Primus Plane values

[Jake Helmboldt]

Neanders, how well do ECE Primus planes hold their value? Their retail price seems very high compared to Lee Neilsen or Veritas, which of course hold their values well. I have an opportunity to buy a couple used Primus planes (jointer and block plane), but I have no idea what they typically sell for. They don't seem to sell very well on ebay, and I also don't want to end up with something that I can't sell if I end up not liking them.

The two planes I'm looking at are probably 25+ years old, so I don't know if they have changed much in that time.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Jake

[Tom M King]

I have the smoother, and jointer, that I bought new when I was young and foolish. These days, I'd take a wooden plane with a hammer activated wedge over either, but mostly I use old iron ones. The smoother is a pleasure to use when it's freshly sharpened, but the die spring tensioned iron will start chattering worst than anything, all of a sudden, when the iron looses it's sharpness to some point that's not really dull. I don't think I've used either in 30 years. It seems like I remember the jointer has a really short sole in front of the iron, but it's been so long since I even looked at it that I may be remembering it incorrectly.

I also have a well used ECE scrub plane that I wouldn't trade for any other type. It has a simple wedge and iron, and is lightweight, but still throws shavings three feet in the air.

[Don Slaughter]

People who know/use planes appreciate the ECE brand. I bought an ECE Jointer plane at a swap meet for $110 about 10 years ago.....I wouldn't sell it for twice that amount....I have the Clifton #6, the Stanley #8 but I pick up the ECE when I want a flat table top (or bench top) because it is lighter and the blade is very effective as is the depth adjuster. Sooo.....mine has certainly held (and increased) it's value for me. I never met an ECE owner who didn't like it.

good luck,

Don

[Jim Matthews]

Condition is important.

If you take care of a wood body plane, it can perform for years.
If you don't, it can be difficult to rehabilitate.

If the feel in you hands is good, you're more likely to use it.
If, for any reason, you find yourself accommodating a tool such that it dictates the
way you may use it, I would reconsider the choice.

Have you an opportunity to test them, prior to purchase?
That's worth something, for sure.

[David Weaver]

I had a smoother that had the lignum sole that was just about unused for $75. I think they (ECE or marketers of the ECE stuff) make some subjective claims, but there's nothing particularly special about them. If I wanted a continental smoother, I'd rather find (and did) a nice vintage example (not Ece) and get a good vintage iron with it. In my opinion they are a step backward from the vintage planes and a poor competitor to current vintage planes. The adjuster and iron retention setup is a complete nuisance.

The only advantage I can think of that is legitimate is that the plane has a wooden sole, but there are a lot of other choices that have a wooden sole that don't have a nasty chrome vanadium iron, high price and nuisance iron retention setup.

They do have some ardent fans, but the fans don't make a large enough group to get you much of your money back if you decide you don't like a plane, so I would either:
* try to borrow someone else's plane to see if you like the type
* buy used and less than half the price of new if you think you might ever want to sell them again

And if you like the type and have some know-how, the vintage hammer set continental planes are, to me, a better deal. Mujingfang makes a continental smoother, but it has a HSS iron, and might require a little bit of fitting.

[george wilson]

I gave away my Primus smoother!! Really!! I bought it in the 60's when I was young and did not know better.

[Matthew N. Masail]

It's a shame with all that wood and stuff they could have made a great product. I often thought if only it have a nice iron and a wedge.

[Chris Hachet]

People who know/use planes appreciate the ECE brand. I bought an ECE Jointer plane at a swap meet for $110 about 10 years ago.....I wouldn't sell it for twice that amount....I have the Clifton #6, the Stanley #8 but I pick up the ECE when I want a flat table top (or bench top) because it is lighter and the blade is very effective as is the depth adjuster. Sooo.....mine has certainly held (and increased) it's value for me. I never met an ECE owner who didn't like it.

good luck,

Don

I would second this sentiment.

[Tony Zaffuto]

I had an ECE smoother, tried for a few months and sold it. Didn't like the adjuster.

[Jim Belair]

Finally a hand tool issue where there are two opposite view points

I've got the ECE jointer and don't care for the blade release mechanism.

[David Weaver]

It does seem to be one of those things where people are strongly for or not at all, doesn't it? I like continental smoothers, just not with all of the gadgets added on the ECE. It's not difficult to tell whose chipbreaker mujingfang copied, though (it's pretty much straight up the same as the ECE chipbreaker).

I did see something interesting about mujingfang a couple of weeks ago, the accusation that they ripped off HNT gordon's plane design (you know, "the chinese copy everything"). That was a good chuckle given that HNT gordon is essentially using taiwanese/chinese plane designs.

I wanted to like the ECE smoother because it's continental and it has the trick lignum bottom, but the things to like about it, for me, stopped there, and I can't agree at all that any bit of it is an improvement over the bailey design (not the increase in pitch, not the change from water/oil hardening to some sort of modern anysteel, and not the fiddly retention mechanism...I guess it does have less backlash, but I've never found backlash to be a real problem in practice).

[Terry Beadle]

I have the Primus English Pattern Jack Plane and I've used it over a period of about 6 ~ 7 years. I originally bought it to do the initial flattening of my hard maple bench top.
It worked great. Over the years I've learned some of the little tricks needed to get the adjustment and blade settings. Some times it's frustrated me but on the whole
it has worked great. It has a very good blade setting control. You have to keep the tension on the blade spring where the blade will stay set but still have the ability to adjust.
It does need the odd tap with a light wood hammer to keep the blade aligned to the sole as I've found the hammer tap quite a bit quicker and more accurate than the push/pull
lever.

When I bought it, it was under $200 ( I think around $170 ) and it's now selling at Highland for $269.99.
Very good German steel. Keeps an edge but not as good as a high carbon steel like a Clifton does. Still it's quick to sharpen, and will work several hours before needing attention unless
you are working on Purple Heart or Bubinga.

I'd like to have the smoother but with nearly a dozen other smoothers at hand, it'd have to be a real bargain for me to part with more dinero.

Really a good tool IMO.