18
Found my grandpa's old hand plane in the basement last week
I was cleaning out some boxes and came across this old Stanley plane from the 1940s that belonged to my grandpa. It was all rusted up but I spent about 3 hours last Saturday sharpening the blade and getting it back in working order. Used it to trim down a door that was sticking in my hallway in Indianapolis... worked way better than that cheap electric planer I bought from Harbor Freight. Anyone else have luck restoring old tools instead of buying new ones?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
uma_ellis18d ago
Isn't it funny how the stuff that was made to last actually outlasts the stuff we buy now? I feel like every time I try to fix something with a new tool, it breaks within a year. But those old Stanley planes, they just keep going if you take care of them. There's something really satisfying about putting in the work to bring something back to life like you did. It's like we traded quality for convenience somewhere along the way, and we're only now realizing what we lost.
7
lopez.quinn18d ago
I mean, I get what you're saying but I think sometimes we just remember the stuff that lasted and forget all the junk from back then too. My grandpa had a toolbox full of old tools that were pretty much garbage even when they were new.
6
noahmartin18d ago
lopez.quinn brings up a fair point but uma_ellis is right about those Stanley planes though. I had the same thing happen with an old brace and bit I found at a garage sale. Someone had tossed it aside but I cleaned it up and it drills straight through oak like butter. Meanwhile my modern electric drill keeps stripping gears. The metal on those old tools is just thicker. You can feel it in your hand. There's a weight and balance that new stuff just doesn't have.
2