Vintage low angle jack plane

[Nick_]

i have a Veritas crosscut carcass saw after a recommendation on here, that I use for crosscuts of small pieces when I’m not dragging out a track saw etc. I really like it and want to a add a low angle jack plane, both in a shooting board to go with the simple bench hook I built for the saw, but also potentially for end frame butcher block flattening.

A Veritas low angle jack plane would be perfect, but it a little more than I want to spend until I’m more sure I’ll do a lot with hand tools. I see the Stanley Sweetheart as a lower cost option too.

I was interested if there are good vintage options available that would also help me get to grips with sharpening. One problem I have when looking at used planes is knowing how to identify whether it is a modern plane someone is selling or the older (vintage) planes that get brought up here as worth restoring.

 

[BillHoughton]

The Stanley No. 62 low-angle jack plane - the inspiration for the Lie-Nielsen plane and the spiritual inspiration for the Lee Valley version - suffers from a tendency to chip out at the back of the mouth, because the body is grey cast iron, and easily chipped. I don't know much about Lie-Nielsen, but Lee Valley uses ductile iron on its plane bodies, which is far less prone to chipping out. And the Stanley versions are often no cheaper or even more expensive than LV or LN. I don't know anything about the modern Stanley.