Millers Falls Buck Rodgers planes - why doesn't any one make modern versions?

[Frederick Skelly]

They ARE kinda pretty, in a retro way. I'd buy one if I ran across one here.
Does anyone who actually uses theirs have discomfort from the screws that attach the handle?

I've never seen a Stanley Gage until this post - you can sure see the resemblance to the LV Custom.

Fred

[Kory Cassel]

They ARE kinda pretty, in a retro way. I'd buy one if I ran across one here.
Does anyone who actually uses theirs have discomfort from the screws that attach the handle?

I've never seen a Stanley Gage until this post - you can sure see the resemblance to the LV Custom.

Fred

My very first plane was a plastic handled big box item and it shreds the skin from your hands around the screw holes. Can't say about the Buck Rodgers planes, but I have a bias against plastic handled planes.

[Jim Koepke]

Does anyone who actually uses theirs have discomfort from the screws that attach the handle?

They look like they would be more uncomfortable for a left handed person than someone who is right handed.

Reading the right up on this says the frog is made of aluminum. My question would be is if the screws are likely to strip out if someone takes the plane apart to clean it a few times.

My very first plane was a plastic handled big box item and it shreds the skin from your hands around the screw holes. Can't say about the Buck Rodgers planes, but I have a bias against plastic handled planes.

+1 on the bias against plastic handled planes.

jtk

[Allen Read]

If you want "Buck Rogers" style planes, look at the Lazarus planes. Priced out of the reach of most of us, but amazing designs.

http://www.lazarushandplane.com/shop/

[James Baker SD]

For those criticizing plastic handled planes, remember when this thing was first hitting the tool store shelves, that bright colored plastic for the common man was a novel idea just as Buck Rogers space travel was. Who wanted boring, brown wood handles if you could have shiny red plastic. Even I, lover of beautiful hardwood handles (just ask Dave J. or Konrad S.) succumbed to the Buck Rogers drill about 15 years ago on eBay. Came with a pretty neat set of bits in the red handle to top if off.

[Kory Cassel]

For those criticizing plastic handled planes, remember when this thing was first hitting the tool store shelves, that bright colored plastic for the common man was a novel idea just as Buck Rogers space travel was. Who wanted boring, brown wood handles if you could have shiny red plastic. Even I, lover of beautiful hardwood handles (just ask Dave J. or Konrad S.) succumbed to the Buck Rogers drill about 15 years ago on eBay. Came with a pretty neat set of bits in the red handle to top if off.

It is a striking design, clearly differentiating a uniquely MF product from a Stanley copy. That's all I the compliments I can bring myself to offer to a plastic handled plane. I had a bad experience, trauma inhibits future trust.

[Andrew Seemann]

I think part of the reason you don't see modern copies of Buck Rogers planes and similar tools is that hand tool woodworkers tend to be Romantics, and the time period they tend to romanticize is usually that late 1800s to WW2 era, and not the modernist 1950s with its technology and space travel inspired designs. The late 1800s to WW2 timeframe also coincides with Stanley-at-its-prime, and thus most reproductions tend to be of the Stanleys. Plus most Stanley-at-its-prime designs don't really have much improvement to be made on them, other than maybe less fragile casting materials.

Note, not all hand tool woodworkers romanticize that late 1800s to WW2 timeframe, some are into Colonial era, and some even earlier, but that prewar time seems to be quite popular.

[Richard Shaefer]

I think part of the reason you don't see modern copies of Buck Rogers planes and similar tools is that hand tool woodworkers tend to be Romantics, and the time period they tend to romanticize is usually that late 1800s to WW2 era, and not the modernist 1950s with its technology and space travel inspired designs. The late 1800s to WW2 timeframe also coincides with Stanley-at-its-prime, and thus most reproductions tend to be of the Stanleys. Plus most Stanley-at-its-prime designs don't really have much improvement to be made on them, other than maybe less fragile casting materials.

Note, not all hand tool woodworkers romanticize that late 1800s to WW2 timeframe, some are into Colonial era, and some even earlier, but that prewar time seems to be quite popular.

kind of agree, but you wouldn't know it from the auction bids on the planes.

[Jim Koepke]

kind of agree, but you wouldn't know it from the auction bids on the planes.

Those are collector prices.

If the Buck Rogers series had caught on and were flying off the shelves, there would likely be more than two sizes.

jtk

[Andrew Seemann]

The other odd thing about hand tool woodworkers, is they tend to value the less common tools, and often far more than the original users of the tools. There is a reason all those rare planes are rare. Collectors do this, but that is the nature of collecting. Take the now popular low angle jack plane. It was never a common plane "back in the day" and was intended for rough work. Then a few years ago, it became the plane that everyone needed to have, with current woodworkers coming up with all kind of uses the original users of the tool never did. High angle frogs were another one, as were scraper planes. People seem to be looking for that "secret" tool, that has been lost to time, that will unlock woodworking prowess. Every few years, a new old tool comes back into popularity, only to be replaced by the next new old fad. I still think it goes back to the Romantic side of hand tool woodworkers that draws them into hand tool working in the first place

That said, those Buck Rogers planes do look cool, and they have a neat juxtaposition of old (hand tool woodworking) against new (space age design).

[steven c newman]

Millers Falls drill.JPG
The 1/4" version....spent $5 on it...handle was full of drill bits...
push drill.jpg
#100 Push Drill....
price tag.jpg
Also with 6 bits in the handle...