TIL my grandfather's raggedy old wooden plane beats my brand new Stanley every time

I was fighting with this new Stanley #4 for like two weeks trying to get a smooth finish on some white oak shelving for a client in Austin. The thing kept chattering no matter how I adjusted the iron. I finally grabbed my grandpa's old wooden plane that's so beat up it looks like it survived a fire. Sharpened it up with a quick strop and took one pass across the same board. Silky smooth no tearout at all. I guess 50 years of use just tunes a tool different. Anybody else find that old beat up tools just work better than the new shiny ones?

2 comments

2 Comments

ericfox1mo ago

And that's the thing, @lopez.brooke is right about the steel. That old iron has been sharpened so many times the edge is probably better hardened than anything you'll find today. I did the same thing with a cheap modern block plane I bought, just could not get it to stop chattering on figured maple. Pulled out an old wooden one my dad gave me, sharpened it up, set the cap iron real close to the edge and it cut like butter. The secret is those old planes have a tighter mouth from years of use and the wooden sole just deadens vibration better than cast iron. You might want to take a look at the chip breaker on that Stanley too, sometimes filing that mating surface flat makes all the difference.

lopez.brooke1mo ago

Old tools just have that magic. New stuff is made to look good in the store but a beat up plane that's been used for decades already has all the kinks worked out. Plus the steel in those old irons is way better than what they stamp out now. My grandpa's old block plane is the same way, cuts like a dream no matter what I throw at it.