#4 Record Marples Handplane . made in UK

[Arlin Eastman]

If I had access to a surface grinder I'd try to resurface it. Sounds like a good project for tablesawtom ...hint hint! 

Tom would not buy it since it is missing things that cost money and it takes time to do the flattening and he would never get his money back out of it at that price. 

Me personally I think the buyer should not have paid more them $5 for it with the chip breaker and blade missing and the custom grinding on the bottom by another user.  It also looks like the seller that sold it to the OP painted it to look nicer just because I see the pitting on the sides and I just have to think it is under the paint as well.

[Malix]

Man...  I just did not think for one moment that folks would care that much about how this plane looks..  I  just thought some one might need a  low cost  usable #4  to go make some shavings with. I'll agree its not visually attractive but dang I'm not offering up a  high dollar collector type plane thats gonna sit on a shelf and impress your hand tool buddies.  This here is a low cost  usable tool the i am positive can be used to flatten and smooth wood with a little fettling. I just figured for 35 buck folks would not be looking for much more than functionality.  Seems like i'm a bit out of touch on this one. It didn't scare me off so I was a bit surprised how much it scares off other folks.

My understanding and experience tells me that as long as any plane sole can be made flat ( co-planar) at the toe, heel, and in front of the mouth the plane will function perfectly well. This sole has unground surfaces in all the places that matter. the areas that are ground away are irrelevant to the fuction of this plane ( but apparently relevant visually). 

To me its no different than japanese blacksmiths grinding away surfaces on chisel and plane blades  to help in speeding up flattening of said chisels/blades.



Sure their grinding looks much nicer but as I stated i didn't offer this  plane up for a beauty contest.

So as to  clarify here are a few more detailed pics of the plane sole.  I measured the depth of the ground areas with a digital caliper and the deepest  part i could find was .014" 

If no one wants her Its truly no biggie Just a garage sale plane destined for the island of misfit tools. I've already got 2 #4s of my own.. At some point I'll try to get around to flattening the sole myself and fettle her up a bit. Once she's pulling some savings nicely I can see if she'll be wanted then. 

[Malix]

Oh and With respect to Tom grinding this sole.  I've got 2 planes Tom ground flat.  I also agree this aint a good candidate for Tom.   The mouth would likely be too wide by the time Tom got out the grinding. Also,  I think it would be uneccesary to flatten the whole sole when the only important parts that need flattening can be done don easily on a flat surface with some sand paper.  And this one  always seemed destined to be a shop beater #4.  franken planes don't usually get gussied up.  Just put  to work.

And for the record Paint is original.(IMHO)

[Admiral]

Oh and With respect to Tom grinding this sole.  I've got 2 planes Tom ground flat.  I also agree this aint a good candidate for Tom.   The mouth would likely be too wide by the time Tom got out the grinding. Also,  I think it would be uneccesary to flatten the whole sole when the only important parts that need flattening can be done don easily on a flat surface with some sand paper.  And this one  always seemed destined to be a shop beater #4.  franken planes don't usually get gussied up.  Just put  to work.

And for the record Paint is original.(IMHO)

I agree with your japanese chisel analogy, and in my view there's no reason why this plane should not be able to work; it just takes a bit of a leap of faith, with a late model Record that wasn't intended to have a hollow sole.  Lets chalk up the reactions to the fact that most here are a bit more traditional in their approach.  I must say, I've never seen this type of user modification done before, thanks for the pics.

[Malix]

Yeah I guess she definitely ain’t purty.
So $20 to any soul with a strong enough constitution to overlook her foibles. I just hate to toss a good user like this. If no one takes her I’ll work on her a bit and try again but. I have no use or storage space for it.. or I’d keep it around.

P. S. Sorry for visually littering in the eyes of all those who have been offended by the look of this plane

[alanealane]

The more I look at it the more it seems this could be a useable plane without resurfacing. The surfaces that need to be intact for the plane to function are there. The only caveat is planing a surface narrower than the areas hollowed out on the sole. It might not ride as smoothly over that narrow surface which might tend to catch on the hollowed out area. But anything as wide or wider than the sole shouldn't be affected at all. It will still take some work...at least getting the parts to make it a complete tool but it might end up just fine set up as a scrub plane or maybe with a shooting board. I just invested in a set of sweet Primus wood planes so I can't use this one

Best wishes. Let us know how it turns out.

[jasfrank]

I think that plane could surely be put to use, and probably at a significant time savings from trying to tune up an old Bailey. Your downfall is the lack of a iron and chipbreaker. Its no sweat to run into donor planes for $5 or so at garage sales, but every Kat doesn't see it that way....