Record 44C plough plane price?

[Tony Shea]

I have come across the need to own myself a plough plane but do not really want to pay what LV wants for their version. I'm sure they are great, as all their tools have been fine examples for me so far but just can't afford it at the moment.

I have come across a Record 44C that looks to be in great condition with no missing parts at all. There is very little corrosion, a small bit on the fence rods. Depth stop parts are all there and functional and it comes with all 10 original cutters that look to be in great shape as well. This plane seems to have a blue plastic handle compared to the all metal ones that I'm used to seeing and the instruction booklet has a date on it of 1971, if that means anything. I am somewhat ignorant to what old planes are worth and anything to do with dating them. The asking price is $90, which seems high but the plane is really in pristine condition. Is this price outrageuos and I should keep looking around or is it reasonable and stop my search here?
152249

[David Weaver]

Where are the irons?

The price may be reasonable, but the trouble with planes that have no irons and no way to get new ones is that you either need to make your own (which isn't that hard, I guess, but nobody wants to do it), or find a set of old ones.

Generally with combination planes, people with sets of irons know that there are a lot more plane bodies than there are sets of irons, and you pay dearly for the sets of irons.

You are correct, the LV plow plane is stellar. It is pricey, but it's pricey in relative terms because there are stanley 50s and record 44s, etc.

I would look for something with irons, but that's just me. I've been down that road before, and I ended up giving up and selling off the plane bodies.

[Tony Shea]

Here are the irons, they are all straight irons as far as I can tell. I would need to make my own or find irons with different profiles, which I'm sure would not be an easy task really. Most of all though I need a plough plane for making grooves with flat bottoms.
152261

[Don Dorn]

I have the standard 44 and it's a great plane. The price was about the same, but it was shipped from England which added to it. The irons were new and it came in the box so it was worth it to me.

They are really fun to use - my Planecraft book (basically a Record adverstisement) says that the irons are ground at 35 degrees with no secondary bevel. I did as it said and it works like a charm - doesn't take long at all to get the job done.

I'd go for it if I were you - I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[Pam Niedermayer]

The 043 and 044 are the only plough planes I own, love them; but don't know about that handle on the 44C, might may a long day making drawers a little uncomfortable.

Pam

[Jim Belair]

For everything you always wanted the know about plough planes, see ALF's pages on Cornish Workshop
http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/combinationplanes.html

Jim B

[Zach England]

What is the difference between the 044 and the 44c?

[David Weaver]

Here are the irons, they are all straight irons as far as I can tell. I would need to make my own or find irons with different profiles, which I'm sure would not be an easy task really. Most of all though I need a plough plane for making grooves with flat bottoms.
152261

Put your money on it and get it. You could fart around trying to find one for $25 less just to satisfy the whim to make a deal, but you'll get more than that in use in the meantime.

That's a nice plane, and I would snap it up in a second with a full set of irons like that for that price if I didn't already have an LV small plow.

I wouldn't worry about the profiled irons. At some point you can learn to rehab or make moulding planes and make scratch stocks (you may already be doing those) - a plow plane with profiled irons on anything but agreeable wood is just a pain to fart around with.

[Bill Houghton]

The 043 and 044 are the only plough planes I own, love them; but don't know about that handle on the 44C, might may a long day making drawers a little uncomfortable.

Pam

Record used to argue, when that plane was a new item, that the handle shape encouraged downward/forward pressure. The plastic nature doesn't look to guarantee blister-free fingers, though. I don't know if the handle attachment would make a wood replacement easy or hard.

[Thomas Nye]

I have a NIB stanley that I got on ebay awhile back for $40 with all the blades and everything thats basically a copy of the Record plane. I never used it yet, but it looks really nice. I have used the stanley 45 & 55 many times and they do work great once you get the hang of them. The stanley is a 12-250 with 18 blades for comparison.