dunlap planes

[jim sauterer]

a friend gave me 2 old dunlap planes his father had.little rusty are they worth cleaning up.thnks jim

[george wilson]

Dunlap back in the 50's and 60's,perhaps longer,was a 2nd. class line of tools that Sears sold. Take a good,sharp smooth cut 8" Nicholson file with teeth that are NOT SHINY(which means dull). Try to file the cutting edges of the plane irons. If they will BARELY file,just a little,that is a good sign to begin with. If they file as easily as a saw,they will not hold up well.If they don't file at all,they may not hold up being too hard. Beyond this test,there is no way of knowing the carbon content of the steel. Steel with fairly low carbon can test hard,barely filable,etc.,but will still not have good wear resistance. That can only be finally determined by using the planes.

[Luke Townsley]

I've got a Dunlap jack plane. It is quite useable and noticeably poorer quality than a Sargent Jack "Franken"plane I have.

They should be worth cleaning up, but not worth doting over unless you are just wanting the practice.

[Michael Schwartz]

I have a dunlop block plane that tuned up alright and that floats around my shop and gets used for misc tasks that my LN or Stanley are too nice for. This is also the block plane I throw in my tool bucket to take to job sites.

I am doubtful the cutting edge would be very good but they are probably two good planes to both learn how to and practice tuning and restoring an old plane. When its all said and done it won't be perfect, but it should work ok, and if you can get it working nicely it might be worth picking up an aftermarket iron from LN.

Tuning a plane really comes down to finishing up where the manufactured left off on machining. Clean them up first, and if there are no cracks in the casting or heavy rust or pitting its probaly worth tuning them and seeing how they work out.

[John Borgwardt]

I have several Dunlaps and I find them as good or better than any Stanley. I have fettled them and they are great. I have purchased Lie Nielsen blades and chip breakers for them and they work great. I can actually use them one handed to run them on the edge of a board and they cut perfectly. I say buy as many as you can get your hands on. :p :D

[Bill Houghton]

some of the "second line" tools from the pre- and post-war period are really quite good - and certainly better than you can buy retail today.

[john davey]

I have a Dunlap block plane tuned up nice and works as well as my Stanley.

[scott spencer]

I've got an older #3 that's actually pretty decent....roughly comparably made to some of my Bailey's. Like many planes, the actual quality of your planes likely depend on the line, the model, and the era it was made.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/hewood/Planes/planecollection-1.jpg