Good evening, all! Just curious about what I got. I went to a house where the son was selling some tools owned by his father who recently passed. Picked up a vise that attaches to the side of a bench/table, says Zyliss Swiss precision on it, paid $10.
Also got a couple planes. I've never owned any as I'm just getting started in woodworking, but figured these would be a cheap way to learn about planes. One says Sargent VBM No. 408C, New Haven CT, and has 8 flutes in the base. Looks to be in pretty good shape, without any rust on it. Obviously has been used but I don't know how to appraise how much use it's had.
The other plane I picked up was a Stanley Bailey No. 5 with flutes in the bottom, also. Again, used but no rust and looks to be in OK shape. I paid $20 total for the two planes. Any information about them would be appreciated, including where I could find more about their value and if they would be considered collectible or just good to learn with.
From the Google searches I've done, appears the Stanley is not rare,
not sure about the Sargent, though. Thanks in advance for any information you can provide!
Post pics on abpf to get the full effect of the gloat.
Most likely a pre 1970 plane, a good user.
Yep, they always have to rub it in.
eB*y can give some idea, Google searches may help too. Clearly identify the tool first though. (People tend to get upset when they find out why the guy ran away smirking with dad's old saw - the one they paid ten bucks for - you know, the one that had the Panther's head on it).
Neither are rare, but research for yourself, go to
I just found (or was shown; I forgot) a handy little flowchart for Stanley planes. You can count how many blimzles and tweelzes it has, and whether it's got any floozles, and figure out what type it is.
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can't find diddly about Sargent planes. I just went looking, and I didn't turn up anything worth passing along. They're pretty rare, but I don't think that makes the collectible. Everybody is all hot and bothered over old Stanley stuff. Could be because the old Stanley stuff out-sold everything else 100:1, or outlasted everything else 100:1, or it could be people are just hung up on Stanley.
I dunno, I'm not a collector. I just use'em, and I take whatever I can get. I have some old Stanleys, some bona fide Mystery Planes about which I have no information at all, and one Sargent. The Sargent seems like a perfectly good plane, though I haven't gotten it in service far enough to do much of anything with it yet. (It should work much better now that I finally got around to replacing the grossly pitted iron with a new one from LV, but I'm not done polishing the new iron yet.)
If you can't find any helpful hints, I'm sure someone will feed you all the usual URLs. I don't have them close at hand. It sounds like those planes are clean, and in good shape, so you might just have to hone the irons and make some shavings.
If you don't have a good sharpening setup, that's the first place to start. These things don't work worth a much with a dull iron. You want to get them sharp enough to shave hairs off a gnat's ass. Sharpening methods abound. I'm in the Scary Sharp(tm) camp.
If you don't have one already, you'll probably want to think about a good workbench too. Bench planes are hard to use without a workbench. That vise you got might be good. I have no idea. If you want a good hunk of iron for not much money, I recommend eBaying around for anything from the Morgan Vise Co., or any similar early 20th century iron stuff. I have a Morgan 10A, I think it is, that I got for free. It was a royal bitch to get it working again, but it was worth it. It's soooo much better than those new ones they're selling for $100. I just looked on eBay, and I don't see anything currently. Oh well, the one you have will probably do for now anyway. I made do with some little $12 cheapie from Lowe's for a long time, and I still use that in conjunction with my new old one to hold long boards.
Guess again. They typically go for over $50 on eBay, $75 to $100 with a full set of accessories.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
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A Zyliss vise ... hmmmm .. you have quite the find there. Two things you can do with it.
sell it. You should be able to get a significant ROI on it. 200% should be easy.
Learn how to use it. If it didn't come complete with instructions, you can find it on the booklet in alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking - I just put it there for you - I found it on the web. It is an incredible vice.
I've seen them demonstrated at shows - they want $240 for them! Two years later I found one at a marina dock sale (like a community yard sale) for $25.
Its strong, light weight, and doesn't rust - it is great to have on the boat in the summer, and the shop in the winter.
Check the booklet out, you will see that it can be used for virtually any clamping requirement - and exceptional for use when planning. No wonder you found a plane at the same time. I'm betting you keep the vise and use it a lot.
If you don't have a good sharpening setup, that's the first place to start. These things don't work worth a much with a dull iron. You want to get them sharp enough to shave hairs off a gnat's ass. Sharpening methods abound. I'm in the Scary Sharp(tm) camp
Why do people always put a (tm) after Scary Sharp? Is it the name of something special? AFAIK, it's just using sandpaper glued to something flat, right? I've been using wetdry sandpaper to sharpen chisels and plane blades for about 15 years, since my buddy worked for Norton Co and got paper cheap....is there more to it?
I believe the original article giving it that name was posted on the Wreck by an old-time wrecker with a wicked sense of humor. Although the technique has been around for a long time and he probably didn't invent it, I believe he coined the name Scary Sharp(TM) and satiricly appended the (TM) to so indicate.
Uh, we try not to cut to the chase too much around here, okay. Otherwise people will think we're just hobbyists spending lots of money and time on tools when we could be solving the issues of world peace somewhere.
workbenches the same guy was selling. One was a homemade wooden bench, the other was a steel bench with hardboard top that was in bad shape, but replaceable. I'd like to buy something to start out with, and then make one later on. I know I need a bench, but haven't been too impressed with some of the Sjoberg benches I've seen, esp. for the money. Was considering a Grizzly bench top and maybe Shopfox leg set. What about the Kobalt type benches at Lowes with MDF top? All thoughts appreciated. Thanks!
the people who have them and like them really like them.
I think a lot of them live under the bench most of the time gathering dust.
for what they are- a versatile lightweight workholding device- they work well, but IMO are overpriced. if you're looking for a heavy machine vise, for get it.
for the price of a new one I'd rather have an emmert clone.
Why not just make something serviceable but inexpensive initially and then make a better one one of your first "real" projects? Or, like me,
20 years later, the "temporary" is still working just fine...of course, I had some 8/4 x 16' clear (nearly) yellow pine I planed down for the top and built a table for it and mounted the vise my f-i-l gave me and it's now as comfortable as an old shoe...
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