Is It A Good Deal?
I awoke this morning and ate a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. As I sat and ate, nom nom nom, I thought about the rest of the day. This day was a ‘blank sheet’ and I had some ‘writer’s block’. I intended to work on my jig a bit, so I made a mental note on the blank page in my mind. As I stared at the sole objective it occurred to me that I needed another set of Rockler cam clamps, or as I like to call them, clampy thingies.
A trip to ACME was added to the list. That was all I needed on my list, as I was sure that other good ideas would present themselves. A quick shower and I was off. Out of AAA batteries and air filters for the furnace, I noted it and decided to keep my eyes open for a reasonable place to buy both.
ACME in Cedar Rapids has recently increased their hours on Saturday, now open until 5:00, or is it 5:30, I don’t know, I just know that it is not 3:00. It is ironic that, on this day, I was not in danger of bumping up against 3:00. I arrived with all sorts of time to look around. I found my cam clamps, ran across a feather board, and then happened to see the Shop Fox set of templates. I already have this set. What was interesting is that when I saw it, I realized that my design for the router planer portion of my jig was all wrong. I didn’t need to make a special base plate, I could just use the 1 inch template. The bit I had imagined using for the planing is actually 1 1/4″, so it obviously wouldn’t work. I picked out a lovely 3/4 Freud double flute straight bit.
While at ACME I met a delightful gentleman named Mr. Houser. He is a woodworker and turner. It was obvious that he is much more experienced than me, and we talked about lathes. I can’t remember the name of his lathe, but it sounds very cool. It is made in Australia and doesn’t have belts. How it keeps it’s pants up, I don’t know, nor did I ask. His mother was an artist who kept meticulous records and we discussed the merits of such. It did get me thinking about how I am, through the blog, actually keeping pretty good records of my projects. This made me happy.
Target called me into its big boxness and I looked about for my batteries and air filters, which I promptly found. I mentally crossed it off my list.
When downtown Marion appeared up ahead, the list suddenly included, ‘shop at antique stores’. So I wondered into the Park Place Hotel Antique Mall. It is right next to the Boardwalk Hotel Antique Mall, and only a few spaces from Go. I did not pass Go, nor did I collect $200.00. In fact, I had a bit of a financial crisis.
At one of the booths there were a couple of very enticing hand planes. A Stanley 110, Stanley 220, and a Stanley 15 spokeshave. All 3 could be had for $79.00. I don’t know if this is a good deal. I am hoping a reader will be able to tell me. I decided I would risk it. All three are in beautiful shape. I am sure the bottoms will need to be lapped and the blades sharpened, but to look at the bottoms they very nice. The rest of the bodies are excellent too. Now I don’t now anything about antique hand planes, but I have been lusting after getting some planes, since I bought the English plane.
The problem began when she ran my debit card. It gave her a weird message that she had never seen, so she tried again, and it didn’t work. I had checked my balance before leaving for the day, so I didn’t know what the problem was until I got home. Both charges were pending. I called and asked her about it. It turns out that the antique mall isn’t set up for debit cards and that was the problem. So I got on the phone and called PayPal and a very helpful man named Chris was able to cancel both sales. He was great, as if I had just waited for the charges to come off on their own, it would have taken 5 business days for the money to show up back in my account.
The good news is that the lady at the Antique Mall put all three items behind the counter for me. I will simply go get some cash tomorrow and then use legal tender to buy them. That is, unless the clever readers tell me I shouldn’t. So the question of the day is this, is this a good deal. Stanley 110 @ $25.00, Stanley 220 @$25.00 and a Stanley spokeshave @ $29.00?
My extra neuron (normally I use only two) fired and it occurred to me that I may have said something in error about the #110. I went to the Blood and Gore website and confirmed it. While the early versions of the #110 were very stylish, later versions of it were more plain. I suspect the one you're looking at is of a recent vintage (50s-60s) and thus won't have the kewl factor of the early ones.
Given that, it would seem to me that you would be better served by buying one or the other but not both of the block planes, holding out for a 60 1/2 somewhere down the road.
Cheers --- Larry
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LikeGlad to see you looking at some hand planes. I wonder, however, if the tools you're looking at are properly labelled. It doesn't pay to enter the used tool world unarmed.
The 110 is a very ornate-looking block plane. It was popular at the time and I'd buy it just cuz it's so cool-looking. The 220 is more modern-looking (though produced over a long period of time) and is useable as a standard block plane if it's in good shape.
For the spokeshave I cannot say as I don't think there is or has ever been a Stanley 15 spokeshave. The common ones are the #63 and #64. There is a larger one that is the #51 so possibly there's a bit of dislexia in evidence here. To me, spokeshaves are indispensible and all of these work well when shapened.
For block planes, my preference is for the 60 1/2 which is a low-angle block plane. I also have a 9 1/2 that I use on occasion. To have a low-angle block plane, with an adjustable mouth, is like having a third hand in a shop. I use mine constantly.
As for the prices, if the tools are in really good condition, they're probably worth the price. I paid far less for my spokeshaves and block planes but I had to fettle them considerably. As for fettling, too much is made of lapping the soles, in my opinion. Getting a sharp, well-bedded blade pointed at the wood is far more important and many an old tool has been ruined by overzealous sole lapping.
Cheers --- Larry
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LikeLarry,
I think you may be correct, the Spokkshave is likely a 51. I should have written it down.
Brian
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LikeMy mental lists aren't worth the paper they're written on, and bio-degrade almost immediately. (Hey there's a tweet, right there. I speak in tiny tweet-like soundbites now. Jeez.) Deal schmeal, buy the planes, you know you want to.
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LikeMy extra neuron (normally I use only two) fired and it occurred to me that I may have said something in error about the #110. I went to the Blood and Gore website and confirmed it. While the early versions of the #110 were very stylish, later versions of it were more plain. I suspect the one you're looking at is of a recent vintage (50s-60s) and thus won't have the kewl factor of the early ones.
Given that, it would seem to me that you would be better served by buying one or the other but not both of the block planes, holding out for a 60 1/2 somewhere down the road.
Cheers --- Larry
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeGlad to see you looking at some hand planes. I wonder, however, if the tools you're looking at are properly labelled. It doesn't pay to enter the used tool world unarmed.
The 110 is a very ornate-looking block plane. It was popular at the time and I'd buy it just cuz it's so cool-looking. The 220 is more modern-looking (though produced over a long period of time) and is useable as a standard block plane if it's in good shape.
For the spokeshave I cannot say as I don't think there is or has ever been a Stanley 15 spokeshave. The common ones are the #63 and #64. There is a larger one that is the #51 so possibly there's a bit of dislexia in evidence here. To me, spokeshaves are indispensible and all of these work well when shapened.
For block planes, my preference is for the 60 1/2 which is a low-angle block plane. I also have a 9 1/2 that I use on occasion. To have a low-angle block plane, with an adjustable mouth, is like having a third hand in a shop. I use mine constantly.
As for the prices, if the tools are in really good condition, they're probably worth the price. I paid far less for my spokeshaves and block planes but I had to fettle them considerably. As for fettling, too much is made of lapping the soles, in my opinion. Getting a sharp, well-bedded blade pointed at the wood is far more important and many an old tool has been ruined by overzealous sole lapping.
Cheers --- Larry
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeLarry,
I think you may be correct, the Spokkshave is likely a 51. I should have written it down.
Brian
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
LikeMy mental lists aren't worth the paper they're written on, and bio-degrade almost immediately. (Hey there's a tweet, right there. I speak in tiny tweet-like soundbites now. Jeez.) Deal schmeal, buy the planes, you know you want to.
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- disagree
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Like