I recently bought a #4 off eBay for $26, plus $10 shipping, and, so far, wish I had gone with a new Lee Valley instead. Here's why.
From a newbie's perspective, it takes a ton of time and significant funds to get it in good usable shape, and without a good reference piece, how do you know if its good?
I would encourage you to consider the following factors before going down this road:
1. Rust removal. Any old plane you buy will have rust. How will you remove it? Do you have the tools to do electrolysis? If not, you will have to buy a rust removal product. Budget $15-20 for chemicals, steel wool, and a wire brush. 3-4 hours of setup, soaking, labor.
2. Flattening the sole. A flat sole is critical to plane function. I had to buy a granite plate ($30), emery paper (60, 80, 120 grit; $5), automotive sandpaper (120 grit; 2 packs $5) , Norton wet/dry sandpaper (220, 400, 600 grit; $5 each); 20+ hours so far.
3. Blade and chipbreaker. It is likely that your current blade is short and thinner than recommended by most. Replacement blade and chipbreaker ($55 + $10 shipping). Order and wait.
4. Paint. Some people don’t repaint, but if a decent amount of japanning has worn off, you are going to want to remove and replace it in order to prevent rust ($5 Dremel wire wheel [hope you have a Dremel] and $5 Rustoleum. 5 hrs.
4. Potential for missing parts. As I have mentioned in another post, the yoke (part of the depth adjuster) on my plane had been modified by a previous owner, so a the chipbreaker would not seat properly. Luckily, a generous fellow creeker felt pity on me and sent a replacement. The fix cost me nothing, but I lost a good week diagnosing and replacing the faulty component.
Total cost of my #4 rehab:
$ 36 - plane
$ 15 – rust removal
$ 60 – flattening the sole
$ 10 - repainting
$ 65 – replacement blade and chipbreaker
$185
Now, these are rough numbers. You may argue about any particular figure. You may already have or have plans to buy a granite plate, for example. If you are planning to do large number of planes, you can spread the granite plate cost across the bulk of them. On the other hand, you may need more sandpaper, you may have to repair a broken handle, whatever.
For a newbie looking for a good worker to get started with, I argue they are better off going with a known ready-to-use tool.
For example, for roughly the same amount $199, a newbie could buy a brand new Lee Valley Bevel Up Smoother with an A1 steel blade. None of the rehab would be required. Simply hone a 38 degree secondary bevel on the blade (a la Derek Cohen) and boom, and you’re set.
If the $ cost isn’t enough to make the difference, what about time? Remember, I’m a hobbyist, so I don’t have all day every day. I have a few hours most weekends. To date, I’ve spent at least 40 hours in research, shopping, and manual labor rehabbing my #4. That is easily 5 weekends, really more! AND THE SOLE STILL ISN'T FLAT!!
Compare that to the 30 minutes it would have taken to get up an running on a new LV. Think of all the wood I could have worked . . .