Somewhere in a basement, a garage, or the back of a barn, your grandfather’s tools are waiting. What looked like junk to one generation has become treasure to the next — and some of these old workhorses are quietly selling for hundreds, even thousands of dollars.
Stanley Hand Planes From the Early 1900s
Those heavy, japanned-black hand planes gathering dust on the pegboard were the backbone of every serious woodshop in the early 1900s. Stanley’s Bailey-pattern planes — the No. 4, No. 5, and especially the No. 7 jointer — were precision instruments that craftsmen saved up for and treated like heirlooms. The rosewood totes and knobs darkened with decades of linseed oil and honest sweat. Today, a pre-1940s Stanley in original condition with intact japanning can fetch $150 to $400 at auction, sometimes more.
The sweet smell of aged rosewood and machine oil still clings to the best survivors. Collectors check the frog casting date and blade etch before they even pick one up.