hand planes......worth anything?

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hughbie

hughbie

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Springfield, Missouri, USA.
my wife and i were tooling around in a couple of 'flea markets' here in town over the weekend and something caught my eye in one of the booths.
i know several of you collect/restore old handplanes and i saw some, and here's the info on the three i wrote down...

Shelton #14 13" plane
WardsMaster #6 18" plane
no name 9" plane.
all look like they need some TLC but i was wondering if these are worth the trouble. each are under $20
 
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while i am not an expert I believe your Wards master was actualy manufactured by Stanley. ( After a quick search on the internet) That would appear to be a No6 18" plane. in this country a new one would set me back £80 ( roughly $160) and there is obviously a market out there so for $20 what have you got to lose. Some time sandpaper, varnish and paint
 
The Wards Master #6 is well worth the $20. Check all of the cast parts for cracks. A little sand paper, cutting oil and a little TLC will have it in working shape.

Stanley still makes blade irons for #6 planes.
 
Well, I hate to be the "stiff" here, but for the (Stanley sizing here) No.4 and No.5 size planes, Stanley is the only way to go. They are a dime a dozen to find under $20.00 Now My personal opinion is that if it's under $20.00 and 18" long, it might be worth a look.

EDIT: I had to look it up, the Wards Master was indeed made by Stanley.. Go for it!

The sleeper here could well be the un-named plane. This could very well be a Sargent, you may want to look at this one very well. I have one from the turn of the century that has little to no markings other than the 409. (circa 1891-1901) Edit: note the turned ring on the base of the knob, watch for this feature as they tend to be quite old. On Stanleys, the older ones have short knobs and a lack of a cast iron ring that the knob sits in to keep it from cracking.

sargent-409-3.jpg


For $20.00 I would pass on the shelton jack plane as for $20.00 you can easily do a "buy it now" for a No.5 on ebay and get a nice Stanley.

You can buy a No.4 for $5.00 to $10.00 easily enough as well.

Look for Stanley, Millers Fall, Sargent, Union, Chaplin, just to name a few and you will will be happy.
 
I don't think the Shelton is worth much of anything, they aren't really considered collectible and, as users, aren't as good as Stanley's. The Wardsmaster was made by Stanley and would be worth picking up as a user for less than $20, in good condition. The specimens I have seen did not include a frog adjuster screw, but otherwise were equal to Stanley Bailey planes in fit and finish.
The no-name is a pig in a poke, check to make sure that the frog is not made of stamped steel, these are not good users.

I'm a Millers Falls man myself and am gradually replacing my Stanley bench planes with equivalent Millers Falls models (models with the double-jointed lever cap).
 
Originally posted by Firefyter-emt
<br />Tom, are you a "rocket-man" or a traditionalist? [;)]
Click to expand...

I'm not a big fan of the Buck Rogers line, although they are the more collectible of the Millers Falls planes.

My Millers Falls Type 1 web page pretty much indicates where my interests are:
http://homepage.mac.com/galoot_9/MF_type1.html
 
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