Stanley Handyman H1203 - Worth aquiring?

[Charles Wiggins]

Found this Ad and I know NOTHING about planes:

This is a old time wood plane marked Stanley Handyman H1203 from the 1960's. Seems to be complete. $15.

H1203.jpg

Are these any good? It would be about an hour drive to pick it up.

[Clint Jones]

Dont do it. You will be dissapointed. Considering a good vintage No.4 Stanley Bailey can be had for $20 or less at flea markets, auctions, and yardsales. You are on the right track just look for a No.4

Got this one for $20 today.
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[Charles Wiggins]

Thanks Clint. Did your new #4 require any rehab?

[Clint Jones]

Yes. I completely cleaned it, oiled, checked all machined areas for fit, checked that the sole is flat, reground bevel to get rid of knicks and to get square, flatened back, honed bevel, waxed sole, put back into use. I enjoy doing this and sell the planes I refurbish. This one happens to be a corrugated type 13 sweetheart. The handyman planes are not that great. The frog machining is terrible, castings are horrible, wood is ugly, paint is ugly, I would steer clear. It would take alot of time to get that plane to "useable" shape and it still wouldnt perform well from my experience. Just keep looking for a Stanley Bailey type plane. They are easy to find the common sizes like 4 or 5's I see at least 2 or 3 every time I go out "hunting". I am sure you will learn alot just by buying an old plane and getting it back to useable shape. There are alot of great resources and people online that will help you along the way. Enjoy the ride tis a slippery slope.
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[Mike Cutler]

Charles.

I gotta agree with Clint. I have that plane,and I use it to true wall studs. The iron is too thin and doesn't hold an edge, the adjustment is crude, and the blade will not stay in place.

Unless you're looking for a plane for rough work that you don't care about. Pass.

[Steve Wargo]

I have one and love it... but I turned mine into a scrub plane as that's about all it's good for. I think I paid $2 for mine and as a smoother it's not worth that. But it made do and has served me well as a scrub plane.

[David Weaver]

I second or third or whatever everyone else said about the handyman planes. I got one as my third or fourth plane, not knowing what a "handyman" plane was. It's impossible to get good results with them because the mouth is loose and fixed, and you'd be lucky if the frog (which is a weak design) was all square - and the frog is also fixed, too.

With a loose mouth and weak frog, it's impossible to take good fine shavings and minimize tearout and chatter.

The only thing they can be used for is a scrub, and you might appreciate a better plane for that, too.

[Mike Cutler]

I have one and love it... but I turned mine into a scrub plane as that's about all it's good for. I think I paid $2 for mine and as a smoother it's not worth that. But it made do and has served me well as a scrub plane.

Hey!!! Maybe there is a life for mine in the shop.
I have a "PlexCo" that is just about as good. Well, it actually makes the Handyman look like a nice plane.
Never considered turning them into scrubs.
Thanks Steve.

[Bill Houghton]

It can be hard when starting out to know what to watch for. There are all kinds of type studies and so on, but my experience is that, in the field, figuring how early a plane you've got under all that rust, dirt, and spider webs can be tricky. My experiences (others may differ, or have additional ideas):

1. If it's a Stanley, look for the word "Bailey" on the body of the plane, usually in front of the knob (in front, that is). If you find one with a decal on the back that says "Wards Master," you've got an unknown treasure; these were made by someone (Stanley, I think), and are fine tools, but don't command much of a price from collectors. They're not very common; I mention it only because I've managed to luck into a few. Craftsman planes are a very mixed lot. My very early Craftsman No. 6 is a great tool, but the Craftsman I bought new from Sears in 1971 was mediocre, and I've seen others that look like they were designed after a five-martini lunch and built by people who were expelled from high school shop. Other respected names include Sargent, Union, and Millers Falls. Millers Falls survived into the 1970's, I think, and, like Stanley, produced some decent stuff and some dreadful stuff after WWII. If you're looking at a non-Stanley plane, the best clue to quality, in my experience, is to look at the back of the frog, under the wheel that adjusts the cutting iron. If you see two screws, one holding a little strap on the frog (the part the cutting iron rests on) and one in a slot on that - the whole arrangement designed to let you fine-tune the placement of the frog on the plane sole - you've probably got a decent plane.

If you find three screws there, and the cap iron (holds the cutting iron on the plane) says, "Bedrock," you've got a Stanley Bedrock plane, and if the price is good, buy it if otherwise decent. Many people consider this a top of the line plane; don't know, don't own one, never even held one in my hand.

2. The tote (back handle) should be full oval. That is, if you wrap your first finger and thumb around the tote, you're wrapping them around an oval, not a rectangle with rounded ends. Said another way, no flat sides on the tote. The tote should also be complete, with the horn on the back present (this is where totes break off most often, and it's hard to push a plane when it's missing); alternatively, if it's not, but the plane is otherwise great, and you can argue the price down to nearly nothing, it might be worth it (a replacement tote will cost you as much as a decent user complete). Broken handles can be repaired, but may call for more skill than you've got right now - and patching in a new horn, for instance, requires a plane to smooth the broken surface, so how do you get started?

3. Look it over for cracks or serious chipping; especially, flip it over and look for big chips around the mouth. Minor chipping at the front or back of the sole isn't a big deal. Cracks are a reason to set it down and thank the vendor for his/her time.
4. Look at it from the side. Is the cutting iron straight? Is the lateral adjuster lever that you can see between cutting iron and the top of the tote straight? If these are bent down, something fell on the plane. They can be straightened, but may be a sign of deeper problems. If you can't find a lateral adjuster lever on a bench plane, you've either got a very early plane or one that's missing a part. Until you can tell the difference, don't get involved.

With a little practice, this examination takes about 30-45 seconds. Then look at the price tag. In my experience, at a lot of garage and estate sales, people multiply eBay prices by a factor of two, and probably snag a lot of folks. I won't even go into antique mall prices - but they'll always be high, because the vendors have overhead to cover.

Warning: plane buying is well-known as a slippery slope. Buy one, and before you know it, you can't remember how many you own. Lotta fun, though...

[James Mittlefehldt]

Agree with Clint and the rest, if you want a handyman for rough stuff then it is fine but I would not pay that much. The last plane I bought was a Bailey no 5 (type 13, 1926-27 or so) cost me $12 dollars and all I did though it may require more was to sharpen the blade.

I have a no 4 handyman my wife bought me at a yard sale and I am using it to smooth out some rough grained building studs from 1894, for reuse in my shop as a wood and clamp rack.

[Louis Rucci]

I have one of each model. But then again I only wanted them as a collector item for my personal historical reference.