Roberto Flintofski
Established Member
Each to their own and what budgets they are working too, me , I'm tight old and poor !
General purpose plane
- Thread starter cpmczak
- Start date
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Each to their own and what budgets they are working too, me , I'm tight old and poor !
MAKE ONE 
Block of wood, something to act as the iron, chiseling and all manner of crafty type woodworking tools.
I think once you get into something like that and hone a technique, you end up with dozens.
Block of wood, something to act as the iron, chiseling and all manner of crafty type woodworking tools.
I think once you get into something like that and hone a technique, you end up with dozens.
cpmczak
Member
Interesting debate and I can see both sides of the argument. I'm all for picking up an eBay bargain (have done it plenty of times over the years) but, in this case, my time is at a premium (young kids, full time business) so my thought process was that I'd rather spend what precious time I do have working on my woodworking skills rather than getting frustrated with trying to fettle an old plane into a usable condition, when frankly I have no idea where to start!
Obviously I will need to learn to sharpen the blade, and I'll watch some Youtube videos to help me with that, but for the moment, that is probably as far as I want to go in terms of restoring a plane. I've had a look at the Quangsheng planes recommended by others and they seem like a nice middle ground - not outrageously expensive and the sort of quality that should be more than sufficient for my needs and will see me through many years of hobbyist work.
Obviously I will need to learn to sharpen the blade, and I'll watch some Youtube videos to help me with that, but for the moment, that is probably as far as I want to go in terms of restoring a plane. I've had a look at the Quangsheng planes recommended by others and they seem like a nice middle ground - not outrageously expensive and the sort of quality that should be more than sufficient for my needs and will see me through many years of hobbyist work.
Ttrees
Iroko loco!
Stanley or Record no.4 and no.5 1/2 on the bay or tool dealer. Look for no hair line cracks in the casting. No split handles preferably , plenty of life left in the cutter preferably. No chips around the mouth and a thick sole (base) checked from looking head on from each end so you can flatten it if need be.
A bit of rust is no issue.
Regardless what plane you get, the most important thing is that you sharpen the cutter well, as a fancy ductile iron plane will be in the same state of affairs as an old rusty one after 20 minutes use.
Tom
A bit of rust is no issue.
Regardless what plane you get, the most important thing is that you sharpen the cutter well, as a fancy ductile iron plane will be in the same state of affairs as an old rusty one after 20 minutes use.
Tom
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Jacob
What goes around comes around.
Fettling a plane is pretty low tech really - about equivalent of maintaining a push bike - but there are people who don't even do that!
Sounding like an old fart I know, but when ar worra lad nobody ever started with a new bike - it'd be somebody's cast off, might even have been their mum's. By the time a new bike turned up we'd all be experts and the first thing we'd do is take it apart and improve it (except spoilt rich kids or sisters of course).
Ditto tools - everything begged borrowed or "found".
Sounding like an old fart I know, but when ar worra lad nobody ever started with a new bike - it'd be somebody's cast off, might even have been their mum's. By the time a new bike turned up we'd all be experts and the first thing we'd do is take it apart and improve it (except spoilt rich kids or sisters of course).
Ditto tools - everything begged borrowed or "found".
That is true, but if you have zero experience or knowledge it can be a daunting task. I recently set up an old No 5 for a guy who lives near me. He has taken up woodwork in his retirement and had no idea why his plane was not performing as he thought it should. There was very little wrong with it but he simply did not know where to start.
Jacob
What goes around comes around.
Fair enough. Good that he didn't have to lay out £400 or so instead!
Not knowing how to do things you've never done before, is normal. Finding out how, from friends, neighbours, publications, is normal. Working it out for yourself is also normal.
Corset
Established Member
i have literally tidied up 100s of planes over the years through collecting tools (i know i know) and have derusted manyof stanleys record acorn etc. Generally the ones that have been used once and sat in a shed were the least likely to perform well despite being the shiniest. The well worn plane are normally ugliy but sorted. I would note that people tend to stick to stanley and record on ebay so so many middling brands for years past are ignored and these can be pretty decent rapier, whitmore, woden all crop up and are cheaper still. I have 120 planes sat in my garage waiting a clean and tidy all from a closed school dept. Its quite interesting you can see the older planes such as a bedrock, old records and stanleys all nice. Some nice T5 and then newer record marples planes in there which are pretty poor castings (useable but ugly). I have big hands and i find some planes i just cant get my fingers to not hit the adjuster wheel.
Anyway lots to go for on ebay and you can get a whole set for the price of a LN or veritas. I personally prefer a 5 over a 4 but each to their own.
Anyway lots to go for on ebay and you can get a whole set for the price of a LN or veritas. I personally prefer a 5 over a 4 but each to their own.
Jameshow
Established Member
What do you think of Acorn / gtl / rapier planes?
Im going to buy some at some point for my men's shed and it's a toss up between new silverline or s/h cheap planes.
Don't want Stanley l/N etc incase they walk.
Cheers James
Jacob
What goes around comes around.
I've got an Acorn 4 and it's perfectly OK. The only cheap detail is the lateral adjuster which is a folded metal type which you see on later Stanleys Records too, but work fine.
2nd hand is a gamble but some cheapos are out and out duds. I bought a Faithful 10 which was unusable and un remediable. All the parts were well made and the blade was good but they just didn't fit together.
Corset's point about well used ones is good - at least you know they were usable once!
I've got a very nice Stanley 3 which has plastic handles but you really can't tell unless you look very closely. It's very well made with no compromises - the plastic looks like a nicely polished hardwood. Don't necessarily be put off by plastic handles
cpmczak
Member
OK fine, I think you've actually convinced me that I'm being a bit pretentious here and nothing wrong with looking second hand and learning some new skills along the way. I do have a reputation for being pretty tight but I guess in this case, I've been worried about buying a dud.
So this one looks decent to my untrained eye. Any thoughts?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274630349045
Jacob
What goes around comes around.
Looks OK though personally I'd rather buy things untouched by restorers. I always feel that over polishing is sign of amateur at work! But there are plenty to chose from on ebay
Roberto Flintofski
Established Member
If you're going to buy second hand, I'd recommend buying from a reputable dealer e.g.
https://www.oldhandtools.co.uk
https://www.tooltique.co.uk
You'll need to check such websites fairly frequently as good Record and Stanley planes tend to get snapped up fairly quickly.
Jameshow
Established Member
shed9
establiSHED member
Have to agree here, unless you are buying from a reputable known source then an Ebay purchase of a restored plane is possibly not the best option, especially the over shiny ones. But then buying an already restored plane is not that far removed from buying a QS variant form a price point and the argument made by others. That particular one in the link looks about the right price and easily passed on if not for you.
There are usually plenty of No 4 1/2's going second hand, more so than No 4's in my opinion. This may be a good compromise of a smoother with a wider blade and a bit more heft to get through your table tops. Be prepared for a proper work out when you start on the tops, not sure that many people appreciate the actual physical labour involved in planing large areas.
Personally I would use a jointer on a largish top before taking a smoother to it to get the high spots down, else you will just be smoothing an unlevelled board top. All depends on the actual size of course.
As before be warned it can be a slippery slope to more planes.
Have a look at the SuperTool website, the excellent Patrick's Blood and Gore's Stanley history. Just scroll down to the plane numbers at the bottom of the page.
cpmczak
Member
Beaconsfield, just west of London
Roberto Flintofski
Established Member
Just wondered to see if anyone local to you had a spare that they could loan or sell you or show you how to sharpen and fettle!
lurker
Le dullard de la commune
Same thoughts crossed my mind
