Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Hand Planes
Everette Harmon
>I have been following things in this section of the forum for a while. I have been looking for some planes on ebay and as others have stated getting a decent Stanley plane is ridiculous. I�ve seen some of the other planes mention on the forum, but was wondering about the Miller Falls. They seem to be pretty decent and sell for a good price. Any information or, does anyone have any? Thanks in advance.
Miller Falls =good stuff
Jim Reed @Tallahassee
>I use the MF rabbet plane that is like the Stanley #78. It is a great plane. I sold my #78 on ebay & bought the MF (with $$$ left over for more planes!). It looks like it has never been used. Great plane and great price.
Re: Hand Planes
Jim Crammond in Monroe, Mi.
>Everette,
Millers Falls made very good tools. Their braces, hand drills, miter boxes and planes were of equal quality to Stanley tools in general. The Bailey style bench planes they made have a different numbering system than Stanley. It is based on the size of the plane rather than an arbitrary numbering system(i.e. a #4 size smoother is a #9 in the Millers Falls system and a #5 jack plane is a #14) They made equivilent models of most Stanley bench and block planes.
The main differences between planes are the Millers Falls plane have a one piece lateral adjustment lever, pressed rather than cast depth adjustment yoke, and except for the early models, hardwood instead of rosewood knob and tote. None of these affect the use of the plane, in my opinion.
Other manufacturers that also made good Bailey style bench planes were Union, Sargent and Ohio Tool. These makes are not as highly desired as Stanley planes, so the common sizes are often more reasonably priced. Don't rule out wooden planes, either, the learning curve is a little different but not difficult. Some of the best woodworking ever done was done before the invention of the Bailey style plane.
Jim
Re: Hand Planes *LINK*
mfitterling in Lake Wales, FL
>I have a Millers Falls 14 (same as Stanley 5) and it is every bit as good as my Stanleys. The Millers Falls numbers are usually on the left cheek, when looking at the plane from the tote end). You can find a cross reference of the plane numbers here:
http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/planexref.pdf
Re: Hand Planes
Dale Stansbery
>Don't overlook the Craftsman's made by MF either. I have a near mint 6C (marked 6Cbb on the side) which I think was made by MF. If I recall, the logo indicates it was pre 1950's, and looks like Rosewood tote and knob to me.. I haven't tuned it and used it yet, but it looks to be the same quality as my other MF's and Stanley's. And, the best part was that even in top condition, it only set me back $10 at auction.
Disagree on ebay Stanleys...
Doug
>I've seen some very good planes go for low prices recently. As far as getting a good deal on ebay, here are a few tips.
1) Get a later model. I've seen some real bargains on type 16 and later planes. Collectors are looking for SW's and often overlook the newer stuff.
2) Find an auction that ends in the middle of the night or during the day. Sunday night seems to be most competitive.
3) Patience and more patience...Good things come to those who wait. Right now the jointers are throgh the roof, but this, too shall blow over. If you are only looking for a good user, you will eventually find one at the right price. Smoothers are cheap now.
4) Some may curse me for saying this, but be the hunter and not the hunted-that's right....SNIPE! Wait until the last minute to place your bid. This will also prevent you from getting caught up in a bidding war since you will have no time left to rethink your decision and raise your bid.
Happy hunting
Re: Millers Falls Hand Planes *LINK*
Tom Price
>Best source of Millers Falls information anywhere is Randy Roeder's Millers Falls site (link below). He also links to a type study that I did for Millers Falls Type 1 planes.
They are great users and I do think there is a benefit to the double-jointed lever cap found on their best bench plane models. The early planes had rosewood totes and knobs, the later planes had cocobolo totes and knobs with a wild cherry red lacquer. Middle period had hardwood, maybe birch, hard to tell.
Tom,
who still needs a Type 1 #24 (same as #8 Stanley)
Randy Roeder's Millers Falls web site
Re: Hand Planes
Everette Harmon
>Thanks for all the information. I did actually pick up a plane yesterday from ebay. Now to get it, clean it up and learn how to use it.
Everette
Re: Hand Planes
Jay Hanks
>I just snagged from ebay a nice #3 sized Craftsman that is certainly a Miller's Falls made plane.