Another first eBay plane
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- This topic has 15 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 4 months ago by cembalo8.
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30 November 2016 at 1:12 pm #142776
This is my first post on this forum so please forgive any faux pas I may make in this post.
I have just purchased a Stanley No 4 from eBay that looked pretty similar to the one Paul restores in his plane restoration video. I have not received this plane yet. My only other plane is a new Stanley No 62 low angle jack plane that I purchased on Amazon. I plan to use the No 4 as my go to plane as Paul does in his videos. A new No 4 on Amazon was a little over 100 Dollars, I got this one for 34 dollars delivered.
My question for you all is, since I am a novice was this a good deal? It certainly seems like it compared to the new ones on Amazon. I see lots of folks saying they overpaid for planes on ebay so I am curious as to what a “good price” is. The other question is do any of you see anything that stands out that I should worry about with this plane? I see what looks like chipping or corrosion on the cap irons bottom edge, is this going to effect performance of this tool?
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You must be logged in to view attached files.30 November 2016 at 1:30 pm #142788It has a lot of rust and looks well worn. The biggest issue I see is it looks like the cap iron is broken. With time and work and possibly replacing the cap iron I think you could turn this back into a working plane.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by michael332720.
30 November 2016 at 5:41 pm #142802there does seem to be some issues with the plane ie the screws on the tote have been replaced and the lever cap also looks like it’s a replacement and broke (I’d replace that) , saying that if you follow Paul’s video on restoration you should be able to have a usable plane and the restoration will give you experience on assembly and using.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Eddy Flynn.
30 November 2016 at 6:25 pm #142804I think you’ve done well. It looks like a fairly early plane and I think the lever cap is original because they didn’t always say Stanley on them. I’m not sure about the screw on the knob but if it’s tight and does the job why worry?
I would look to replace the lever cap at some point, you’ll just have to see how it performs when restored and judge if you want to get another. I would have happily paid the same for it.
Enjoy the process, it’s a great feeling to take that first fine shaving after you’ve done all the work!
Cheers
Craig
30 November 2016 at 7:43 pm #142810Thanks everyone.
I realized I was calling the lever cap the cap iron by mistake. The cap iron (chipbreaker) appear to be ok. The lever cap does appear to be original as Cragglerock mentioned the pre 1925 models had no brand name. The good news is that there are many of this lever cap for sale on eBay for around 10 bucks.
I was excited when I made the bid, then nervous that I screwed up not knowing enough, now I’m back to being content with my purchase.
I appreciate everyone’s feedback and look forward to restoring this tool. With luck and enough time I may even prove useful with it 🙂
30 November 2016 at 7:44 pm #142811Though experience has convinced me to never again restore a bench plane, I am all along Craig’s comments; perhaps just adding: try the plane on a piece of wood, using a sharp blade. As suggestion, this, perhaps, doesn’t seem to be very helpful, since it demands the equipment and skills of sharpening plane blades to be present: but while a plane rests on its sole, planing foremost depends on a sharp blade, and only when the blade is sharp can one decide upon the gains from flattening the sole or replacing the lever cap, which – also with a perfectly sharp blade – in your case probably needs to be replaced.
If you are in UK, I will be happy to send you a ‘Wicke’s #4’ for you to pick parts from. Its blade is sharp and the lever ca[p is within reason. Please let me know
Kind regards
Sven-Olof30 November 2016 at 8:01 pm #142812@sojansson I appreciate your offer but I am in the US. I fear the cost of shipping would be prohibitive.
I’m fairly experienced with sharpening and have a nice set of waterstones that I use on other tools (chisels, blades for my block plane and jack plane, etc..). My goal is to sharpen up the original iron if possible. If the iron is beyond repair then I will try to find another original in better condition or just get a new iron / cap iron set from Lee Valley. Buying a new iron would significantly increase the total price but would likely last a lifetime.
I should have my new plane in hand on Monday. Then the journey begins.
I’ve purchased several on Ebay and usually have paid in the $20 range or so for a rusty #4 with all of the parts included and no broken wood (tote or knob). I’ve also erred and purchased ones that were not standard #4s–I had one that I think came with a #3 sized cutting iron/chip breaker/cap iron. though I didn’t realize the difference until I had purchased a couple more. It annoyed me but it was also the first real hand plane I ever purchased and I used it to build my bench so it does have some nostalgia value to it. Ultimately I was able to pick up a correctly sized cutter/chip breaker/cap iron several months later so that plane, while somewhat of a Frankenstein (built with parts from multiple planes), is as good as any others.
As far as the one you’ve purchased, I think you can restore it just fine. My only observations would be that 1) the Japanning is pretty much gone (but you can put a nice coat of spray paint on it as part of your restoration) and 2) as others have pointed out, that cap iron looks pretty bad and you should probably try to find a replacement.
30 November 2016 at 9:34 pm #142816I have cleaned up worse. I think you did good. It should not take too long to clean it up. I do not think the cap lever will be a problem. If so, they are easy to come by. I think you did good.
1 December 2016 at 2:15 pm #142829@mrpate715
Second language has a very depressing tendency of placing my feet squarely in my mouth: so all apologies if you felt your skills challenged./soj
5 December 2016 at 11:46 pm #143068Follow up now that I have actually received the plane and had a chance to play around.
I’ve sanded off all of the rust and started shining up the plane. Most of my time was spent on the iron, I wish I had taken a “before” picture. There were several good sized chips in the edge along with some odd secondary bevel that went across 1/3 of the edge. I spent most of my time with a 400 grit water stone restoring the original bevel. I wanted to test out the plane on some laminated boards I had on my bench which were still in rough shape so I left the little fine chips in the edge. The plane worked way better than expected even with leaving the chips in the edge of the iron. I used 400/1200/4k water stones to get a nice sharp polish. Now that I am impressed with this tool I will go back to the 400 to get those little chips out of the edge and polish it back up to a mirror finish. I imagine this process being repeated a few hundred times over the time I own this tool.
The lever cap damage along the bottom seems to be purely cosmetic. It holds the iron / chipbreaker down as tight as any other plane I’ve seen. Since it works, I won’t be replacing it.
So far I think this tool is very functional as is. You can see in the pics I made a nice little pile of shavings rather quickly. I will likely pretty this up some more but not much. I’m happy about my first eBay Plane. For 35 bucks investment along with some elbow grease I think I’ve got something I will use for years.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.6 December 2016 at 12:00 am #143081I haven’t had a chance yet to square the bottom of the sole but it actually seems pretty flat. I’m still going to sand it against a flat surface if for no other reason to smooth the bottom out to slide easier against the work.
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