Bob Methelis posted his bio:
Welcome, Bob.
Careful, hand toolin' is addictive, as several recent converts here can
attest.
> I picked up my dad's (circa late 1950's - early 1960s) jack plane. It
> appears to be in excellent condition except for small nicks on the b;ad
> whioch should be easily reground and then honed. (famous last words?)
Should be no big problem. The only time I use the grinder is to remove
deep nicks, otherwise it's just waterstones and honing for me. Since you
probably don't have a set of sharpening stones, you might as well check
out the silicon carbide sandpaper method people call "the Scary-Sharp(TM)"
technique. You should be able to find it on the web through the
electronic neanderthal.
Now the bad news...
>
> It is a "Corsair" jack plane, 14" long, 2" cutter, Model C-5. It was made
> by Great Neck Saw Mfrs in Mineola, NY.
I recently joined in a thread about our greatest "newby" mistakes with a
story about my first used plane purchase, which yielded two real losers -
a Stanley "Handyman" and another cheap "no-name".
Guess what? The "no-name" was a Corsair. I don't know enough to condemn
ALL Corsairs, but if yours is like mine, it's a classic cheap piece of
junk of the type that displaced the quality planes from the market. Yes,
you can hone the blade and "tune it up", but it will always be less than
satifactory - you will never experience hand tool nirvana with it, that's
for sure!
Seriously, this is exactly the sort of plane that discourages the average
woodworker from doing more with handtools.
I highly recommend you read some of stuff about old planes available on
the net, and perhaps read Michael Dunbar's excellent book on restoring and
using old tools. Then buy a good "user" quality, old jack plane or
smoother. There are plenty of folks here on the list to supply one, or
just read Dunbar and hit the flea markets. (and don't follow my earliest
example.)
> It' still in the original box, which is in great shape. The dark yellow
> box is adorned with the company logo -- many, many giraffes (no kidding).
> TYhe largest giraffe has a banner around its neck reading, "Goes A Long
> Way".
I suspect there are folks who collect Corsairs (talk about a weird
fetish!), and having the box may help you unload it. I've seen a few
Stanley Handyman planes at tools meets; I always ask if they'd like to buy
another, but no one bites.
Mebbe some of the serious collectors/dealers out there on the list know more
about the subleties of the Corsair market.
-Don Berry
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