Stanley made their #62 Low Angle Jack Plane from 1911–42 and resumed production around 2010. These are handy planes to have around the shop because they work like large block planes. The low angle can easily tame problem woods.
But the plane did have issues. Because of the low angle, the blade is bedded on the plane sole and the tip of the bedding is prone to damage. You see, the adjustable mouth is often hard to open and the easiest way to get it moving is to put a screwdriver into the mouth and use it to lever the mouth forward. OUCH! That puts too much strain on the thin back of the mouth and it chips off. Sometimes it chips off in chunks. As a result, very few of these plane are found in the wild without damage to the mouth.
But there is a simple solution if the mouth is not chipped too far. You can simply file the mouth square and get back to work. Here is a plane I fixed.
It turns out that the tip of the mouth is not all that critical to preventing blade chatter. Of course, a plane altered in this way should be adjusted to take light shavings because the thin blade will begin to chatter if it is stressed. But that is not usually a problem because these planes work best when they are used in light shaving situations.
So if you happen to find one of these handy planes, pick it up. Even damaged planes can be returned to service. Your reward will be fluffy shavings.
