Yard Sale Block Plane... Good find or waste of time?

[Dave Gaul]

LOML found at a yard sale for $3 and brought it home for me... along with the three c-clamps...

Block plane has "made in usa" on it, and a "No ??" stamped on it.. hoping to see better once I clean it up. No brand marking afaict... looks alot like and early 1900's Stanley from what I've found so far... any ideas? The front knob looks like it could be a Miller-Falls maybe?

The c-clamps are marked "Stearns Syracuse" "No 30", not too useful but pretty cool iyam!!!

[Jon Toebbe]

Looks like you ought to be able to get more than $3 worth of use out of that one. :) Give it a dip in some citric acid (or your rust remover of choice), wash off all the crud, and sharpen the iron and you're good to go.

As long as the mouth is in good shape, a block plane is a pretty easy plane to put in order. So, I'd say the LOYL "dun good."

[Dave Ring]

Besides looking distinctly cool, at least 2 of the clamps should prove plenty useful. E.C Stearns made a line of very good tools as well as bicycles. There was also a Stearns Steam Carriage Company that built cars between 1900 and 1904 in Syracuse.

[george wilson]

Those "C" clamps are actually quilting frame clamps. I wouldn't tighten down those crude threads too much. They might easily strip out,because the whole clamp is cast iron.

There are usually 4 in a set.

[Bill Houghton]

The front knob looks Millers-Falls-ish to me, but I'm far, far from expert.

If it is a Millers-Falls: they're decent little tools.

I concur: clean it up and put it to use. It's clean enough that you might try the method I used for a long time, which is an SOS pad with warm water. I've just started experimenting with vinegar (and am so far really impressed), but for minor rust, the SOS/water approach works a treat, and takes no longer than cleaning up a saucepan in which you let the rice go a little long.

More important than sanitary appearance is having the operating surfaces (sole, bedding for the iron, screw adjustment) smooth, and the iron sharp. Wax your operating surfaces and go for it.

How long is it? It's hard for me to tell if it's a little 5" plane like the Stanley 203 (which it resembles but isn't), or 6". If it's the short one, that's a right handy trimming plane.

[Dave Matson]

The phillips head screw affixing the front knob might indicate its a ww2 or post war plane. I don't think its millers falls as the knurling pattern on the lever cap looks different. MF ones have a raised diamond pattern. There is a millers falls 75-B on ebay which shows some detail shots that might illustrate this (Auction # 360268663097).

It looks much more like this listing for a Great Neck block plane (120506114344)

Regardless, when sharpened it should be handy to have

[Dave Gaul]

I haven't had a chance yet to clean up the plane and look for more markings... but it will be a user for sure.. blade looks bad off, but may be useable until I get a replacement...

The clamps are really cool... will clean them up and maybe hang them somewhere in the shop for show!

[Dave Gaul]

Well cleaned it up a little last night, under the blade, stamped just behind the mouth, is a "G2"... indicating the Great Neck or Buck Bros brand aparrently... oh well, like said, should be able to get much more than $3 of work out of it!!

[David Weaver]

If the iron is OK, at the very worst, you could create yourself a high angle spot smoother - hone the iron at 55 or 60 degrees for the final bevel, however you sharpen things. That way, the fixed mouth doesn't matter, and the short length will come in handy in that role.

If the iron is a little softer than an average premium plane or even a little softer than a vintage stanley block plane iron, no matter as long as it doesn't fail right away. Leaving it at a higher angle mutes some of the effect of it being soft, if it is. You might get lucky and have it be a reasonably decent plane all the way around.