Fulton planes?

[Bob Stroupe]

I see these same nameless bailey styled hand planes all the time while looking for old tools.
There are a lot of them and they are usually about as cheap as they come, so I have figured they must not be too good...
The face of the frog has a large bearing surface for the blade. However, looking at the frog from the back side it appears that the mating area between the frog and the bed is substandard.
Today I saw a couple of these planes in different places with Fulton plane written on the price tag.
What can you tell me about them? Would they make good users or are they junk?
Thanks

[Andrae Covington]

Fulton was a Sears brand back when they had Fulton, Dunlap, and Craftsman. Fulton was the low end. Using the plane ID page (http://www.brasscityrecords.com/toolworks/graphics/plane%20id.html) at brasscityrecords you can usually identify the manufacturer by the lateral adjustment lever. Sears contracted with Stanley, Sargent, Millers Falls, etc. Despite being the "cheap" planes of the day, I imagine most of them would make good users.

[Jim Koepke]

Quality antique planes are cheap enough that I would pass on any plane with the Fulton name.

Just the name does not make it junk. The problem is that it was a plane that was made to fit a price profile and did not have any proud parentage. It could be that the ones made at one time were decent planes and the ones made at another time were just good enough for the budget buyer to grab, knock some wood off of a sticking door and then throw it in the bottom drawer of the shop to go get the "hero treatment" from the wife.

On the other hand, they could be cheap enough to not hurt to pick one up that looks like it is in decent condition and give it a try. You could always get lucky.

jtk

[Andrew Gibson]

I have a Fulton #6c made my Union. I picked it up on the bay a while back for $20 shipped. I am quite pleased with it. the only issue was the totes horn was broken off, but that was easy enough to fix. The casting on mine is quite thick, and the iron is quite thick and substantial as well.

If you are thinking of picking one up I would suggest handling it and if it feels and looks good, and the price is right, give it a try. I also have a 50's/60's era craftsman #5 with a broken frog (top of the frog with the lateral adjuster is broken off) and it still works quite well as a scrub.

Just because I plane is not cream of the crop, does not mean it won't do a specific job quite well.

[Charles McKinley]

I bought a fulton smoother before I knew what to look for in a plane and the adjustment is so sloppy I made it into a Scrub. Check it out well but probably leave it there.