$5 pick today...

[steven c newman]

At first glance, it could be mistaken for a Stanley #4....
359037
Sole was a bit nasty..
359038
Strange place for a label...
359039
Anant No. A4......got it home to the shop...
359041
Chipbreaker was factory blued....needed a touch up...
Lever cap WAS nickle plated...was just flaking off..
359042
Will need to find my red paint pen and refill the red logo..
sole isn't too hateful..
359043
Iron needed to be flatten and straightened out. Honed to 2000 grit...for now.
Japanning was almost perfect
359044
Shavings?
359045
Not too bad, for running right across a knot.
Hey, for $5.....
Iron does have a bit of camber to it, will work on that issues next time in the shop...

[steven c newman]

Will need to go back and work on the edge a bit more.....too much camber to suit me. It does hold it's settings very well. Backlash is only two complete turns to make a change. Wheel turns nicely, fingertip works.

Apparently, the original bolt for the rear handle went MIA, so, someone before me had a ...."solution" to use..
359085
Frog seat area was kind of nasty...
359086
Frog also needed a bit of work..
359087
Face is now sanded flat. Gap at the bottom? Very tight, no wiggle room when placed on the base's rib.

Iron and chipbreaker had set clamped down way too long, and both needed a little hammer work to get them nice and straight along their length.
359088
Japanning was almost 100% still there. There was no paint on the frog seats, just a small spot of rust.
359089
If it wasn't japanned, it was nickle plated....even the bolts. Chipbreaker had been blued at the factory, and stamped as ANANT. Cleaned off a little rust..had to re-blue a spot or two. Chipbreaker would only contact the back of the iron at one corner...tuned that until no gaps were seen. Very little work to flatten the back and front of the iron. Had a lot of rust on the bevel and where the chipbreaker sat.. cleaned that up. Freehand sharpened the iron to 2K grit.....

Will go back later today, and make the edge a bit straighter than the 9" radius curve it has now. It will also remove the few pits back there.
As it is right now, there wasn't any chatter, even going across that pine knot. No tearout going on. Handle on the back end is now tight and solid, again.

Just a $5 No. 4 sized plane.....

[Mike Baker 2]

Cool find. Love stuff like this. Will be hitting the flea market for old planes, chisels and other tools this weekend.