Originally Posted by
John Stan
In my experience, rehabbing a plane is not as cheap as you would think. For example, if you do not have in possession all the sheets of sand paper to lap the sole, expect to go to Home Depot and spend $5 - $10 on some sand paper. If you need any type of rust remover, expect to pay $10 for the rust remover. Adding a Hock blade and and chip breaker is a good idea $60 for the blade and chip breaker. So, you might end up adding another $60 to $80 on top of the price of the plane to have the materials to rehab it to perform like a new plane. Buying old planes site un-seen has its risks. I have LN, Veritas, and rehabbed baileys. In all cases the LN and Veritas planes perform a little better than the rehabbed plane. The rehabbed planes have the nostalgic factor.
My two cents.