Repair or Rebuild

About 4 years ago I acquired this plane while on vacation in France with the intention to make into a user again. well just pulled it out the other day and found that whoever last owned this really made a mess of the mouth. The blade and chipbreaker have me scratching my head there seems to be no way to fix them together and the plane body has the recess routed in it that would normally give clearance for the screw that holds them together.

Now I would say that the blade and chipbreaker do not belong with this body except that they are all stamped with the number 48 blade/chip and body. Attachment 229912Attachment 229913Attachment 229914Attachment 229915

So if I were to repair the body by either jointing away the damaged area and adding a new sole or inserting a new mouth will it work with the current blade/chipbreaker? (not sure adjusting it would be easy or possible.)

Or build a new plane around the blade alone and get a new blade/chip for the old body?

Or just throw it on the shelf as a nice memory of our trip?

any and all advice appreciated.

thanks

Hi Mario,

The attachment for the body picture isn't opening for me.

As far as the chipbreaker and iron go, does there appear to be any mark on the chip breaker, where a stud was affixed (welding marks)?

On a few old chipbreakers I have, there is a stud and nut, rather than a regular screw.

no welding marks on the chipbreaker, and no threading in the hole in the blade. will repost the other pics when i can get back on my other computer. thanks

Is the chipbreaker flat or is it curved? I'm wondering if it's something someone made as a replacement.

Perhaps the number stamping was done by the user or shop, and not the manufacturer. If there is a notch made for a cap iron screw/nut, then the cap iron is probably not original.

yes the chipbreaker is curved, it could be the stamping came after manufacture still would not explain how you could use it like that.

here are the pics of the plane.

That's an interesting looking plane. Is there any manufacture name on it? There looks to be a seal on the front top of the plane.

Judging by the mouth, it seems like someone enlarged it to accept a replacement blade.

Although it would be more difficult to adjust, the two blades were probably just all held together by the wedge itself.

Joe

yes there are makers marks on both the body and the blade.Attachment 229923Attachment 229924 the blade says hircher if you can't make it out.

aside from the condition of the mouth the body is in great shape, no checking no warp or twist.

I can't quite make out the name on the body. Maybe someone else on here is familiar with the manufacturer though.

Anyway, maybe you should just clean up some of the mouth (make it even looking, etc.), and leave it as it. For the chip breaker, you could drill a hole through it and tap it for a screw.

48 is the blade width in millimeters. Can't imagine how the blade and chip breaker mate.

you are correct the blade is 48mm. tapping the chipbreaker will not be useful since the blade lacks the slot. just not sure what to do, anyone else seen a blade/chip combo like this?

Yeah, I didn't think about the slot. Well, the plane was probably used like it is, without anything fixing the two parts together, just held together by the wedge. Annoying to adjust, but you could probably still use it.

I suppose you could drill and cut a slot in the blade, but that's probably a bit excessive.

Maybe someone else on here has some better advice for you hopefully.