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I just bought a Stanley Bailey # 5, smooth sole, at a swap meet. A little surface rust and a broken tote. Clean break, easily repaired. Or, I could make a new one
Paid $25. I really don't know much about values. How did I do?

Gene Howe wrote:I just bought a Stanley Bailey # 5, smooth sole, at a swap meet. A little surface rust and a broken tote. Clean break, easily repaired. Or, I could make a new one
Paid $25. I really don't know much about values. How did I do?

You did well. On *Bay you would readily pay that much (minimum) plus shipping. Enjoy your plane! Those Stanley Baileys are nice.

I think you did well! I just got a #5 like that and a Stanley 9 1/2 block plane on E bay for $50. The #5 is in very nice shape ( mint according to the seller:) ) and actually worked pretty well without any thing other than resetting the blade. It has been used , but either it was used very little or very well cared for. The block plane will need more clean up and tuning, but I was able to plane some pine with it. Shipping was $15. So you did better than I did, I think. I did the Ebay thing this time because I thought this was a very good plane and I had seen ones of far less quality than these go for as much as $50, and locally, if you are not camped out on the front door of a swap meet or yard sale around here, you are out of luck.

Here are some pictures of my planes. The first one is two #5s. The one I payed $25 for is closest.

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This next two pics are of a #4, The two #5s , a #5 1/2 and a #6. The #6 is grooved. Both the 4 and 6 have patent dates of “March 05 02”, “August 19 02” and “April 19 02” Couldn’t find any dates on the others.

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All but the one #5 were given to me. Not pictured is a #71 in the box. Also a gift.

One of these days, I’ll get around to restoring them, if they are worth it. Whaddaya think?

That's a nice group of planes. From what I've seen, the Stanley Baileys demand a higher used price than most other brands of those sizes. Probably the more sought-after-one in your group is the No. 5-1/2 since you don't see as many out there. It's not as rare as a #2, though.

There's a very good guide by Patrick Leach on the web. Patrick's Blood and Gore is the name of it. Quite a bit of good reading. The only thing I disagree with him on is the merit of the No. 6 size. He says you might as well have a No. 7 or a No. 5 for most jobs. But my No. 6 size (in my case a Millers Falls No. 18 equivalent) is a favorite. The No. 6 size is long enough do do some jointing jobs, and heavy enough to keep the plane engaged on end-grain jobs.

I'm expecting to report on my newest top-secret Block Plane soon, but I haven't got it yet.