Thread: $200 planes from EPay

Starting from a low base (0) I thought I should get some planes. Bearing in mind the poor quality of modern, affordable planes (not LV etc) I thought I'd buy some oldies but goodies off EPay. Six months later and a degree of work I have almost a full set, excepting a big #6 or preferably a #7.

Working from the left side of the shots, I have:

1. A Curry POS. My only lemon, bought early on, new, from one of the Ebay stores. Almost useless. Main problem is a hollow sole preceding and trailing the mouth. Too much to lap away as the sole is quite thin. Blade's OK but cap iron and chipbreaker are RS. Almost threw it but ended up swapping chipbreaker with another and ground the iron into an arc (sharpening's a bit of a pain now) and I have a magnificent scrub (I think thats the word for this type) plane. It rips out an arc in quick time, and I'm very pleased with it.

2. Pope Falcon #5. Very rusty, no pitting, good iron. Electrolysed and all well. Has a cracked tote which I epoxied. Use as a utility plane and to cannabilse for bits to swap

3. Stanley Bailey #5. Very rusty but no pitting, electrolysed the lot, lapped the sole, tuned frog etc and its now like a bought one. Absolutely flat sole and plenty of iron left. Use as jointer

4. My favourite Bailey 41/2. Same as others, electrolysed, lapped and tuned. Shaves wide, paper thin cuts. I luv it.

5. One of the famous Russian #4s. A lovely plane. Previous owener had tuned and restored. Only needed the iron sharpened. Only problem is that the round nuts that cap the wooden handles are missing. A lovely tool.

6. Pope Falcon NI6. Again very rusty, so all parts electroysed. Has original red handles which I sanded back and oiled over the top. Fine tool, haven't used it much. Whats NI6 mean, i thought it was a #3?

7. A weird #3. Only marking is made in USA. Must have been a cheapy as the adjuster knob is like an old coke bottle. Surpisingly very nice to use. Didn't need much attention, just minimal lapping . Frog etc true.

8. Nice block plane. No markings. Can be set as a bullnose, the forward alternate mouth is visible in picture. Little work required just lapping and sharpening.

Over about six months I collected these off EPay. Only the one Curry lemon, lots of work, constantly checking the bidding etc and having to be on-line to bid in the last few minutes of the auction. I paid less than $200 including freight and also got a couple of spokeshaves in one job lot. I think that even a set of modern, mediocre planes, similar to these would cost in excess of $1K, and you'd still have to work to tune them.

The final picture shows my plane cabinet - that of the interesting dovetail (or shovetail - thanks Alex). You can see one of the spokeshaves on second shelf. The cabinet is on castors and rolls away under the bench - I have a tiny shed. I cover it with an old towel, so the dust stays away too.

I think the moral of the story is that with a little patience and dilligence, plus some hard work (few skills were required, and the little I possess I learnt from this Forum) you can build up a nice collection. At least, I like them.


PS, the chisels shown are not my best set, they're good enough for every day abuse, but need a lot of sharpening.