A part I likely cannot replace broke, and my Stanley 60-1/2 block plane is now useless.
So I go looking on eBay, and lo and behold, find that they are all selling at between 40 and 60 dollars plus shipping.
Highland Hardware will sell me a new one for about $37, and the same one from Lee Valley can be had for I think $39.
These eBay buyers must be nuts! There’s nothing really special about a 60-1/2, and from what I can tell, a new one is just as good as an old one.
Replies
I dont use EBAY much. I hae a friend who buys those fire hose nozzles for water hoses at Lowes for ten bucks, then turns around and sells them on EBAY for twenty.
I'm always amazed how much stuff I see selling on ebay for more then you can buy new in the store
Yeah, this guy is selling about ten a week of these things to people. A lot of the time real auctions arent much better.
shouldn't have let his secret out! I might have to look into it ;)
I've thought about selling stuff on ebay, just doesn't seem worth the hassle... but some of the stuff I see at the big boxes on close out would go at least full retail on ebay...
the few things I have sold there always seemed too time consuming between dealing with payment, packaging, shipping etc... I'd rather just sit on my asz when I get home from work.
lol, aint that the truth. Nothin' like a little bt after a long days work.
Here's a new one from Lee Valley for $39.50.
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And here is one that closed within the last 30 minutes on eBay, selling for $60.
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Here's one for you.. Sellers auction for laser level I watched this week closes for 143$ plus 15$ shipping.
I'll pass on that.
Scroll down 4 sellers to find the same item, new in the box, for 99$ Purchase (not auction) with free shipping...
The auction format puts people in a competitive trance.
The auction format puts people in a competitive trance
Boy your got that right! I used to attend about 2 or 3 auctions a week when I was beating the bushes for antiques, some people are just not going to be outbid.
And when the auctions all over if you'd approach one of the "competitors" about buying the same identical thing for less money they had absolutely no interest in it any more. People, what-a-ya-gonna-do
My father was at a tax auction last summer in Galveston county. There was a piece of land that measured 100' long and 40' wide. It was designated wetland. The price the county had on it was 1200 dollars.
Two people living living next to it got in a bidding war and it sold for 36000 dollars. No one else bid on this property because it was wetland. After it was over they shook hands. They cant even build a fence on it. Seems to me somebody with that kind of money to blow should have more sense than that.
That ebay stuff, My sister buys stuff at meijers then puts it on ebay
selling it twice the price or more. If you see ebay stuff with "FREE"
shipping..beware. Someone from Denmark hijacked her ebay name, Sold
two 4x4 quad runners for $3500.00 each. Used paypal and said he would stop the auction early to anyone who payed the $3500.00. I guess the free shipping got the buyers interest. He sold them both within 1 hr of posting. I email the guys to let them know they were getting scamed...
one guy stopped the transaction in time. The other guy lost out.
Ebay got my sisters account straightened out.Paypal sent the seller
$3500.00 dollars. I email him pertending to be a buyer, then gave ebay
his info.
Dont think there was much done after that.
Rob Teed
Dreambuilders
Wetland -40' x 100' for $36K - got anything to do with a duck blind? Pretty cheap for a perpetual hunting lease which is transferable upon death. Just as strange happenings have occurred on the Eastern Shore of MD, and some marshes in my county.
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
I became 'ebay literate' while selling items at my previous job. The smart ones will watch an item til literally the last seconds of the auction. If it has not been bid up over their target price, they will sweep in with seconds left and snatch the item from the poor sucker who thought he had it sewn up days ago...
Most don't seem to understand that there is no benefit to bidding early--that it just jacks the price up, and jacks everyone's competetive instinct.
Pretty fun psychology to watch unfold.
A guitar that sold in my father's hometown was recently in the news. Old gent brought his Martin guitar in to the local "sell it on ebay for you" store and it ended up selling for 47,000$
Fascinating.
http://cgi.ebay.com
This is called "sniping" and there is no reason to sit and wait for the bidding to move into the final seconds. There are several software programs that will do it for you.
>>The auction format puts people in a competitive trance.You ain't kidding. One of my co-workers managed to obtain a few hundred old 486 processors for free. Well, there's a fair amount of gold in them thar chips, so he put up a lot of 100 on eBay for salvage purposes. They sold for almost $300. Research revealed that there is about 70 cents worth of gold in each chip, and it ain't easy to extract.did<!---->Cure Diabetes - Death Valley 2006!<!---->
What part did you break?
Stanley has parts for their block planes in the repair parts section of their website. Try them first before buying another one.
Hope this helps.
Rick W
This is my stack of 'spares', the normal sets in tool boxes doesn't count.
Can i git enuf for a casabeer on ebay for'em?
Just bought an '84 4x4 S-10 on ebay for $355, just for the parts, sucker had a new battery and almost new tires on alloy wheels, tranny simply started slipping, easy to fix, so there are deals there. $2000 for a case track loader/backhoe last January. OK, having a trailer helps keeps pickup costs low. Printer crapped out, got 2 new same type replacements for $1.27!, shipping was $11 though, had checked the same printer at Best Buy and Fry's for $44 or $49 each. Agree that there are a lot of suckers that do not know value, and that the snipers think they are the olny ones doing it???
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Edited 12/15/2005 2:14 pm ET by junkhound
If those are your SPARE planes, would ya wanna part with any of them?My Grandpa had a Stanley Bedrock #8 jointer plane with a corrugated sole. After he died my Uncle ended up with it. He doesn't use planes, so it just sits in a shed rusting. He won't sell it or let me have it to clean up. It really bugs me. Anyway I have managed to find a lot of planes and like messing with them. But I've never been able to come up with a jointer plane like my Grandpa's. If you ever get the notion that you want to sell the one on the left in that picture, please let me know.
Do you need an Smart House to do home schooling?
Boss, tell your Dad I'll give him $50 for that Bedrock, sight unseen. <G>Andy
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
Next time I go to StL and drive to Spfld, I'll drop it off as a gift (the corrugated sole plane) as I recall that one was a garage sale find.
The longer one under it was one of my grandpa's, one of my grandkids will get that one.
I'd be glad to pay for the plane or give you something in trade if you like - I wasn't looking for a freebie.
Life is like a grinding wheel. It will either sharpen you up or grind you down, depending on what you're made of.
I have a #7 Corrugated sole iffin he won't sell ya his. 35+ shipping and it is yours.
edit never mind, I read further along..DOH
Edited 12/18/2005 7:51 pm ET by Sphere
Ron, sounds like a good deal if you dont want to accept one as a gift.
I dont like to sell stuff like this, would rather give it away to somebody I know will appreciate it. Think I mentioned this once, but gave away a ton or so of blacksmith tools a few years back vs. selling.
When my dad bought a router in the 50's, he gave away about 30 Stanley moulding planes, sure wish I had some of those to divvy up among the grandkids.
BTW, solicitations for 'gifts' by others will not receive any response <G>
Art, what's thjat tool in the middle froeground, the one with the orangish handle?
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
variation of a spokeshave, the head is a little plane, have used this to make bows out of hickory staves, also useful for shaping any type of wooden handle. .
Re: the spokeshave-like plane. Can you share anymore info about it? Who made it? model? more detailed picture? I build boats as a hobby and something like that may be usefull in my shop.There are no electrons! It is all made up. Don't believe it.
Electricity is made by GREENIES.
Made by Sargent, this was one of my Grandpa's from the 1910's, no idea where one would get one now.
'Nemo me impune lacesset'No one will provoke me with impunity
"There's nothing really special about a 60-1/2, and from what I can tell, a new one is just as good as an old one"
The new ones may at first glance look as good as the old but I always go for the old ones although I don't pay much more than the list price of a new one
I prefer the oldies for several reasons
In general the main body casting better finished and made of a finer quality metal.
The original blades hold their edge better and are thicker than the new ones (less chatter when planing end grain)
There is less backlash on the adjusters, and they are better made than new ones.
The new planes have a cheap feel in the hand and need a lot of attention to get to work properly.
The frog casting on new planes tends to be smaller (saving on the cost of metal) so there is less support for the blade.
I've bought several new planes both Stanley and record and I've always been disappointed so now all I buy is either pre war or Lie Nielsen
In your list of qualities of the old tools, you make some good points. But, you forgot one - that old one has already been educated! It should have been trained to know how to do the job already, and you're there just to help it along.
That's what I keep telling myself when I grab Dad's hammer. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New construction - Rentals
the new Stanleys are OK, but if you really want a tool that makes you smile, go with Lie Nielsen or Le Valleys planes....I can't afford a Rolls to drive, but I can afford a good plane!
Go for the Lie Nielson low angle with the removable side & the skew blade, if you can find one......
if you do go for a new Stanley 60 1/2 it's worth upgrading the blade to one made by hock,
http://www.hocktools.com/
also you should spend some time tuning it up, the link below should take you to a fine woodworking article on the subject,
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00167.asp
These modifications took me a couple of hours and it does dramatically improve the performance but it's still not as good as my old Stanley 65 or my new L.N. 60 1/2
Edited 12/17/2005 12:54 pm ET by limeyjoiner
Used to work in a machine shop and some of the older machine tools would break down. Parts were generally unavailable.
Old machinist had a saying about how no part couldn't be replaced or repaired. We created from scratch or repaired a lot of parts. Some smaller parts were made almost entirely by hand. Often with little more than power drill, jigsaw, grinder, files, tap and die set.
Some were then heat treated in a gas fired hardening oven, case hardened and/or bead blasted to relieve stress.
Seems to me if you were handy or knew someone who was they might be able to repair or recreate the broken part. Most areas, particularly in the rust belt, have ex-machinists who remain highly capable hobbyist machinists. Sometimes they can be talked into lending a hand and their considerable expertise in return for some nominal compensation.
A few I have seen seem to take difficult jobs just for the challenge. I used to know one who did first rate work on odd jobs. Some jobs for people restoring old steam engines. The only down side with him was that he wasn't worried about schedules so it could take a week. Or a month.
Worth a shot. Some of these guys can be reached through commercial machine shops or clubs centered on restoring antique engines or such.
A part of my Stanley 60-1/2 block plane broke, rendering it unusable, and that is what got this thread started. I found folks willing to bid up old used ones (and that is what mine is) for as much as twice what is paid for a brand new 60-1/2.
I felt frustrated going the eBay route, at first hoping to buy an old beater for just the parts, then realizing what a frenzy there was at that site for old tools.
So, I went the google route, finding dealers of old tools and planes, a couple of which are willing to sell me the wedge cap I need for a quite reasonable figure.