Need advise on buying planes.

[Dave Williams]

As I am a college student and will be getting a month and a half off for christmas I have a few jobs lined up to help pay for those over priced college books. For the last few years I've been looking at jointer planes, i would really like an old #8 Stanley but have been unable to find a suitable one. So I've looked at new ones, and while Lie-Nielsen's are nice but for that price i could have my father make the pattens for and cast one, or mill one out of solid steel in our shop. So since price is a factor the Anant line seems appealing, are they any good? Their #8 is priced at a very nice $90, but now they've come out the the Anant Karmal line which is supposed to be better at $140. I don't care as much about the quality of the blade as we replace most of ones we have with shop made ones later. Has anyone ever used these planes? Do they work well or will I have to adjust and fight the thing every pass I make? Any help would be great!

[Ken Werner]

Dave, I can't comment on the Anants, but if you are open to a 7 or 8, you might be able to score a decent jointer on that auction site, or perhaps looking at some of the reputable used tool vendors such as Patrick Leach and others. You might also do well with a wanted to buy posting here in the classifieds.

[Brian Kent]

Dave,

I have not used an Anant #8. I have an Anant Bullnose Rabbett plane and a 4-1/2 (neither are the Kamal line).

I had to do an inordinate amount of fettling. Now they both work, but nothing special.

I also restored a Stanley #7. It too works fine now but took a lot of work.

The only mid-priced to high-priced recommendations I could make would be the Lee Valley bevel-up jointer ($245) or the Mujinfang Ebony Jointer for $145.

http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=98%2E108%2E8050&dept_id=13602

I think I would also like to try a Kamal Anant but would start with something cheaper - like the #3.

[Casey Gooding]

I agree that finding an old Stanley #7 or #8 would be the best thing if cost is an issue. I actually saw a #7 in an antique mall today. Looked pretty good and I think they wanted $50 for it. They almost all require some work, but a little elbow grease and a Hock iron and chip breaker and you'll be set for life. Probably several lives.
I have my Great-Grandfathers #7 and it works great.

[Bob Noles]

You can do like me when I need a good user and contact this member :D

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/member.php?u=9903

[George Springer]

A #7 will will do anything you want for jointing and if you want really good performance add a Hock blade and chip breaker. I find I use my wooden jointer more than anything else. There is a Knight jointer in Classified (not mine) I've got one and it is my "go to" jointer above any other.

GSpringer

[Zahid Naqvi]

Dave I would also put my vote in for a used jointer. I had a Sargent that I sold for about $70 almost a year ago, it was in excellent user condition. I am sure you can find old Stanleys, Sargent, Millers falls etc in good condition on eBay or other tool dealers. Clint Jones, who is a member of SMC, always has hand planes for sale, WaltQ of brasscityrecords.com is also a reliable source. I am sure they can come up a with a used jointer within the $100 range. Which will be much better than any of the newer Anant or Stanley.

[Ken Werner]

What Zahid said. Apologies for not mentioning Clint by name earlier.

Ken

[Dave Williams]

Thanks for all your advise, I've been trying to get a decent used one for a while, all the ones that appear at the sales I go to are either cracked, missing the frog, are way out of my price range, or are corrugated which i do not want. I'm not to in to buying things over the net, I like to go over them closely before I buy anything used. I was hoping to buy a cheap new plane from Anant and replace the blade and tune it a bit, but it seems it would be better to keep looking at tool sales. Thanks again!