Old Jointer Plane

[Steve]

I inherited an old wooden bodied Sargent 3422 jointer plane that looks to be in pretty good shape though it hasn't been used for many years. I'm inexperienced with hand planes, but I'm hoping to get it working well enough to use instead of a power jointer (that I don't have room for in my little garage shop) for edge jointing boards for glue ups. Should I bother trying to tune up this old plane and can I expect to get as good a result as with a reasonable quality new plane? I know that nowadays new doesn't necesarily mean better, but was this old plane any good to begin with? Steve

[Fred the Red Shirt]

Yes, it should be fine for jointing boards. If sole isn't flat enough to suit you, it is easier to flatten than an iron sole.

The biggest complaint about the transitionals is that you can't easily adjust the mouth. On some (maybe all) you CAN move the frog forward to close up the mouth but then the cutter is un- supported down near the cutting edge. THis can be overcome by using shims under the cutter like one would do with a wedged or infill plane. But with the transitional you still have the fine depth and skew adjustment.

I bet you'll be happy with it.