looking for a #5

[Daniel Shryock]

Hello, new to hand tools and I'm looking to get ahold of a #5. My recent antique store hunt only yielded a nice coffin smoother and a really nice stanley #77 (rosewood, brass marking/mortise gauge).

anyway, I know they are available on ebay, but I've had mixed experiences there and would much rather purchase a user from someone on here (have done a lot of lurking and no posting).

hopefully this isn't bad form, but classifieds is closed without permission?

anyway, thanks for all the help you've already given and don't even know about ;) this forum is an amazing resource!

[Rob Luter]

Keep looking at flea markets, antique stores, and yard sales. I generally run across at least one every couple weeks (three last week) while on rust hunts. #5 Jack planes are very common.

- Rob

[Henk Marais]

I saw a real beuty at a antique store earlier today at a very reasonble price to boot.

Unfortunately it was in johanesburg South Africa. a couple of thousand miles from you.:D

[Phillip Pattee]

Daniel,
Posting to the classified requires a $6.00 contribution to the maintenance of this forum. I think the value of the forum is well worth it.

As far as obtaining a good user, I presume you are looking for a vintage jack plane instead of purchasing a new LV or LN or Clifton. I've done alright on ebay (only one real loser). Obviously, vintage Stanley is a good place to start, but a Miller Falls, or Sargent are also good bets.

Several members here do fettle, refurbish, and trade planes on a regular basis. The ones that I know of are Clint Jones, Johnny Kleso, and possibly Jim Koepke. There are undoubtedly others, I just don't know about them. If they don't contact you, then you can look them up in the Members List. Use the "Search Members" function, type in the name, hit return and they should come up. Go to their "Contact Info" tab and send them a private message. Tell them what you want, there is a better than average chance one of them will hook you up. I suggest them because they all know how to fettle and tune a plane. You would get a plane ready to use.

If you are actually looking for one that you would fettle yourself, they might help you there too. If you strike out with them, PM me and I might be persuaded to part with one of mine--it won't be as good as what you would get from them though.:)

[Jim Koepke]

I have nothing for sale at the moment.

It sounds like you do not have many hand tools currently. This might be good in that you can plot a course of tool buying as opposed to how I put my collection of mismatched users together.

Johny Kleso has a great site as a resource:

http://www.rexmill.com/

In the Hand Plane 101 section there is a link to the "type study" this will tell you when features were introduced to planes and will help with understanding the manufacture date of a Stanley plane.

Having planes matched for date may not be a concern to many. My collection of users runs from type 6 thru a single type 13.

Patrick Leach's site is also a good site for learning more about Stanley Planes:

http://www.supertool.com

A No. 5 can be a good choice for one's first plane. It can be a bit big for some jobs and a bit small for others.

What projects do you have in mind?

Do you plan on building a group of planes?

I have bought planes off of eBay with very little problem. One key is in asking questions and knowing that if you do not like the one being offered, there is going to be another one along soon. Often, even if I do not have questions I will make some up just to get a feel for the seller by way of how they reply.

Don't get caught up in having to win an auction. That is how to end up paying too much. A plane model that I wanted was bid on in more than a dozen auctions before I finally got one at my price. Just got another, different, specialty plane also at my price.

One of my No 5s is a great plane that I bought on eBay because the picture made it look like a junker that would be good for parts. It cost less than $20 including the shipping. My other No. 5 came from an estate sale for $10. If you are able to wait forever, then you can find a bargain. Of course, both of these needed a bit of cleaning and such. If you want one ready to go, it will cost more.

I also got lucky on a No. 7 for about $40. Its previous owner worked in a cabinet shop and painted the tote for identification. No one else seemed to want it. I stripped the paint and now have a very nice No. 7.

No matter what you do, you will need to learn how to sharpen the blade on any plane or chisel you buy.

Good luck in the hunt, it can be a lot of fun.

jim

[Bill Houghton]

If your area is decently stocked with garage and estate sales, it shouldn't be hard to find a No. 5 plane - that size and the No. 4 are perhaps the most common.

But how do you know you've got a good one? My suggestions, below, aren't foolproof, but I think are fairly reliable. Prices at local sales should be low enough that the occasional mistake won't set you back too much.

1. The tote (rear handle) should be fully oval - that is, if you curl your thumb and fingers around it, they don't encounter any flat sides. The tote should not be broken (note: I've purchased some with broken totes, and they're not hard to repair, but why do it as an early plane?).

2. The plane should not have: chips out of it, major rust, or missing parts. There are several sources for understanding what a complete plane looks like. Dust and dead spiders are no big thing - in fact, you'll clean up the plane anyway, and this kind of dirt usually reduces the price, a good thing.

3. Look at the frog (holds the cutting iron) from behind: if it's not a casting, put the plane back down. Also, is there a screw at the base of the frog, acting on a little tab visible? Good. Are there three screw heads visible, on a Stanley plane? Even better.

4. Now, flip up the lever on the cap that holds the iron. Make sure there's a flat piece of springy steel under this lever, where it acts on the iron below it. If it's missing, that's bad (again, fixable, but not worth it for a beginner). Remove the cutting iron and cap iron assembly. Look at how much iron remains between the slot and the cutting edge. If not much, you'll need to replace the iron. A lot of people do anyway, but knowing how much usable iron is left can help with the price; if it's under an inch, argue about the price, unless it's low.

You can study the various plane type studies and pinpoint even better a high quality plane - but you can also get totally lost in these things. The above are my on the street tests.

My opinion only.

[Brian Kent]

Bill, I live in the Riverside, CA area and have never found a hand plane at a garage sale. I stop at a half-dozen each month for the last couple of years. I found mine on e-bay, but after many tries and skipping on unreasonable prices. I also found a plane on sawmill creek by posting a "want to buy" and have one from a woodworking friend.

What part of the country are you finding woodworking tools at garage sales? Maybe there are not enough old farms and homesteads here.

[Daniel Shryock]

Thanks a lot for all the input guys, it is all greatly appreciated!
I wish I had time to respond individually, but frankly and honestly I don't :o

But, as far as planned projects non-specifically at the moment. I know I need to start out small as my hand tool exposure is limited to a year of class in college making furniture where we learned the technique first with hand tools but from then on used the power tools. But, the class was really cool because it was all joinery and screw-less! I'm kind of waiting to see what I can acquire and then deciding what I'll be capable of before I get my hopes up for all these cool projects ;)

Anyway, thanks again for all the help!

BTW - the one antique mall I did manage to get to when visiting my parents up in amish country had a pretty mint #1 going for $2400, if anyone is interested ;)

[skip coyne]

the one antique mall I did manage to get to when visiting my parents up in amish country had a pretty mint #1 going for $2400,

asking isn't the same as selling ;)

[Bill Houghton]

What part of the country are you finding woodworking tools at garage sales? Maybe there are not enough old farms and homesteads here.

Sebastopol, in Sonoma County (an hour north of San Francisco), was agricultural up to the 1960's, and still has a decent amount, tucked in amongst the bedroom-community and more-money-than-I'll-ever-see houses. This year's been terrible for hand tools, but we usually see a decent number of tools at sales - to the point that I'm no longer buying any bench planes, having reached saturation.

We occasionally find ourselves in the county seat, Santa Rosa, and rarely find anything worth buying there (although my No. 62 low angle plane came from a Santa Rosa sale).

It is true that you need to be in the right area. I don't know the LA basin well, so can't offer suggestions on where you might go to find tools. Good luck.

[Brian Kent]

There's a tool swap group that meets a couple time a year for Southern California, but I am always working on those Saturdays - like today:cool:.