Old hand planes - what should I pay?

[Bob Elliott]

I have a shot at buying some old hand planes. The seller doesn't have photos I can see but he did say that some are rusty and can be cleaned up with some elbow grease. What can I expect to pay?

[Sean Hughto]

You'd need to be a lot more specific to get any kind of meaningful answer. Size and maker to start, but specific condition as well. An easy way to get a really rough estimate is to search "Stanley plane" on eBay and take a look at the price points.

[Barry Vabeach]

Bob, I agree with Sean. The main problem is that some sellers have very little idea about the going market value, or even what is supposed to be included to make the plane complete. You may be offered a Stanley Bedrock in great condition at $25 or $50 ( even at $50 that would be a gloat) or you might be offered a a transitional Stanley for $50 that is missing the lever cap - and that would be a gloat for the seller if you paid it.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

No pics? I would pass, a "little" rust to him may be to the point that the plane is worthless. Make him supply pics if he wants to sell.

[Joel Goodman]

I would advise getting a plane from a good dealer like Sandy Moss. The description will be accurate and you can return it without a hassle if necessary. It's still pretty inexpensive.

[Jim Koepke]

I have a shot at buying some old hand planes. The seller doesn't have photos I can see but he did say that some are rusty and can be cleaned up with some elbow grease. What can I expect to pay?

Will you be allowed to examine the planes before making payment?

Sight unseen without any guarantee of what you will be receiving sounds like a poor bargain.

If you do have the opportunity to see the planes, that would bring other things to mind. What do you intend to do with the planes, use or resell?

Providing an answer to such a question is meaningless without more information about the maker(s), type and models.

jim

[Josh Bowman]

I've bought hundreds of dollars in old planes lately, (I know I can stop at any time.......but just one more, please honey). Anyway the guys are right. A Stanley #1 goes for who knows a grand plus. A Stanley #2 around a $200. Then the the regular Stanleys drop fast! Like around $10 to $60 depending on the condition. Here's something else to consider, cleaning up an old plane is no problem, I've cleaned lots of them, the totes and knobs if broken can be a deal buster, since it's hard to find replacements cheap, but if you don't mind it can be glued back together or just live with it. The blades on the old ones, at least the ones I wind up with take a LOT of work to flatten the backs of the blades. Some of them even have blades that have been shapened so much you have to get another. Now to the point. If your budget minded and want a great plane. Get a 1930 or earlier Stanley plane. You can go to several web sites to date them. http://www.hyperkitten.com/tools/stanley_bench_plane/
http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html
Now to get it up to usefulness you will spend 1 to 5 hours cleaning it up. But the reward is worth it. Ebay is a great source with good people. Look for ratings of 99.5% and above and that they deal in planes. A much better and cheaper is flea markets, but you have to do research beforehand, I'm not willing to go out and walk and walk, I just look at Ebay.
Patrick Schwarz warns that some real old and nice clean planes are that way for a reason. They didn't work right due to a defect from the factory and were unused. But the Supertool web site above will help with that, Patrick A. Leach has very candid explanations on Stanleys. Sometimes the beat up ones are sweet, but have broken totes and chips in non vital places and work great. You decide. Take my advice, since I'm not using it! Everytime I buy a box of planes, I wind up with 1, that's right one that is in fair shape. The only box of planes, I've been able to get much use from is to take a blade from one of them and cut it up for a spoke pointer that had a broken blade. However I'm still looking for the old Grandfather type that will take me under his wing and will me his entire collection of Stanley Bedrocks! Good Luck

[Prashun Patel]

Unless you know and trust the seller, then do not buy without the following:

1) photos of each plane
2) if condition and make of each part is not evident from the photos, then a description
3) A price so low, that even if you get nothing but 1-2 usable parts, it's worth it.

You will still have a learning curve to go through, but IMHO, that is part of the fun.

[Richard Niemiec]

Buying used planes in the wild, for a newbie, can be hit or miss. You've got to understand what you are buying, inspect carefully for cracked castings, know what parts might have been substituted (e.g., "frankenplane") and understand what can and cannot be rehabbed into usable shape. Look for good bones, i.e., castings in good shape, no rust pitting, frog in good shape, and operable lateral adjustment, iron depth mechanism and lever cap all should be able to do their job. I'm not too particular about irons and cap irons, they can be had and sooner or later you're tempted to replace them with a Hock but old replacements are widely available. Read what's available on the web, and there's a lot, and educate yourself. My experience in buying from ebay has not been good, I get more "parts" planes than gems, but maybe that's because I'm picky. Its always better to have personally inspected the planes. Also, in the classifieds below, or the Swap and Sell at WoodNet, there are many available from folks who know and use planes and most often describe their positives, and more importantly, their negatives, the pricing is generally less than ebay and in general they've been tuned up a bit by someone who understands how they should work. Good luck. RN

[Garth Keel]

+1 for Sandy Moss. Fair prices, accurate descriptions, easy returns if necessary (although I have never had to return anything). I would rather spend my time doing other things than searching around for the best plane at yard sales.

[Michael Schwartz]

I have a shot at buying some old hand planes. The seller doesn't have photos I can see but he did say that some are rusty and can be cleaned up with some elbow grease. What can I expect to pay?

As far as what to look for initially.

A fair bit of rust, grime, and stuff is ok, and can in fact be cleaned up. However heavy pitting is bad.

Pitting on a blade near the cutting edge is obviously bad.

Otherwise.

How much of the japanning (paint) is intact. The more the more the plane is worth.... to a collector. Some of my users have none left, after I was done cleaning them up.

Missing/Damage parts are another thing. Pretty obvious as there are not too many parts to a bench plane. Knob and tote (handle) are probably the most common followed by lever cap and chip breaker.

Knob and totes can be replaced pretty easily but other parts really depend.

I like to keep a few planes around for parts for when I find one that is otherwise nice but missing parts.

look for, cracks, chips in the casting. Has the plane been welded. Look at the condition of the mouth.

As far as prices.

For planes that you are going to need to invest some time in to clean up and tune and that are not of any particular value to a collector, ie a Stanley #1

20-40 dollars for a bench plane, less than 20 for a block plane are decent. I would pay a bit more for something in nice condition, and especially if its been tuned. However now a days people can research what dealers are selling planes for, or what they are going for on ebay so sometimes prices can skyrocket.

Obviously a larger plane, such as a 6 or 7 is worth more too. I think I paid about 50 bucks for my 6c.