Minor gloat?

[Shawn Pixley]

Today I bit the bullet and accompanied LOML to the Rose Bowl Flea Market. It is certainly the biggest flea market I have ever seen. I typically avoid these thing, but what are you gonna do?

So, armed with a cash, straightedge / ruler, magnet, and jewelers loupe, I set out. After muscling through the entry gate, we went our separate ways. One of the first booths I stopped at had a few rusty tools and varieties of other things that I have no interest. There was this little Stanly #3 sitting among rusty bits of bent screw drivers and "Plane Shaped Objects." I examined it (never setting it down) and saw there were no cracks and it was mostly patina rather than deep rust. So, we made the deal at 20$ and I walked on. I was worried that if this was the situation just 5 minutes in, was I going to have enough money? That fear was misplaced because after another 2-1/2 hours I hadn't bought anything else.

After we drove home, I started cleaning the little guy up. Baby pictures before the clean-up.

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A quick dis-assembly (luckily there were no frozen screws or rods and I could see the promise of a nice little user.

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Cleaning, de-rusting, and reassembling didn't take long. I thought It was going to be a type 15 with the rosewood tote, but it turns out to be an earlier type 19. The bulk of the time was need to fix the iron. It turned out to be 3/64" out of square across the 1-3/4" blade dimension. I also had a big nick in the blade (on the low side of course). I Think the reason the little guy was so unused was because the blade was so out of square. It took a little touch to get the frog dialed in. In the end it made curlies...

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The finish on the tote is really thick. I am tempted to strip it down...

[Jim Koepke]

The #3 is a nice size plane to have.

Mine gets a lot of use and it has a trio of #4s as competition.

My preference is for earlier types, but if it works well, there is nothing wrong with it being newer than my choice.

jtk

[Jim Falsetti]

Nice find, Shawn. You should get quite a bit of use out of it.

[Mark Wyatt]

Good buy. I would have bought it for $20, no doubt about it. Cleaned up nice.

[Shawn Pixley]

Jim, thanks! This is my first #3. I have (2) 4-1/2's, so this will fit the smaller work better. i also have rehabed a #5, type 13 that was my great grandfather's.

LOML scored as well. She snagged a bunch of ultra-fine, small Nicholson (USA) files. It's good to have a spouse who appreciates and uses tools. Your wants don't seem to be as far out of the norm.

[Brent VanFossen]

Nice job on the cleanup. That should make a fine user.

[Paul Saffold]

Nice shavings and looks nice too.
Paul

[Adam Cruea]

Nice!

Awesome job on the clean-up!

[Don Jarvie]

She had to twist your arm? Mine wife is the opposite, she hates going to flea markets so I mostly go by myself.

[Chuck Nickerson]

In southern California that definitely qualifies as a gloat.

Nice plane, clean-up, and gloat.

[Shawn Pixley]

In southern California that definitely qualifies as a gloat.

Nice plane, clean-up, and gloat.

You're right! There are so few old tools around (much less sawmills, etc...). Finding anything that is useful is so rare. Prior to the Owens Valley water being diverted, the area was very limited to population. LA isn't that old (despite the Missions).