It costs less than $20, and I won’t be complaining
John Economaki over at Bridge City Tool Works recently published a blog post titled $5 for a 1/8? Twist Drill? Only in America… (it’s a great read). I won’t spoil it for you, but during his tour of a Chinese factory a worker tells John “In America, if it cost less than $20, nobody complains about quality—everybody in China knows this”.
Today I Purchased a new smoother from eBay. It’s a Stanley #4 type 14 that I picked up for $19.99. It only has two things wrong with it that I can see; The lever cap is not original, and the tote is broken (easily fixable). Even if it shows up with a defect that makes in unusable, I can still sell the parts on eBay and make more than I paid for it. Thus, I can promise this is one purchase I won’t be complaining about.
Nice find Dan, Are you planning on restoring it? if so I hope you post the details I know next to nothing about bringing a hand plane back to life.
Yea, I plan on restoring it this winter, I have a 7C that’s been sitting on the bench for months, and a #8 on the way as well. I have a couple other planes that I’ve brought back to working condition, that I might bring back to like new condition(re-painted) this winter as well. It will probably be a video series.