Replies

1. 
   SawdustSteve | May 05, 2003 12:36am | #1

   After you buy THAT hammer, I've got something even better for you, but it will cost you mega$$$   I have an original plane and auger bit that Noah used when he built the Ark!  I comes from Noahs great, great, great, great, great great, great grandson.  Both tools show some sighs of wear, but considering their age, it's only a minor point.  The old man who sold them to me absolutely swears that he is telling the truth about these two items and the only reason he sold them to me is that he needed some cash to have the final payment on his house.

   SawdustSteve

2. 
   TXJon | May 05, 2003 12:40am | #2

   This is a joke, right?  Handle's been replaced, head's been replaced....

   I've got a mint condition model T, of course, the body's been replaced, the engine and frame have been replaced, interior's been replaced, and now it's a Yugo.  I'm looking for a buyer too.

3. 
   max41254 | May 05, 2003 03:57am | #3

   Ken;

   i have a really nice bridge; circa 1821, across the river here-abouts. You kin have it cheap!

   Ha!!!     casey..

1. 
   lostarrow | May 05, 2003 04:13am | #4

   Do you take Visa or MC. I only have $2,000 credit limit. Would that cover it.

     ken (with a small k)   forest girl put that monicker on me.

1. 
   max41254 | May 05, 2003 05:14am | #5

   ken...........

   jeez, bud!! you kin have it fer nuthin! i must have a dozen of them!!

   hate to trash yer credit rating!

   just kidding, K?

   enjoy your hammer!

                                     casey..

1. 
   wrick2003 | May 05, 2003 04:13pm | #6

   ahhh,  the sweet allure of an old rusty piece of metal.   rg    

4. 
   lwilliams | May 05, 2003 05:26pm | #7

   Actually, over the weekend, I saw an 18th Century hammer for sale. It had what was probably the original handle but someone had added wire nails driven into the handle at the eye in hopes of holding the head on better. The price was $5.00. I didn't buy it.

   I did buy an 18th Century smooth plane. While it was probably made about 1810, it had all the details of a late 18th Century plane and is considered 18th Century by collectors. It was all of $10 and I bought it from Pat Lasswell, one of the true wooden plane authorities in the US.

   View Image

   I also picked up a nearly unused side round plane by Thomas Moon from about 1790. Also a very unusual snipe bill with a drop-dead gourgeous wooden depth stop by Benjamin Frogatt, both the lignum vitae boxing and the ogee profile on the wooden depth stop are features of Frogatt planes. It probably dates from the 1760's or 1770's.

   View Image View Image

   If you're not a member of one of the tool collectors' groups, you don't know what you're missing. These are from a meeting of Southwest Tool Collectors' Assn. in Dallas last weekend. Most SWTCA members are into Stanley stuff but there are a few of us collectors of early wooden planes.

1. 
   mallard10 | May 05, 2003 10:14pm | #8

   Larry way cool planes thanks for sharing them. Jerry

1. 
   max41254 | May 06, 2003 04:46am | #9

   just the plane truth?

   happy hammering.....

                                  casey..

1. 
   lostarrow | May 06, 2003 05:18am | #10

   I went back to the see the widow today and bought that hammer. It's the darnest thing you ever saw. I had no idea that something like this existed back in the 1700's. You ought'a see it. It's amazing. It's automatic. Probably an early verison of a modern pneumatic gun. There's a small trap door in the end of the handle where you load in a bunch of nails ,close the door and give the hammer a shake and a nail pops out of the head ready to go. A onearmed man could drive nails with thing. If Antique Road shows comes to town I'm gonna take it in and get it appraised. Gotta be worth more than what the widow and I settled on.

    ken(with a small k)

1. 
   BG | May 06, 2003 12:59pm | #11

   Ken,

   That hammer sounds terriffic, hidden draws and doors were very popular back when that was made...who would have thought...lucky stiff...lol

   I have a set of antique Japanese knives you might be interested in....they are incredibly sharp....not only will they slice tomatoes...but, you don't even have to take them out of the can...lol

2. 
   Andrew | May 06, 2003 11:02pm | #12

   You probably need a special set of left hand allen keys for adjustments, right? Try finding a set of those :)

3. 
   max41254 | May 07, 2003 04:56am | #14

   ken..

   sounds like an antique "Ronco" deal; except the newer ones have a plastic handle. I hear they treat yer elbows alot like the Estwing steel hammers! OUCH!

   Methinks it'd be more fun to get hammered than to hammer!!

   Ya'll have fun, now, hear?

                                         casey..

2. 
   mrles | May 07, 2003 12:58am | #13

   Larry

   I have a Bailey #8 24" long with a Stanley frog on it. I picked it up several years ago for $50.00, I consider it to be in excellent condition. Do you have any idea what it would be worth?

   Gods Peace

   les

1. 
   lwilliams | May 07, 2003 07:52am | #15

   Les,

   It's been a while since I messed around with Stanley stuff. Most Stanley bench planes were Bailey planes. Stanley bought out Leonard Bailey's Boston/Bailey tool company shortly after Leonard Bailey introduced his planes. Boston/Bailey planes are pretty valuable because they're scarce and the start of the line. Bedrock planes, Liberty Bell and a few other Stanley planes weren't made on the Bailey patents other than those that had expired. After Stanley bought Bailey, Leonard Bailey became a pretty disgruntled Stanley design sub-contractor. There were a number of them and they mostly translated wooden planes to metal for mass production and got the patents. Ole' Leonard one time got so mad at Stanley he left them and started the "Defiance" Plane Company. After winning some patent infringement lawsuits, Stanley bought him out a second time. It's kind of funny that Stanley later used the "Defiance" name on a different line of planes. Stanley gobbled up a lot of companies and forced others out of business. I've seen the company described as the Darth Vader of early manufacturers. It kind of fits, they were more than ruthless at times.

   Age and condition are everything when it comes to Stanley Planes and any other collectable. My 1996 price guide lists the average price of a #8 as $50 to $150. I'm sure that's gone up but I don't have a clue as to how much. I just don't pay much attention to them anymore.

1. 
   mrles | May 07, 2003 08:10pm | #16

   Thanks Larry I'm a user not a collector, I was just curious about the value. I say I'm not a collector I probably have over 30 planes. I wonder how many I would have to acquire before I would be considered a collector. :>)

   Gods Peace

   les