Is there any less regard for a plane than the lowly PEXTO? Maybe, but do PEXTO planes deserve the bad reputation? In my opinion it's a definite yes and no. On the one hand, they are cheaply made pressed steel for the most part though the main body is cast iron. They feel cheap, look cheap but were designed to be sold to people who probably were cheap. On the other hand, as I found, they can be made to do what they were intended to do, albeit with considerable work.

 

The company that produce them (best estimates are from the 1920s to the 1950s), Peck, Stow & Wilcox, has its roots connected to the late 18th century so they've been around a long time. They were known for metal working and tin smithing and later, apparently, for cutting implements and tools including hand planes. You can read more about them here: http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2721.

 

You would have found their planes in cut rate "dime" stores such as Woolworths, Newberry's (in the west) perhaps Kresge, even local hardware stores like your neighborhood True Value or Handyman. The plane was never designed for the professional or even for a serious hobbyist. If your dad was like mine the only time he'd ever take out a tool, especially a hand plane, was to do some menial chore that required it. Shaving a swollen and stuck door was about as complex as it got. That's the customer that PEXTO planes were marketed toward.

 

Today you won't find anything close to them in the big box stores but you may find one at the local thrift store. They are worth less than 10 bucks unless you find a never used "new old stock" which might bring a bit more from a collector of poorly made planes. All that said, with work and some persistence, they can be tuned to perform moderately well.

 

The one pictured here was a thrift store find, $4.50. It was rusty with 75 years of "patina", some paint streaks, frozen threads on the pressed steel depth adjuster and unusable. It was a Christmas present from my darling wife who knew its value but not its worth. I decided it would be an excellent challenge project and 4 hours of mindless work later, "viola", excellent wispys flying out the mouth. (OK more like adequate shavings coming out of the mouth as designed) Anything is possible.

So next time you see or hear someone badmouthing a PEXTO or other pressed steel frog plane (Fulton, Capewell, Worth, Atlas, True Value, or Franklin) you can say "Nuh, uh. I've seen pictures of one that really works". Hey, you've never seen a dinosaur either but you know that they existed. So, now this one sits on a shelf in my collection of poorly made planes as an example to what actually can be done with one.

 

 

 

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