Admiral

A Type 17, WWII vintage ('42-'45) characteristics are thicker castings on the cheeks, giving the plane some heft, steel screws on the knob and tote, which are hardwood and not rosewood, lack of a frog adjusting screw (although they do show up with them sometimes) as well as the Bakelite iron adjusting wheel, although they also come with steel adjusting wheels. Some have the date of the iron manufacture indicated on the back of the iron, a "342" for example means the third fiscal quarter of 1942, so check for evidence of three digits, then you can date the plane pretty accurately. The T17s make excellent users.

Bleed: I've tuned literally dozens and dozens of bench planes, so without sounding like my ego is bigger than the internet, let me tell you a few things that will improve the performance of the plane. First, it seems you had a frog adjustment issue you worked out. However, do this: where the frog adjustment screw mates with the frog there is that little "U" shaped clip screwed to the frog. Loosen up the screw holding the U clip and the two frog screws, align the front of the frog about 1/8" away from the sole's mouth so that it is even, then carefully tighten down the frog screws firmly, not overly tight, then tighten the screw of the U clip. Now you have proper alignment of the frog. Next, take off the chipbreaker, and file the mating portion (pay attention to the mating angle) of the breaker so it is flat, testing it against the iron so that no light shows between the breaker and the back of the iron; remember, the angle is important as the breaker has to mate such that the front of the breaker is flush with the back of the iron. Then adjust the breaker such that it is no more than 1/16" (1/32" might be better, but let's not guild a lilly here) and then don't over tighten the screw that holds down the lever cap, if you do it makes it hard to adjust depth with the depth adjustment wheel. Third, get the iron sharp, really sharp. Now, don't worry all that much about the flatness of the sole right now; the point is to get the plane to work as it was supposed to; you can bugger up a plane sole by trying to flatten it if you are not careful, so be careful. Remember, when you advance the depth of the iron, if you have to back off, back off more than necessary and then creep forward with the iron adjustment such that the depth adjustment wheel is always being tightened; this removes the "slop" from the yoke mechanism. Have fun.

Very underrated. It can smooth like a 5 1/2, joint like a 7. Worth having in your tool kit. Patrick Leach gave it a bad reputation by his comments in Blood and Gore, one of his few opinions I don't agree with.

It is important to recognize that a 78 is a tool for rough work, to hog off material; while fine work can be done, it's tolerances are pretty flexible. Totally flat sole is not required. Once you have the rabbet in fairly good shape, take a router plane to fine tune the depth to what you are looking for. As far as the nicker, if its too proud, I second your impulse to file it down a bit, and it should be pretty sharp.

I always get a kick out of saw threads. And yes, impulse hardened Irwins and such will certainly cut wood, in some cases quite well. And yes, Wenzloff saws are beautiful (if you can actually get your order filled, lol), and yes, there are many other makers of new saws out there. But really, most saws made prior to 1950 which were taper ground and hammered will, when properly sharpened and set, perform as good or better than any saw made today (again, talking of hand and panel saws, as joinery saws are a different topic, and those being made now in my view are better than the vintage ones). And these saws can be found everywhere if you look. Yes, they will be rusty, but a little elbow grease, and choosing a saw with a straight plate, all the teeth, and not being obsessive about a "perfect" handle (all saws get dropped and horns get chipped), and you will likely be satisfied once it is sharpened and set properly. And the latter is the real issue. If you are truly going to use hand saws, in my opinion you have to learn how to sharpen and maintain them, as sending them out gets really, really expensive. A $250 panel saw has to be sharpened just as much as a prewar Disston (once you initially set it up and sharpen it) you can buy for $25, When I put a saw into working condition, it will take me about 30 minutes of cleaning. Then you must re-form the teeth to a consistent geometry. You can make a saw vice out of plywood, no big deal, and you need some saw files, and you need a saw set (the LV eclipse knock-offs will do and if you really get into it later you can search out Stanley 42s and 42xs, but you don't really need them at first). You need to joint the teeth before reforming the geometry, and then when you get your first pass done, joint it again and reshape again (sometimes I have to do it 3 times). Then you set the teeth, and only then start sharpening. Sure, you have to practice this, it is a skill, just like sharpening all your edge tools and plane irons, but its certainly not rocket science. But once set up properly, touchups are 10 minutes work, and the satisfaction you get from knowing you can do it cannot be beat. Read Pete Taran's saw sharpening primer here: http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/primer/sharp.html and print it to re-read whilst you are sharpening. Guys who rehab and sell saws tend to focus on the more desirable "Philada" medallian saws, but the "Phila" ones, made from 1917 to 1940, are just as good for journeymen work and will perform very well. Read this: http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/medv2.html Disston also made saws for Craftsman and if you can find one pre 1960 (look for absence of zip code on covers) they are dandy and can often be found in very good condition, needing only a touch up of sharpening. Sandvik saws are great too. Some of my best users are no-hame "Warrented Superior" as back in the day, most of the steel was pretty good stuff and likely the same used in the better saws. Again, don't worry so much about the handles, you're a woodworker, modify it if it does not suit your hand. In the wild, all can be found reasonably if you have the time to hunt them down and cull out the losers, when I sell the culled ones I get $25-$35. Go out, look, see what you can find and give sharpening a try. Otherwise, I would suggest going with impulse hardened saws until you know that you prefer working by hand, throwaways, yes, but they get the job done.

$30 is a very good price for that block plane.

First, unless you know the online seller, buying saws on eBay is a total crapshoot. They also tend to be a tad overpriced. Condition is important but some pitting, so long as it's not near the tooth line is acceptable for a user saw. Straight, with no kinks, and no missing teeth are the important things, handle not so much as you can repair it or make a new one. I hunt rust and regularly buy saws but for every 50 I look at maybe I'll buy one. You also have to learn the skill of re-forming the teeth, then sharpening. It's not difficult, if I can learn how, anyone with some patience and practice can do so.

For a more detailed examination of the process involved in setting the chipbreaker (cap iron), this link is worth reading: http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=newarticles&file=articles_935.shtml

Well, Stanley made a #62, BU, problem is they are generally collector's items. But I was making reference to the performance of a comparable LN/LV plane to that of a well tuned Stanley, and a bevel up plane, a you correctly point out, is quite a different animal. But a BU jack or smoother is not the only plane you can use to successfully smooth hickory. Adapting standard BD bench planes to function in difficult grain is a question of iron preparation, combining bevel angle and microbevel, along with a careful, extreme forward placement of the chipbreaker; an adaptation that literally takes a few minutes. It can and has been done successfully for a long time. You can also use a toothed iron followed by a card scraper for even more difficult grain. And I would continue to suggest that in the end it always comes down to shavings, which in turn produce the surface we all lust for. That being said, I have a LV BU jack, precisely because I couldn't get a vintage one reasonably (actually new is cheaper than vintage in this particular case) and it can be wondrous in certain situations, such as stringy hickory, which is not my choice of wood for the work I do, predominately furniture (too unstable for my taste). But it is certainly not the plane for all types of smoothing, and it is my shop experience that you certainly don't have to have one to handle difficult grain. YMMV

Found a picture of a Type 16 #4; again, properly tuned, properly sharpened. It is not hard to get these results, most of the skill involved is in the sharpening of the iron and adjustment of the tool. Not bad for a 70 year old plane, eh?

Well, first they are new and shiny. Both companies manufacture to far higher tolerences than Stanley (or any other manufacturer, i.e., Millers Falls, Sargent, etc.) did back in the day; iron bodies are made with ductile iron so if you drop them they don't shatter and they are machined flat; the stock irons supplied with them are made with modern steel, superior to most, but not all, vintage irons, plus they are thicker and come with improved versions of chipbreakers; LN improved the basic bedrock design, incrementally, but still an improvement; LV is quite innovative, taking design and function to a higher level than vintage. But all this comes at a cost, a significant cost, and when you can get 95%+ of a LN or LV performance out of a vintage plane, you weigh the cost/benefit in your own mind. For example, below is a Millers Falls #17 block plane, all stock, including iron, which is sharp and the plane properly adjusted. I couldn't tell much of a difference between the resulting shavings from any LN or LV plane. I can make the same thing happen with most any Type 19 or earlier Stanley bench plane.

Vintage Stanley planes, properly tuned and with a truly sharp iron, can be made to perform very well. We all know why we like LN and LV planes, I have several of each, but my basic user set includes Stanley 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and lots of good work is done with them.

I wouldn't bother with the 110, but the others will clean up just fine, I've had planes in worse condition that with a little work look just great.

Parts for a #2 are indeed hard to find, and will be expensive when you do find them. If you are not going to sell it, but use it, go aftermarket iron and chip breaker and make yourself a new knob and repair the tote. With original parts, a 2C is worth between $125-175, depending on overall condition, so you done good.

The thing about saws is that once you learn how to sharpen saws, a whole range of very affordable alternatives open up. Handsaws and backsaws are quite affordable when not sharp. Most vintage saw plates were made by three or four makers, all good steel, and mostly taper ground, not done so much nowadays. Even no name Warren and Ted Superior saws will cut wood like butter when sharpened properly. Sharpening saws is a skill, like any other, and worth learning.