Fixing a loose tote

[Denis Tranchemontagne]

I have a couple of old stanley planes with the rear tote has side to side play. It appears to be the divot in the front that is too big.

Is there a easy way to fix this?

One thought that I had is to fill it with saw dust and epoxy, then re-drill out the divot. Any reason not to do this.

Denis

[Sam Takeuchi]

You can, or you can just cut a slice from scrap, glue it to narrow the divot or hole or what you call it and be over with. My Record No.4 had wiggly handle and I did just that. It's not a part that's visible, you can get away doing a hack job as long as it holds it steady. Takes about 3 minutes altogether.

[Mike Henderson]

I put epoxy and sawdust in the divot, then mounted the tote while the epoxy cured. Later, the tote removed easily (the epoxy did not glue to the japanning) and the divot was exactly the right size and shape for the little bump that's on the body of the plane.

But sometimes the problem is that you can't tighten the nut on the tote enough - you've run out of threads. In that case, I take a washer or two and put it over the threaded rod (at the top, inside the hole) so that I can tighten the brass bolt a bit more.

Mike

[Greg Lucas]

I'm not sure if I understand what the true problem is with your tote but I will say the normal problem is the main/long screw seats all the way down but doesn't tighten. The simple fix is to grind a few threads off of one end. Over time, the wood may have collapsed a bit, making the screw bottom out before it does it's job.

[Richard Niemiec]

What Greg said. Also, just take a shaving to shim it, fold it over so it won't show beyond the edge of the tote and put it over the nib in the sole and put the tote back on and tighten.

[Jim Koepke]

You could also have a plane with an older handle.

The nuts on the older planes were straight sided and longer than the newer tote nuts. If the handle has a deeper counter bore, this could be a problem.

jim

[Jim Koepke]

While doing other things, another thought came to mind.

Does this tote have a repair?

Sometimes the easiest way to repair a tote is to temporarily glue it back together and then saw it along the glue line, then glue it again. This can make an almost undetectable repair, but the tote can be shorter depending on how wide of a kerf the saw leaves and how bad the original break.

Just a thought.

jim