Wards Plane ?

[Al Willits]

Having just discovered planes not to long ago, I have little knowledge in what's worth rehabing and what's not.

Found this buried in my FIL's garage and he says I can have it...needs a bit of TLC but doesn't seem to have anything broken or missing.

Says Wards Master on one end and No 7 on the other.

I don't have a longer plane and don't mind the time to clean it up, but is this plane worth the time??

tia

Al

[jerry nazard]

Al,

If it were me, I'd sharpen the iron, wipe off the rust, and proceed from there. Or, you can send the plane to me for a free long term diagnostic analysis.... <gr>

-Jerry

[Al Willits]

Thanks Jerry, I'll do the basic clean up and see how it goes, kinda figured that was the way to go, but with my luck it'd turn out to be some alien device and I'd end up in a pod, or it was a piece of junk and not worth fixing up...:)

I'll leave sending it to ya as a last resort, hate to take advantage of ya....:D

Thanks for the response.

Al

[Ray Sheley]

Al, I have a #7 Wards Master that I am pretty sure is a SARGENT plane. Possibly yours is too. Decent enough plane that some prefer over the STANLEY's, and of course some don't like them as well. Worth some time for the price. It will probably surprise you.

[Al Willits]

Thanks Ray, I'm not looking for it to be a high end plane, just good enough to be worth the effort, seems it is.


Al

[Jim Koepke]

Looks like your basic joiner.

All a plane does is provide a convenient way to hold a blade. Clean it up and sharpen the blade to see if you have a good blade holder. Take some pictures with the frog off to share with the rest of us.

The lateral lever looks similar to the Union style. Stanley bought them in the 1920's and used some of their design features on their second line planes.

If it can make thin full width shavings, then you have a tool worth keeping and using.

jim

[Bill Houghton]

I've got a Wards Master No. 4 smoother that's a gem. I must have gone a year of intermittent use before sharpening the iron, and the operating controls are very smooth and solid.

Although, I've got a Wards Master block plane that will need some attention: the screw on which the lever cap pivots is kind of loose, and operation of the iron for depth setting is not so smooth.

Clean it up, sharpen the iron, and give it a spin; I hope your experience will be like my No. 4's.