Buying ebay planes advice (ramble)
Sanford Levy
>Hi everyone. I'm wondering if anyone has some advice on basic ebay plane buying. I can figure out which number planes I want, and I find people are reasonably good at describing the conditions of what they sell (so far at least!) but I have been having trouble figuring out what "type" the planes are from the information given or from questions I have asked. Sometimes sellers know, but often they do not. I have asked a few people if they could try to figure it out from the plane type study, since that is easy to do, but most say they only want to sell the thing and don't want to know anything about it. I asked one person if they could see how the frog was attached and he responded he did not know what a frog was and had no screwdriver anyway. I did not bid on any item when I got an answer like that (though all these people were very willing to tell me about defects in their planes.) But in each case, the plane sold for a reasonably high price. I will never know whether the buyers were idiots or knew something I did not.
So here is my question: are there any more or less clear indicators for the age of a Stanley plane, something that can easily be seen from a picture or which a seller can easily answer about? I know about the low vs tall knob and the raised ridge around the knob. Is the color of the handle a give away?
I bought one No. 5 plane at a low price. Once I got it I typed it as a 19 using the plane type study. I have read that type 19 is not supposed to be a great era for Stanley, though the plane has a pretty flat sole and everything seems in good shape. I will flatten the iron and do a bit of tuneup and see how it goes. I have also read that stanley planes from 30's, say, are supposed to be good value. Is there a quick and easy way to tell from a not very good picture on ebay which one you are bidding on? Maybe something like the Disston medallion? (I know, that is not likely.)
Any help would be appreciated. Maybe I would do better if I could see a few hundred old planes. But I have never seen or heard of a flea market in my region, Bozeman Montana, I have never seen a decent tool at any yard sale I went to (though I do not go often anymore), and our antique stores have a very small number of very expensive planes that look like they have been run over by trucks, or better tanks. There are estate sales, but when I take a rare saturday off from working, my wife would kill me if I went to one rather than heading off into the mountains with her.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks! Sanford