About 30 years ago I came across this old plane in our basement but never did anything with it. Unfortunately I was taught mostly power tools. I’ve been getting interested in doing some hand tool work and decided to play a bit with this plane. My totally novice hour with this thing cleaning it up a bit was pretty rewarding planing a piece of maple but after reading up on fixing up old planes it seems pretty clear that if the plane wasn’t decent when it was newer it probably isn’t worth much work.
So, my question is, is this old #1409 Sargent Hercules Plane worth any effort or should I just invest the $120 in a brand new Wind River plane to get started? All I did to this one was use a sheet of plate glass and a few sheets of sandpaper only up to 600 grit on the sole and blade to play so there’s nothing invested at this point. I live not far from New Haven where these things were made from the late 1800’s to the early 1960’s so it’s just sort of cool to get something that old working at least a bit.
Thanks for any advice.
Jim
Replies
Go here to check out Sargent planes, scroll down till you hit the Hercules.
I think he's a bit over priced, but fun to look
http://www.antique-used-tools.com/sargent.htm
hi bruce,
a BIT over priced?
fettling sure can take time. all the pics i looked at, it appeared the planes were worked on.
eef
Over priced ?
Agreed that there was some cleaning up on the Hercules, but who knows how much? I buy orphan, flea market planes for $15-$20 sometimes more. Then spend days on them, flattening, lapping in frogs, etc etc. Then the prices would be worth it.
Effort worth it?
I'd guess it would be worth it to work on the plane. A person recommended on FW that to learn how to use hand planes, one should just buy several older planes and spend time tuning them up and using them. Sound like good advice to me. You would not have to spend a lot to get some decent tools. You are part of the way there since you have a good prospect in hand. There are several articles/videos on this process in FW about tuning up planes. Even if after the process you decide to buy the WR, you still have the skills you acquired on the old one.
Here are a couple articles on the subject
https://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2933
https://www.finewoodworking.com/item/16964/sole-power-how-to-tune-up-an-old-plane
Working well
Thanks Guys,
It seems to be working pretty well but I don't have anything to compare it to. I do find myself using it to do things I would have done with other power tools and it sure is nice to do it without the noise and dust. If I find myself using it more I'll probably be getting more into doing more things by hand as time goes by.
Jim
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