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Picked up a Stanley #4 plane at a garage sale for $8, turns out it's a pre-war model from 1908.

I was just gonna use it to smooth some table legs but after cleaning it up and reading the serial number online I realized it's over 110 years old and still works perfect. Anybody else find something old that performs way better than new stuff you've bought?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph_ellis8515d ago

$8 for a plane that old is a good deal but it's not like a 1908 plane is some kind of magic tool. It's a hunk of cast iron with a blade, same as a new one just with more patina.

milessmith15d ago

Yeah I get what you're saying @joseph_ellis85, it's not like a 1908 plane will magically make your boards flatter. But I had a buddy who bought one of those old Stanley's at a flea market for like 12 bucks, and the thing was so badly messed up the sole was warped and the tote was cracked. He spent a whole weekend flattening it on sandpaper and sharpening the blade, and now it's his go-to smoother over his new Lie-Nielsen. He said the old iron just feels different when you push it, like the steel is denser or something. Not saying he's right, but he's been woodworking for 30 years and he's picky. So maybe there's a little magic in the old ones, or maybe he just likes the story behind it.

norab2115d ago

It's like that thing where people swear vintage cast iron skillets are better than new ones, even though they're both just hunks of metal. There's probably some truth to the old steel being different, but a lot of it is the time you put into fixing it up. You get attached to something you had to work to bring back to life. Personally, I think the patina people talk about is half finish and half just a mark of someone's labor.