My dad swore by his old Stanley plane for 20 years, I finally tried it

My dad has this beat up Stanley No. 4 from the 1950s he got at a garage sale in Ohio. He kept telling me to ditch my new Lowe's special and use his for trimming door jambs. Last weekend I was fighting a sticky door and gave it a shot after he sharpened it. That thing cut through pine like butter, no chatter at all. I went home and spent $40 on a used one off Facebook marketplace that same night. Anyone else got a vintage tool that straight up outperforms modern stuff?

4 comments

4 Comments

jessica1301mo ago

Grab a set of good quality replacement blades for that vintage Stanley and you're golden. I've got a 1960s No. 5 that needed the sole lapped flat on sandpaper but now it shaves end grain like nothing. The older cast iron is just way better than the modern pot metal you get in most hardware store planes. Check the frog and make sure it's seated tight against the blade for zero chatter.

ellioth371mo ago

You know what... I used to think all that "vintage vs modern" talk was just people being snobby about old tools. But last year I grabbed a 1950s Stanley No. 4 at a flea market, lapped the sole flat on some wet sandpaper like you said, and man it works way better than the cheap modern plane I had from Lowes. The blade chatter went away completely once I got the frog seated tight. You really changed my mind about sticking with those old cast iron bodies.

spencer_owens581mo ago

Man that's a really solid setup you've got working there.

davis.noah29d ago

Got a buddy who was ready to throw his adjustable wrench through a wall doing plumbing under his sink. Borrowed his grandpa's old Ridgid wrench from the 1970s and it gripped that rusted nut on the first try no slipping. Now he won't touch anything made after 1985 for heavy jobs.