Did I pay too much for this plane?

[Zach England]

It cost me a total of $0 and came with some old oak planking. I can only find scattered info about them. I had never heard of the maker until today, but apparently they are re-branded Sargent planes. It feels pretty solid and at least useful, but kind of smells funny. When I first saw it I thought it said "Star Wars". Opinions? Sorry for cluttering the board with such nonsense.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o237/zachslc/IMG_0444.jpghttp://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o237/zachslc/IMG_0450.jpg

[jerry nazard]

Gee, if you clean it up a bit, sharpen the iron, and find out that it does not work OK, you will be out... let me make sure that I get this right... you will be out $00.00. Seriously, I have fixed up several old Sargent #5's that were great users. Monkey around :D with it and see how it turns out.

-Jerry

[Matt Evans]

heck, that looks even better than the Handyman #4 I got from a fellow on SMC, and turned into a scrub plane! Mine works great, but doesn't quite have the heft that one looks like it has.

There are times when even free is paying too much. Like. . .when you get a few old, used pieces of furniture, beyond repair, and not even much good as kindling. Or that car, that doesn't run, hasn't in years, but for some odd reason you can't seem to get it to the scrapyard, so it just sits there. . .

[Zach England]

heck, that looks even better than the Handyman #4 I got from a fellow on SMC, and turned into a scrub plane! Mine works great, but doesn't quite have the heft that one looks like it has.

There are times when even free is paying too much. Like. . .when you get a few old, used pieces of furniture, beyond repair, and not even much good as kindling. Or that car, that doesn't run, hasn't in years, but for some odd reason you can't seem to get it to the scrapyard, so it just sits there. . .

Scrub plane! Brilliant! Thanks.

[Jim Rimmer]

I picked up a lot of tools that belonged to my Dad at my Mother's house this weekend . There was a Wards Master plane in the bunch. I haven't had time to sort through everything yet (pics later). Knowing my Dad I wouldn't be surprised if the Wards Master wasn't sold by Montgomery Wards back in the 50s and 60s when they handled a lot of tools.

[Bill Houghton]

My Wards Master No. 4 smoother is an excellent plane, although it's not the same vintage as yours (based on the adjuster knob).

Clean it up and try it. A lot of the re-badged planes are real sleepers - great tools hiding under oddball names.