Estate sale finds

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
I hit the jackpot at an estate sale today by acquiring some fine old tools -- mostly hand planes. This will keep me busy for a while getting all these sharpened and ready to use and/or resell. Some are in pretty rough shape and not really salvageable (especially a few of the planes). Others, like the brace and bits, are usable as is.

189287
 

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
Are those a matching set of molding planes?
No, it's an odd assortment... few hollows and rounds, couple of beading planes, fillister, rabbet, etc. Only about 2/3 of the planes are salvageable. Some had been stored where powder post beetles had gotten to them. I'll remove the irons from these and scrap the rest.
 

Graywolf

Board of Directors, President
Richard
Staff member
Corporate Member
Some nice finds even with the ones you can't salvage.
 

McRabbet

Rob
Corporate Member
I'd recommend that you take some closeup photos and make a drawing of each of the molding planes that are beyond repair -- that way you could duplicate them and put the irons back to work. I'm sure you can find some good resources on the web -- most of these were made with European Beech.
 

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
I'd recommend that you take some closeup photos and make a drawing of each of the molding planes that are beyond repair -- that way you could duplicate them and put the irons back to work.
Good suggestion. I'd thought about doing something like that with a few of them. There is one nice ogee plane that would be a good candidate for this. The body is gone, but still intact enough to use as a pattern. I'll look around for sources of beech plane blanks. Anyone here know of sources they'd recommend?
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Good suggestion. I'd thought about doing something like that with a few of them. There is one nice ogee plane that would be a good candidate for this. The body is gone, but still intact enough to use as a pattern. I'll look around for sources of beech plane blanks. Anyone here know of sources they'd recommend?

Contact Bill Anderson at Edwards Mountain Toolworks in Chapel Hill. He's also a NCWW member (Gallarda) and teaches some handtool classes at the Woodwright's School. Bill has a large collection of molding planes and can probably help you.


I've bought some 4/4 European Beech here, but I don't know if its thick enough make a molding plane. They also have 8/4 European Beech.

 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
Nice find, Jim. On the 3 metal body planes in the upper right side of the pic, can you make out the numbers? The middle one looks like it may be a number 2 or 3.
 

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
On the 3 metal body planes in the upper right side of the pic, can you make out the numbers? The middle one looks like it may be a number 2 or 3.
The metal planes have a lot of surface rust and don't appear to have ever been cleaned. There is a number 5 and a 4. The middle one does not appear to have a number. It's the same length as another number 3 that I have, but is a bit wider. It doesn't have any branding that I can easily see and doesn't appear to be anything special. The mechanisms look fairly modern. I may know more once I clean them up.

The number 5 is one of the Stanley aluminum body planes (1925 - 1935), I think. That would be a great find BUT it has a small section broken out of the cheek on one side. Doesn't affect the use, but I'm sure subtracts from the value. I'll take some before and after photos when I start restoring them.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
The metal planes have a lot of surface rust and don't appear to have ever been cleaned. There is a number 5 and a 4. The middle one does not appear to have a number. It's the same length as another number 3 that I have, but is a bit wider. It doesn't have any branding that I can easily see and doesn't appear to be anything special. The mechanisms look fairly modern. I may know more once I clean them up.

The number 5 is one of the Stanley aluminum body planes (1925 - 1935), I think. That would be a great find BUT it has a small section broken out of the cheek on one side. Doesn't affect the use, but I'm sure subtracts from the value. I'll take some before and after photos when I start restoring them.
Jim,
Since it sounds like it will be a "user" fixing that cheek in the aluminum plane is pretty easy, but I would do it before you refurbish it since a lot of the finishing work after TIG-ing the repair will be abrasive work...
 

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