bit sad and scan ebay a lot.
I personally like record planes but the older stanleys are nice. Made in the USA does seem to bring a better unit but they are older so that carries it own risk. Dont list handles as rosewood if you sell to soemone in the uSA as custome burns them (dont ask how i know)
I would personally look for something around £30 a number 4 with nice handles (its nice to hold something comfortable) by stanley or record. If you learn to sharpen freehand a stayset is nice. Ignore mising paint, a bit of surface rust etc as these are so easy to fix. Big pitting is a pain but unless its around the mouth or heel i am not convinced it makes a difference, i like to think of it as an economy corrugated plane sole..
Corset
Established Member
I think rapier are ok, pretty agricultural but they work. I have had a few gtls they are pretty but i couldnt really get one to work properly. I get the whole thrill of getting a cheap silverline to work but they are just miserably made they dont inspire me to quality work. Acorn are ok but are quite heavy. I would rather have an older nicer plane and spend the 20 mins required to clean them. Basically getting a sharp iron and well fitting lever cap seems to be 90% of the battle. The only really lost causes are if the brass adjuster knob has wrecked the thread. I have never really had much luck removing the locked on left hand thread screws without crusing the thread. But i have abox full of about 50 frogs so i dont tend to worry too much...
shed9
establiSHED member
Been there with a very early low knob No 2 Stanley purchased from the States......... It will come out in therapy on day.......
Jacob
Pint of bass, porkpie, and packet of crisps please
I scan ebay a lot too - I get sudden urges to sharpen and set up knackered old planes!
Yes to Records they are generally better quality than same age Stanleys. Broken handles mendable if it's a clean break.
Useful tip - if a knob or handle won't tighten up enough because it's run out of thread then drop in a washer to take up the slack. What washer, it's an odd size? The stem nut from a normal sports push bike inner tube Presta valve is a perfect fit. Any bike shop should be able to give you a handful, from scrap inner tubes.
Corset
Established Member
Yeah i seem to enjoy turning rusty planes back to users too, i like restoring orange rust buckets back to a desireable items. I do sell them but its certainly not for the money haha. It just bothers me that someone would throw a plane away because its a bit rusty or blunt. Often it doesnt take me more than 15 minutes with the right buffing wheel ( not too shiny that looks wrong) to go from rust to gold. its very satisfying i also have a penchance for vices but that is another story
I know what you are saying about the handles but even with the best repairs it does seem to affect selling value, at the end of the day you can buy a non broken handle for not anymore... so why do so. Many are rosewood that are worth repairing but its not always an educated buyer
My experience is different. I bought a couple of Silverline No 4s. I use 1 as a smoother, so I put some effort into getting the sole flat, but it didn't need anything else. The other I use as a scrub and I didn't do any prep work at all on that one. I use both of them with no problem, and I don't find any difference in use between them and my Stanleys. My Stanleys are either inherited or bought cheaply used and fettled as needed; either way it is always nice to get good results from cheap tools.
The only thing I don't like about the Silverline planes is the corrugated soles, but that doesn't seem to be a problem in use and anyway is not unique to Silverline.
Jacob
Pint of bass, porkpie, and packet of crisps please
Getting back to the original question - one variety of plane to ignore, for practical reasons, ancient or modern, are those with Norris style adjusters. They look so neat and sensible but basically don't work at all well, even less well with a low angle plane.
Hence the rise and rise of the Stanley Bailey design with it's highly effective adjustment mech.
I had the LN jack briefly and found it irritating to have to adjust a "premium" plane with a little hammer.
I also had the new Stanley SW jack which was very well made and cheap, but completely spoiled by the crazy decision to use a norris adjuster.
Hence the rise and rise of the Stanley Bailey design with it's highly effective adjustment mech.
I had the LN jack briefly and found it irritating to have to adjust a "premium" plane with a little hammer.
I also had the new Stanley SW jack which was very well made and cheap, but completely spoiled by the crazy decision to use a norris adjuster.
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The first thing I was taught using planes is how to sharpen it, set it, and get it working properly, so I wouldn't worry too much about 'how hard is it to get a plane working?', unless it's really thrashed to the point of needing restoration.
I think it's much better to get a decent second hand plane and get it working, than buy a brand spanking new works-right-out-of-the-box. The risks of buying a new plane include destroying it with newbie errors*, buying the wrong type/size for you, and the fact that you'll have developed the wrong expectation for the setup - 'factory perfect' instead of 'good enough'.
I would also add that the best 'size' is entirely personal and depends on how big your hands are, how strong you are, and what type of work you are doing. In my case, anything smaller than 4 1/2 is too small for my hands.
*If I may list the various ways I have wrecked planes as a young fella, these include destroying the blade trying to sharpen it better, dropping them, cracking the cap by overtightening the screw, stubbornly trying to plane a knot until I broke the tote, and hitting nails more times than I care to remember.
I think it's much better to get a decent second hand plane and get it working, than buy a brand spanking new works-right-out-of-the-box. The risks of buying a new plane include destroying it with newbie errors*, buying the wrong type/size for you, and the fact that you'll have developed the wrong expectation for the setup - 'factory perfect' instead of 'good enough'.
I would also add that the best 'size' is entirely personal and depends on how big your hands are, how strong you are, and what type of work you are doing. In my case, anything smaller than 4 1/2 is too small for my hands.
*If I may list the various ways I have wrecked planes as a young fella, these include destroying the blade trying to sharpen it better, dropping them, cracking the cap by overtightening the screw, stubbornly trying to plane a knot until I broke the tote, and hitting nails more times than I care to remember.
Ttrees
Iroko loco!
That's the spirit, all these old planes are proper quality,
and you will be glad you bought them.
That one has all the pictures I would want when buying one.
It might be a bit more unusual to find a longer plane with that good of photography though,
which you can actually get a good idea of the sole thickness from each end.
I'll second that, and a whole lot more so the case, if it were a longer plane.
I would be looking for something pretty much untouched.
An old untouched rusty plane will likely be in the ball park of being perfectly usable after clean and a sharpening, nothing more needed!
If very cruddy the iron could need a bit more work, if it is pitted.
I don't really mind that bit of work, its the plane for me which is important.
A longer plane is not as straight forward to flatten as a wee no.4,
so I would be wary of overenthusiastic restorations.
If one needs to be flattened, then one can't simply mindlessy rub it onto a flat taught clean lapping plate and expect it to be dead flat.
Just don't be fooled by this impression is all. DAMHIK.
Simple process really, just needs a bit of thought (as in looking with a straight edge of some description)
and possibly spot work before one might repeat the same as seen on 99% of the youtube's out there.
Longer planes will likely get convex if lapped like that.
Do anything but think, total removal of those marker scribbles always means flat.
Keep looking with a straight edge aswell and you won't go far wrong
All the best
Might even be a thought to have a look for something old and rough for extremely cheap like a tenner and have another plane whilst you're looking for a nice one.
A good'un shouldn't take more than 2 weeks to find, (although for me, postage is the main reason for this)
scour the bay and keep searching for new listings if you can't find any buy it now's.
I must confess I haven't looked at some planes on the bay in a while...
I can't afford to find something I'll want!
We all like to see some old tools here so no bother asking what we think about something.
Happy shopping
Tom
Having read this and similar threads, i followed some of the advice,
Bought a USA corrugated 5 1/2 from tooltique, maybe i couldmhave found something cheaper elsewhere but seems to be less than many on ebay go for. As mentioned innthe thread it was a revelation using a plane that had had a bit of attention.
On the back of that I watched a couple of fettling videos and set to work on my 4 1/2 that was my grandfathers. Took me half a day but at the end of it, was a different tool completely.
Then a 6 turned up locally on FB market place , gave that the same treatment and again turned out well.
Up until yesterday i’d never quite understood those that said a planed finish was far superior to a sanded one, now i can see why.
In future i’ll pay a bit more attention to the planes in the local auctions and not be afraid of bidding onnstuff i’d never have looked at twice in the past.
Many thanks to those that have posted on this and other threads.
Bought a USA corrugated 5 1/2 from tooltique, maybe i couldmhave found something cheaper elsewhere but seems to be less than many on ebay go for. As mentioned innthe thread it was a revelation using a plane that had had a bit of attention.
On the back of that I watched a couple of fettling videos and set to work on my 4 1/2 that was my grandfathers. Took me half a day but at the end of it, was a different tool completely.
Then a 6 turned up locally on FB market place , gave that the same treatment and again turned out well.
Up until yesterday i’d never quite understood those that said a planed finish was far superior to a sanded one, now i can see why.
In future i’ll pay a bit more attention to the planes in the local auctions and not be afraid of bidding onnstuff i’d never have looked at twice in the past.
Many thanks to those that have posted on this and other threads.
