Hello folks,
I'm not a hand plane kind of person thus my knowledge about them is very limited. I'm a power tool woodworker and not likely to change. However, I do have great respect for those of you who do prefer working with hand tools and the skills that you've acquired.
Having said that, I do have a question about a particular plane. I have an old plane that was my Dad's (he was non powertool woodworker) that is very old and completely made of iron. There is no wood on it anywhere. Currently, it's buried in a box in a storage shed here. When the weather warms up I want to dig it out and take a few photos of it which I'd like to post here to see if anyone can tell me more about it.
The story that my Dad told about this plane was interesting to me a young man and I've never forgotten it. He bought it sometime during the 1920s in a pawn shop in Charleston, SC. He spotted it on a high shelf in this establishment, covered with dust. He asked the pawn shop owner about it. That man told my dad that the plane was there when he took over the business 30 years prior and he didn't anything at all about it.
Daddy bought it and used it in his carpentry work. One day the foreman of the job saw him using that plane and asked my Daddy if he's sell it. Daddy told him no, he liked using it. The next day the foreman called my Daddy aside and showed him all of HIS planes in his tool chest. He told my Daddy to pick out any three planes that he wanted and he'd trade him even....three planes for Daddy's one ironstock plane. Daddy still said no and became curious. The forman then told my Dad, Edwards, if you won't sell or trade that plane to me I'm going to steal it from you! Daddy took him at his word as a fair warning and never took it on that job again.
A while later the foreman brought in a magazine...I THINK it was Popular Mechanics but I'm not sure about that. According to Daddy, the foreman opened the magazine to photo of my Dad's plane. The story that accompanied the photo described this plane as being very rare with only three known to be still in existence. Two were in museum collections and the third one had been traced, then lost, to Charleston, SC.
That's all I know to tell you. I'll dig it out one day soon and post photos, hoping that perhaps one of you folks who have a love for old hand planes can tell me something more about it. I've searched the net in vain trying to find a photo of it or one similiar to it.
Thanks and Kind Regards,
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Originally Posted by Steve Rozmiarek
I seriously doubt it will be the chaplin plane. I hope it is though it would be cool to be a part of the discovery. I also seriously doubt it is worth more than the guys house and car. The last one sold in fine condition for $28000. I recently sold a plane on ebay that there were only 50 or so examples known and it only sold for $1075 which I thought was low for something that rare. You know there are millions of Stanley No.1's and they are worth that or more....go figure.
