Had a rusted #5 plane given to me. I cleaned it up and started using it. This is no ordinary Wards plane! The plane seems very well made and nicely balanced. In addition, the man who must have originally owned it expertly sharpened the blade for finishing by carefully rounding up the edges. Most impressively, the blade adjustment wheel had absolutely no backlash! When have you seen that on a Wards, or any number of other old, or a lot of new planes!
I realize that Wards subcontracted out the making of their planes to others, and I have used some of those, which could be made to run Ok after some work. This plane, however, is a cut above. It is a shame that we can’t target this maker. It did some good work.
18700
Replies
Most impressive
Hey if you can post a photo some one here may be able to give you more info such as who made the plane for Wards.
Is there a year of manufacture on your plane ?
If you would like info on how to post photos here I will help.
I personally do not know beans about old planes but am enjoying your post so far and am interested in old tools in general.
Stanley made a lot of Wards planes, and the older ones, pre 1955 or so, can be very good.
Ah, the bygone days
It's interesting to look back at the history of what were once retailing giants on the American landscape, and the products they offered under their own name.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled