MF planes are in the ballpark of stanley bailey in the range that I mentioned. They had the trick lever cap design and they kept a milled casting face longer, but the irons aren't quite as good as stanley's, at least in my experience (maybe 8 or 10 of them?). They're a favorite around here among folks who pick up used planes, though, and they do have nice soft castings, which someone might scowl at as a comment, but there's no reason for a casting to be bullet hard and difficult to flatten. they flatten nicely. I don't have any at this point not for any other reason than I just don't keep a lot of bench plane duplicates and some of the planes that I do have were just like antique market finds, like $15 unused later 6s, etc.
Most of the other planes around that were cut cost compared to stanley to find a place in a tool seller's catalog just flat out aren't as good (ohio metal planes, the union versions with an unsupported front frog and a gap between frog and casting, etc).
There was a time here about 12-15 years ago that you could get millers falls type 2-4 planes really inexpensively, except for some reason, the #2 sized plane (which isn't something I'd ever buy). That's another reason that I had a bunch of them. $15 9/14 planes were very common in good shape, and only the type 1s brought money on ebay. Those didn't get any attention in antique malls. Everything was about half stanley's price.
a quick look on ebay now shows their average sale price is about the same as stanley. It's been so long since I looked around with any intent other than this recent flurry of 7s that I don't know who is stylish on ebay in the US. There's always one or two people trying to premium price planes and call them "tuned", but that existed 15 years ago with a few people refinishing the life right out of planes, sometimes belting any markings off of the castings and turning them into bananas with pretty japanning. I managed to find two sevens for an average well under $100, but also did see a seller who was able to sell "tuned" planes that weren't reground or anything for pretty high dollars. $250-ish for a jointer, more than double the actual average sale average).
It did look like a case of the guy having 20 and selling 2, though.
Fun's kind of over, I want to make and use things and unload stuff I don't keep, and Ebay's PIA compliance with data submission now means I have to try to come up with some kind of proof or record of purchase or I'll be charged income tax on the entire sale. Not worth the trouble any longer.
Most of the other planes around that were cut cost compared to stanley to find a place in a tool seller's catalog just flat out aren't as good (ohio metal planes, the union versions with an unsupported front frog and a gap between frog and casting, etc).
There was a time here about 12-15 years ago that you could get millers falls type 2-4 planes really inexpensively, except for some reason, the #2 sized plane (which isn't something I'd ever buy). That's another reason that I had a bunch of them. $15 9/14 planes were very common in good shape, and only the type 1s brought money on ebay. Those didn't get any attention in antique malls. Everything was about half stanley's price.
a quick look on ebay now shows their average sale price is about the same as stanley. It's been so long since I looked around with any intent other than this recent flurry of 7s that I don't know who is stylish on ebay in the US. There's always one or two people trying to premium price planes and call them "tuned", but that existed 15 years ago with a few people refinishing the life right out of planes, sometimes belting any markings off of the castings and turning them into bananas with pretty japanning. I managed to find two sevens for an average well under $100, but also did see a seller who was able to sell "tuned" planes that weren't reground or anything for pretty high dollars. $250-ish for a jointer, more than double the actual average sale average).
It did look like a case of the guy having 20 and selling 2, though.
Fun's kind of over, I want to make and use things and unload stuff I don't keep, and Ebay's PIA compliance with data submission now means I have to try to come up with some kind of proof or record of purchase or I'll be charged income tax on the entire sale. Not worth the trouble any longer.
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