"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
My question is what is it going to cost you if you wish to buy a #7 that is ready to go. How long are you willing to wait to get a #7? And at what is the cost you are willing pay? From experience, Stanley planes made in England are usually a very good planes. My guess is that they don't have a clue and that since it is not complete, they will take less. At $50 it is a steel. At $75 you are still in good shape, Even if you purchase a hock iron and chip braker you still have a #7 for around $150 and where are you going to get a good #7 for $150? Any plane will work it the blade is sharp and at the $150 mark you will have the top of the line blade.
Tom
Tom makes some great points.
For me every plane purchase was a balance of the price tag, how much the seller might budge, how much work and/or cost of parts were going to go into putting it in good working order.
A few times this thought process also considered the value of the individual parts if they had to be sold separately to make back my money if the plane was a junker.
Turning a sow's ear into a silk purse may not always be possible, but sometimes you can come close or put a good deal of cash back into your purse.
One of my experiences with this was a #5 plane that looked like a piece of junk on ebay. I wanted it for the low style knob and tote. Turned out the pictures were terrible and the plane was actually a pretty good buy for less than a blade set was getting on ebay at the time (less than $17 iirc). That plane is still in my shop and is one of my go to jack planes.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
I live in the Uk
A number of years ago I attended a 4 day David Charlesworth sharpening and plane tuning course at his workshop in Hartland
I took an old Woden plane to tune and after tuning was able to make long shavings which were very thin
If you use Davids method to prepare a plane and replace the blade with a Hock blade you can have the satisfaction of having a tool to be proud
I would suggest if possible to identify an example of a plane which has the least play in the depth adjuster wheel
With the Bailey style adjuster that would be a Lie-Nielsen. Being so used to the depth adjuster backlash, play or sloppiness, makes using a plane without any a bit awkward. My plane with the most backlash is maybe three turns on the adjuster.I would suggest if possible to identify an example of a plane which has the least play in the depth adjuster wheel
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)