Anyone using a Faithfull No 7, good or avoid

[Homeless Squirrel]

the quality of the castings on old planes are far superior, any stress that was in the metal will have long gone, also the quality of all the screws, frog, parts e.t.c will be better as well, unless it's something amazing and high end like a clifton, lie neilsen or veritas but that will cost you a premium.

NO! This was my point in post above the very old castings wasn't so great as like with many things in there infancy they have to progress as just swapped an 1820-1850 era number 6 with a friend for a MF18 the 6 had micro stress fractures in face of base which was common back then and later castings improved plus thickness along with smoother detailing's of areas on top plus frogs.
But as with so many things they improve to a point then slide down the Big Hill to Closure/Bankruptcy as the Bean counters ruin Businesses!

 

[no idea]

Hi all

As subject really, anyone tried oe of the Faithfull No.7 planes.

At under £60 are they a good plane or not worth bothering with.

Out if not all the usual makes are out of my budget range, even old rusty ones on eBay are above what I would want yo spend on an occasional use tool.

Are the Faithfull planes usable once fettled and sharpened.

Tanks for any input on this.

Paul

The Faithful no 7 is fine, especially as a starter plane. Once you've got it working well you could change the iron if you want to but it will do everything a plane needs to do and will certainly match the abilities of new upmarket planes as well as used ones.

 

[Nic Rhodes]

I can't comment on the Faithful 7 but have a LN and Stanley and both work well. Record 7 on eBay atm at £80 with no bids, decent looking and finishes in next few hours. Even though i have a plane obsession (hundreds here and want to start making some my own shortly), I don't often use a 7 or 8 so would look at a 22 or 24 inch wooden plane for occasional use before you upgrade to a LN 8. They work as well, easier to fettle, and are more fun to use.

 

[thetyreman]

NO! This was my point in post above the very old castings wasn't so great as like with many things in there infancy they have to progress as just swapped an 1820-1850 era number 6 with a friend for a MF18 the 6 had micro stress fractures in face of base which was common back then and later castings improved plus thickness along with smoother detailing's of areas on top plus frogs.
But as with so many things they improve to a point then slide down the Big Hill to Closure/Bankruptcy as the Bean counters ruin Businesses!

yeah when I say old planes I wasn't referring to 19th century ones, mostly 20th century, at least no11 era or more recent than that when they started getting really good at making them, my favourite era is the 1920s-1930s, all the big plane making companies starting going down hill when they were sold off and asset stripped, they kept the name but QC meant nothing to them once it got to the early 70s.

 

[Jacob]

It's pot luck with Faithful planes. I tried No10 but it was unusable - excellent in parts but they just wouldn't fit together!
Other of their products have been OK. I guess they don't have good quality control.
I'd risk it but be prepared to send it back.

 

[D_W]

I can't comment on the Faithful 7 but have a LN and Stanley and both work well. Record 7 on eBay atm at £80 with no bids, decent looking and finishes in next few hours. Even though i have a plane obsession (hundreds here and want to start making some my own shortly), I don't often use a 7 or 8 so would look at a 22 or 24 inch wooden plane for occasional use before you upgrade to a LN 8. They work as well, easier to fettle, and are more fun to use.

Interestingly, a lie nielsen 8 (no special handles or anything) sold at auction here a week or two ago (real auction, not ebay)....something like $900 with buyer's premium and tax.

I mentioned on another thread that there's no great reason to have a premium plane for actual work, but I probably should make one caveat. if you get a lie nielsen and everything on it is just right, it will give you a bar to aim for when you are doing up any plane you find on the secondary market. the only difference ultimately would be feel and maybe adjuster speed / backlash.

 

[Jacob]

I can't comment on the Faithful 7 but have a LN and Stanley and both work well. Record 7 on eBay atm at £80 with no bids, decent looking and finishes in next few hours. Even though i have a plane obsession (hundreds here and want to start making some my own shortly), I don't often use a 7 or 8 so would look at a 22 or 24 inch wooden plane for occasional use before you upgrade to a LN 8. They work as well, easier to fettle, and are more fun to use.

Yes No8 just too heavy but you can get a woody lighter and even longer- nicer to use but not so easy to set up.

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

LN tools fetching crazy prices! I unloaded a LN #9 for $700.00 and a LN 4-1/2 for $350.00. The #9 was bought new and was just worth keeping. The 4-1/2 was from a trade and was “renewed”.

I have three Wenzloff saws that are going to go. Just not used to warrant holding onto them, especially (again) with the prices they’re bringing.

These are just tools and not investments!

 

[thetyreman]

if I'd have kept my LN no85 scraper plane I'd get about £600 for it now, possibly more! paid about £160 ish a few years ago and when I bought the 102 block plane it was still less than £100 as well....

 

[D_W]

They were tools...now they're looking like investments!

I sold two LN planes early in covid just hoping to get 80% of list and I'd eat the fees. I put them on as penny auctions and ended up getting people complaining that I had "shill bidders", and then they both went 50% higher than that point and the buyers paid. I thought maybe someone was sabotaging the sales to drop bids at the last second.

Admittedly, I didn't know what was going on with LN and LV and people were already getting antsy about delays in stock.


The 7 1/2 you mentioned having fetched big bucks at the FW auction. Something obscene, like $950 with buyers premium and tax.

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

They were tools...now they're looking like investments!

I sold two LN planes early in covid just hoping to get 80% of list and I'd eat the fees. I put them on as penny auctions and ended up getting people complaining that I had "shill bidders", and then they both went 50% higher than that point and the buyers paid. I thought maybe someone was sabotaging the sales to drop bids at the last second.

Admittedly, I didn't know what was going on with LN and LV and people were already getting antsy about delays in stock.


The 7 1/2 you mentioned having fetched big bucks at the FW auction. Something obscene, like $950 with buyers premium and tax.

$950 for the 7-1/2? It might go, though it gets a lot of use for long edge planing. I used it so much, I’m used to it. I have an 85 that will probably go, as well as a high angle #4, that does get used.

 

[D_W]

$950 for the 7-1/2? It might go, though it gets a lot of use for long edge planing. I used it so much, I’m used to it. I have an 85 that will probably go, as well as a high angle #4, that does get used.

https://bid.alderferauction.com/ui/auctions/90849/9772282
figure if someone was buying as an individual and not as a dealer with a tax number, I guess it may have been more than a grand. It's weird to see the tools that came into production while you were a hobbyist suddenly become collector's items.

I had the LN 9 at one point, too, but got it used for a song and then sold it for maybe a song plus $25. AT that time, the brass or bronze original version was already expensive. It wasn't a very practical plane, but neither is the infill that I built....or at least that one works very practically, but it's not practical to waste 80 hours building a plane you don't use.

The #9 would make a great edge striking plane, though, in a jig for long grain and with a 60 degree total bevel angle (as per the setup holtzapffel mentions for miter planes).

 

[Droogs]

With regards to Faithfull planes the #6s and up seem to come in an easier state to fettle thane the lower numbers. I don't know if this is due to them being given longer to season before being machined due to their size of casting. But the lower numbers are definitely not given long enough seasoning time and end up being bananas as they sit on the shelves in shops and become a nightmare to fettle. I now have a #7 rider but for many years used a Faithful #7, which once fettled became my go to plane after initial work with a #5 1/2. Often I would go straight to finishing after using the #7 without the need to smooth with a #4. Unfortunately the #7 was knocked off a stool and resulted in a cracked casting even though it was ductile iron, this is what lead to the Rider I have now.