stanley #45 whats an honest value or should I keep it.

[Juicegoose]

Guys I was given a Stanley #45 in a box(not original) with 17 cutters in what look to be the orignal blade case. It has both fences but only the short set of guide rails. I've looked on nd the prices seem to very greatly. Could someone with more plane experience then me help me price this thing. From what I understand although a cool concept I've heard they don't really excel at anything. I was looking at selling it to buy a nice lee neilson router plane or something but again I don't know what it's worth or if I should keep it. Here are some pics I took

[Juicegoose]

here are two more

[Bob Rozaieski]

Depending on how many of the rediculous number of parts you have, prices can range from $50 to $300. Yours looks to be in kind of rough condition, i.e. it will require a lot of cleaning and derusting, so subtract for that. Looks like you are missing a couple of cutters (one beading, two sash, slitting), the beading stop, slitting cutter stop, and long arms, which will all subtract as well. Is the box original with the label or did someone make it for the plane? I'm not sure your version came with the cam rest as it looks like an early patent. Screwdriver looks to be missing as well.

With that said, you do still have a lot of the parts. You might get more if you cleaned it up some, but be careful not to over do it. I'd say you could probably get between $100 and $150 for it since it's clearly not in collector condition and is missing some parts. I'd sell it as long as you have no emotional connection to it (like if it was given to you by a recently passed grandfather). If you have a family connection to it, you can't really put a price on it. If it's just another random tool, it'll be worth a few bucks to someone. Personally I don't think they work particularly well for anything thay are intended to do and there are much better alternative tools that do the same jobs much better if you want planes to use. Course some people love these things, and they do have a very high gizmocity factor to them so YMMV.

Good luck!

[Juicegoose]

Honestly it's not super rusty it's more dirty then anything. The outside box for the whole plane and set of irons is not original but the inside box for the plane irons looks to be original. I can see where a label used to be, long gone now. If you think it's worth around 150 i'll just try and sell it for that. It's just gunna collect dust in my shop anyway.

[themrfreeze]

A few years ago, I bought a #45 plane in much better shape than this one for $100. Plane was clean, and still had 95%+ of its original polished nickel finish. Only piece missing was the slitter.

45's *can* be used effectively, but they're more "condition-specific" than other planes due the lack of a proper mouth/sole. The wood's grain needs to be pretty straight to cut cleanly, and don't even think of trying to go against it. I use mine pretty much exclusively for making grooves, and for that, it works pretty well.

[Jonathryn]

I love combo planes. I've got a Craftsman-branded Sargent, which I think is probably better than a 45, as well as an old beater/user Stanley 46 skew blade combo plane. I like them both but especially the 46. The spills off the plane curl off so nice and easy, it's just a real pleasure to use.