Used planes

[Al Willits]

After the couple of posts on used planes and whether to get or not I thought I'd post what I've picked up from Nic Obie who's on this forum.

While not $300 uber high end planes they are working well for me, for much less than the cost of LN or any of the high endplanes I have 5 planes now that work very well...well, two I haven't had time to play with, but the three others have done excatly what Nic said they'd do.

The big point here is I think you can get into hand planes with out spending major amounts of money, this of course doesn't make any difference to those who can write the check and don't worry about a depleteing balance, but to those of us who don't have that kind of disposable income it is imho a great way to get into planes.

They are a great way to learn how to take apart, modify, sharpen and learn what to and not to use them on.

I doubt I could buy one high end plane for what I paid for these, or it'd be close, for me it works out well as I would not have bought 5 upper end planes and whould have missed out on the fun of working with a tool with out plugging it in.

Anyway here's a couple of pictures of them and the Ridgid sander stand I keep them in, for now.

The 3/4" plane has a nick out of the handle, Nic had told me about it and advised it wouldn't hurt planing, just its value.

Anyway, not to start a debate on good versus great planes, just to say with a bit of searching you can find decent planes to learn on and that will work for you.

Al

[Allen Bookout]

Thanks Al. The high cost of planes keeps my enthusiasm down.

[Anthony Fields]

I'm a newbie here and I am amazed at what I'm seeing some people accomplish as well as how much there is to learn.

I've bought a few tools on the auction site. These are users. My belief is that the tools were made to be used. Just my opinion. There are some beautiful planes out there that need to be cherished I guess. But, my thinking tells me they were made to be used.

Well as I said I'm a newbie and here to learn. So, Thanks to all in advance that post some information that is useful and hopefully this site won't turn out to be one that is full of arguements. ;)

My latest purchase was simply an older Craftsman plane. By far a better design than the Buck Bros. junk that I paid 4 x the amount for.

[Ben Grunow]

These were all found at tag sales for less than $10 each so do the math. All they need is some sweat and they will be ready for years of faithful service.

The handles are nicked but no cracked castings and blades (though not thick like todays big $ units) have few sharpenings.

Some day I will unplug....

[Al Willits]

"""""""""
Well as I said I'm a newbie and here to learn. So, Thanks to all in advance that post some information that is useful and hopefully this site won't turn out to be one that is full of arguements. ;)
""""""""

So do I, I didn't post these to suggest they replace the LN planes and such, just wanted to show that us newbies can get into decent planes and not spend a lot of money.

Thanks to Nics work on these I have discovered how nice a truly sharp cutting tool can work, and as the learning curve continues, I'm going to the hand tools more and more.


That and there might be a mini gloat here too...:D

Al

[Danny Thompson]

Al,

Kudos to you and to Nic. Those look like a sweet lot. Curious if you mind giving a plane-by-plane cost breakdown or at least a general range?

Thanks,

Danny

[Clint Jones]

Nic is a real nice guy to boot, I would also reccommend him as someone to buy planes from. He also makes nice looking handles if you have some that are broken.

Just because you buy an old used tool doesnt mean you will have ugly tools that wont function. Here is a couple of planes I just finished.
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff224/leonard_bailey/bo2.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff224/leonard_bailey/bo3.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff224/leonard_bailey/w5.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff224/leonard_bailey/1.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff224/leonard_bailey/3.jpg

[Tyler Howell]

Looks like a real good cross section of tools there Al.
I really enjoyed the "Rust Hunt".
Those of you that are looking, hit the flea market/antique shop trail.
The characters I met and the wealth of knowledge was awesome.
There is a lot to be said for a class and or a mentor.
My Neander tools get moved to the new place this weekend.
Looking forward to using them again.

[Tom Saurer]

Ditto what everyone else is saying. I've never used a high end plane and I don't have the money to buy one. I've got rag tag collection of no names that get the job done.

[Marcus Ward]

I have used high end planes, old stanleys work just as fine when tuned up properly. A plane is a tool for holding a blade. A giant price tag isn't necessary. :)

[nic obie]

Thank you for all the nice comments.

Clint Jones (Leonard Bailey on Wood-Net) sells planes every once in a while. If you see one of his, snap it up as he knows his stuff and does not buy or sell junk.

[Al Willits]

"""""""""
Al,

Kudos to you and to Nic. Those look like a sweet lot. Curious if you mind giving a plane-by-plane cost breakdown or at least a general range?

Thanks,

Danny
""""""""""

Dan, I'll have to look to see what I paid for all of them when I get home, but with shipping the #80 and 151 (ones with handles going out the side)
were $58 with shipping, that's from the left coast to Minn.
I think the block plane (smallest regular plane was $35 with shipping if I remember right.
He also sent a couple of extra blades he had, I did some looking locally and couldn't find anywhere near the deal he gave me.

I'll try and remember to get the rest of the prices, I think he did mention that there are different grades/conditions/years/somethings so that would probably effect pricing.

Prices seemed awful cheap to me, and all of them came ready to go, flat bottoms and scary sharp blades.

Just used one of the spoke shaver types last night to scrap a glue line, much easier than just a plain scraper...I'm getting to like this old fashioned stuff...:D

Al

[Jesse Cloud]

Hey Al,
Great gloat material! Looks like you will have lots of fun using those. Do be patient, though, you have a wide variety of planes there and each one has its own personality.

[Al Willits]

Thanks Jesse, I'm already finding out that they each are a little different in how their used.:)

Danny, and ? I found out the 3/4" Rabbit/shoulder ? plane was $30, so including shipping the two spoke type were $58 for both, Block was $35 I think and the shoulder was $30, Must have send Nic a MO or something on the other one (#4) and can't remember how much, it was comparable to these prices though.

Al

[Steve Wargo]

The Clifton you have there is an outstanding plane. I had one a long time ago and thought it to be top quality. Certainly equal to the LN's and better than the Lee Valley's IMHO. Nice find.

[Bill Hansen]

If you want to see what a sharp blade should be like, buy one of Nic's on that place.
My idea of sharp has been modified

Bill

[Al Willits]

Nick just emailed me, seems I was off a little :)

He says....
I think the block plane was $35 the #78 was $20 and my old #4 was $45.

Nick


Al...wonder why the wife takes care of finances in our house??? :D