This is a vintage Sargent No.409 Smoothing Plane – Made In USA. There is a very good repair to one ‘cheek’ of the sole (see photo), hence the very low price. This repair does not affect the performance of the plane.
There has also been a repair to the tote – again, a very good repair and part of this tool’s history and charm.
The #400 series of bench planes were produced in very large quantities and were the mainstay of Sargent when it came to handplanes.
The series was modelled very much on the Stanley Bailey line – Stanley having lost all patent rights many years earlier. However, unlike the Stanley planes, there was little variation in the production setup, style and manufacturing of this line and, as a result, only a handful of version types are known.
