Replies

1. 
   RalphBarker | Aug 17, 2012 09:23am | #1

   Back in the '50s and prior, Wards and Sears were about the same size, and sold a variety of everything under their own branding. Most of the tools were made by no-name manufacturers, and usually not of high quality. Obviously, Sears won.

   In my opinion, $25 for a Wards plane is an order of magnitude too high.

1. 
   TheToolHoarder | Sep 10, 2015 10:30pm | #3

   This poster is wrong.  The statement "They contracted no name companies"  I guess no one has ever heard of Stanley or Greenlee? Just an example:  Stanley made most of the Wards Master planes, and Greelee made a good bit of Wards Master chisels.  I have 15 Wards Master planes (by Stanley) and a full set of Wards master chisels (by Greelee) and they all work better than most.  And if $25 is too much for a Wards Master #7 plane, you would be lucky to find one for 3 times that.  You might want to check ebay before you advise someone.  Wards actually aligned themselves with better vendors than Sears and made better tools(my experienced opinion).  Sears obviously was much better at marketing.  Sorry for rambling, just hate to see some get miss guided information.  All be it 3 years late.

2. 
   TheToolHoarder | Sep 10, 2015 10:31pm | #4

   This poster is wrong.  The statement "They contracted no name companies"  I guess no one has ever heard of Stanley or Greenlee? Just an example:  Stanley made most of the Wards Master planes, and Greelee made a good bit of Wards Master chisels.  I have 15 Wards Master planes (by Stanley) and a full set of Wards master chisels (by Greelee) and they all work better than most.  And if $25 is too much for a Wards Master #7 plane, you would be lucky to find one for 3 times that.  You might want to check ebay before you advise someone.  Wards actually aligned themselves with better vendors than Sears and made better tools(my experienced opinion).  Sears obviously was much better at marketing.  Sorry for rambling, just hate to see some get miss guided information.  All be it 3 years late.

2. 
   gdblake | Aug 25, 2012 08:09am | #2

   Depends

   Matt:

   It depends on the plane.  Post a couple of pictures and it will be easier to tell.  A photo of the frog will tell me the most.  My guess is that, with some tuning up, the plane will do a serviceable job as a jointer.  I have feddled a couple of Wards planes for others in the past and they worked fine.  $25 for a jointer plane that does what you need is cheap.

   gdblake