On a pretty regular basis (while my wife isn’t watching) I comb through my local Craigslist ads looking for various things for the garage, tools and wood mostly. In fact my drill press and the southern yellow pine that will end up as a workbench were both found on Craigslist. It doesn’t hurt that I’m willing to drive quite a ways for a good deal; each of those purchases was ~40 miles each way. Monday night I was doing my trolling through the Craigslist search engine and came across an ad for a set of hand planes – mostly Stanley Baileys, from #3 to #6, 30 planes and some extra parts – $300!
Upon seeing the pictures and the price, I proceeded to run (don’t walk) to my nearest e-mail client and send the seller a note asking if the lot was still available and if so, when could we arrange to meet for the transaction. A half-dozen e-mails later, we had settled on Tuesday evening. The kicker was the seller lived on Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay. I live and work near Dulles International Airport. For those of you not familiar with the Washington, DC metro area, here’s my driving path for the trip:
An almost complete circle around the DC Beltway in the late afternoon/early evening would be enough of a deterrent for most people, but I decided to duck out of work a little early to see if I could beat the beltway. I left right around 3 PM and started my trek east. Other than a couple of cars stopped on the inside shoulder near Bethesda, I seemed to have beat the beginning of the evening rush and the drive was smooth. Knowing I was plenty early (the seller wouldn’t be home until after 5:30), I stopped at the Barnes & Noble to pick up a couple of books to read to pass the time.
I started reading Ron Hock‘s The Perfect Edge:
I also picked up (too be read later) Tom Fidgen‘s Made By Hand:
Once I was able to meet up with the buyer, I had no problem paying the asking price. The lot of hand planes contained these planes in good condition:
Stanley Bailey #6 (2):
Stanley #5 1/4:
Stanley #5 (4):
Stanley #4 (3):
Stanley #3:
Defiance by Stanley #4, Millers Fall #8, Fulton #4C (2):
Stanley Handyman H1204 (2):
Stanley #378 w/ most of the fence:
Stanley #78 (3):
Sargent #198:
Unknown #78:
Stanley #110:
Stanley #118 (2)
Stanley #220 (3):
The purchase also contained these planes in not so good condition:
Stanley Bailey #6:
Unknown #5 – one and a half of them:
Stanley Bailey #4, Shelton Standard #4, Unknown #4:
Stanley Bailey #3
All in all, I’m ecstatic with the find. The next step will be to start tuning them up. Other than sharpening the blade, I’ve never attempted any major tuning or repair of a plane. I found these instructions documenting one person’s steps. Does anyone have any other tips and/or links?
The plan is to tune them all up, keep some of them to round out my collection, then sell the remaining hand planes to help recoup some of my initial investment. I’ll make sure to document the steps I follow here in the blog.
Here’s to some whispy shavings!
Taylor how are you!
The Madcoder gave me a heads up on your find! Congrats!!!
I have around 60 older Stanley’s, Sargents, Millers Falls, Lakesides, Remingtons etc. . . that I have restored and they end up working really well.
Suggestions:
Those ‘no name’ planes may actually be very old Stanley tools. Learn where to look. I always check the iron and inside the adjuster knob.
1) rust corrosion removal – I use a combination of reverse electralysis and abrasion .
2) Keep the patina – don’t clean the whole plane to new metal – just the sole, frog and mating parts of the chip breaker, levercap and iron. Patina is money in the bank.
3) Flatten the sole – stick sand paper to a flat reference like a Granite surface plate (see link) then sand the sole flat with the frog and iron in place. http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2004864/7535/Granite-Surface-Plate.aspx
4) Don’t repair handles – I make my own and carefully mark and save the old ones in case I want to re-install and sell the plane later. The tote and knob are easy to make after you build templates,
5) Sargent & Millers Falls planes are in many ways better than their Stanley counterparts except for resale value. As a tool they usually have thicker irons and better machining than the stanley’s.
6) Google Chris Schwarz. . .enough said.
7) Here’s an awesome site regarding planes: http://www.supertool.com/index.htm
9) Did I say protect the patina? LoL!
10) http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/23284/the-woodworking-shows
I hope this helps. It’ll be fun watching your progress. . .
El
Thanks for all the info! I won’t be able to catch Roland in Missouri, but hopefully these demos will make the Chantilly, VA show in April.
That is a great deal. I am very impressed at the find. Well done.
Thanks. The key to buying on Craigslist is patience and persistence.
Wow. You got ALL those planes for a measly $300?!? Sure, they’ll need some work to get cutting wispy shavings, but if you’re motivated, it’ll be a fun project. One plane at a time. Maybe start with one of the lower-value Handyman planes or the like. Are the irons in workable shape, or do they need replacing?
I haven’t checked them all thoroughly, but from what I’ve noticed they seem to be in decent shape.
You ought to be an expert when you’re through restoring all of them. Maybe an old man too…