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Thread: Wooden plane repair, questions

  1. #1
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    Wooden plane repair, questions

    I got this wooden plane on an online auction site, was a few euros so I felt like taking the chance. It is very long, 75cm or almost 30 inches. When it arrived earlier this week I cleaned it up with tung oil, steel wool and some sandpaper:


    Iron:


    First issue, cracked in the cheek. I have been thinking of gluing it tight but I am not sure a glue joint alone will suffice. Ideas I've had on this is drilling a deep hole and driving in a glue covered dowel to ensure it stays in place. Another idea I have is to simply predrill and sink a wooden screw into the plane to help hold the piece in place. Any of these sound plausible to you?


    The last issue is this dutchman, pretty bad fix by the original owners. The plan is to remove it, but then what? The mouth is pretty big, can I just make a slightly larger one to make it smaller, or should I perhaps remove the whole area and fit a bigger dutchman over the mouth and all, then cut a new mouth from above with chisels? And no nails like this one has..

  2. #2
    A large mouth shouldn't be an issue, but at the very least, I'd take the nails and screws out of that thing in front of the mouth and reglue it either with hide glue or epoxy and then true the bottom again.

    As for the cheek, there's no great way to repair a cracked cheek. If I was trying to make a usable plane where appearance didn't matter, I'd glue and screw it with wood screws, and make sure there was enough relief for the iron and wedge so that pressure isn't applied laterally to it again.

  3. #3
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    Hi Dennis

    I'm afraid that you get the same answer from me here that I gave you before. Perhaps someone will disagree and offer a different thought.

    I have doubts whether this plane is salvageable. The mouth has already been repaired once (or more times) and those look like nails not screws holding the Dutchman down. the dutchman probably needs to be removed and replaced as the mouth appears enormous. Is the sole flat?

    The main problem, however, is the broken cheek. These are notoriously difficult to repair. The crack there will allow the side to flex, and the wedge (and therefore the blade) will not be held firmly. Striking the wedge will further stress the cheek. I suspect that this will be unrepairable since there is a knot in the corner that is one of the reasons why the cheek cracked.

    You can try and epoxy it together. See if this holds. It may only do so for a while.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  4. #4
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    What about just going for ugly-and-working, gluing the cheek with whatever seems like it might work, and then screwing some sort of strip of steel plate across the left-hand cheek there, across the whole length of the escapement, like a giant mending plate? Ugly as sin, but might work? It doesn't look like there's a whole lot of wood the way the crack is to just wood screw it down.
    " Be willing to make mistakes in your basements, garages, apartments and palaces. I have made many. Your first attempts may be poor. They will not be futile. " - M.S. Bickford, Mouldings In Practice

  5. #5
    I'm with Joshua if you really want to make the plane a user. A 20cm plate screwed in place along the cracked side at 3mm thick (if plywood) or 4-5mm thick if solid wood is going to be ugly as sin, but it should make the plane usable. Other than that, removing the Dutchman, the nails, and gluing in a new patch should do the trick. Often it is easier to true the sole after the repair, but in this case do it first. Alternately, true the sole to remove the rounded over edges of the plane and glue a complete new sole in place. As long as the joints are tight, you can resole it in 2 or 3 pieces using scarf joints with the outer thin edge facing the heel of the plane.
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH

  6. #6
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    That's a bad spot for a knot.

  7. #7
    I think quite a lot of those continental planes were user made. Earlier this year, I bought a 28" continental jointer that looked good in a less than great picture on ebay. When I got it, it was white oak instead of beech and parts of it were broken that weren't shown in pictures. AT the price I paid, it made less sense to fight about it and more sense to just throw it away.

    I'm not advocating that for this plane if you want to make a user out of it, you can if you want and with proper use of the double iron it should work OK as long as it stays flat under tension (and the cheek isn't damaged that bad) that it shouldn't.

    I guess I mention that only because of the knot. I have a plane that has a knot right in the cheek, too - it's a japanese plane where the dai must've been made from scrap. It hasn't cracked, though, someone used it heavily. That one, I bought just for the iron.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Derek Cohen View Post
    Hi Dennis

    I'm afraid that you get the same answer from me here that I gave you before. Perhaps someone will disagree and offer a different thought.

    I have doubts whether this plane is salvageable. The mouth has already been repaired once (or more times) and those look like nails not screws holding the Dutchman down. the dutchman probably needs to be removed and replaced as the mouth appears enormous. Is the sole flat?

    The main problem, however, is the broken cheek. These are notoriously difficult to repair. The crack there will allow the side to flex, and the wedge (and therefore the blade) will not be held firmly. Striking the wedge will further stress the cheek. I suspect that this will be unrepairable since there is a knot in the corner that is one of the reasons why the cheek cracked.

    You can try and epoxy it together. See if this holds. It may only do so for a while.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    I completely agree with Derek. I think this one has earned a retirement.
    Your endgrain is like your bellybutton. Yes, I know you have it. No, I don't want to see it.

  9. if I were going to try repairing it here's what I would do. run a saw kerf down the crack to the bottom of it, then make a slip of wood that fits it nicely. glue that in with good clamping pressure. an old dirty crack is unlikely to allow glue to bond.

  10. #10
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    Thanks for the feedback, I have some idea now of where to take this thing, if I can't get it to work I'll put it in my future workshop as decoration.

  11. #11
    You could also rip the side (or sides to match) and make new sides as if you were making a traditional plane lamination style.

  12. #12
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    Don, that's an excellent idea.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  13. #13
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    I've bought these just to get the iron and chipbreaker and yours looks to have plenty of life left. Use the iron and make a laminated Krenov type plane and put it to work. Very easy to make this type of plane, google it.

  14. #14
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    If you don't mind using power tools to repair a hand tool, you could cut a couple of 1/4" x 1/4" grooves the length of the plane, and glue in straight grained hardwood replacement. I'd leave the top edge with the crack showing, and make the first groove just below that. Leave a little space, and cut the next groove.

    A reason not to take off the entire side or to make a rabbet at the top left edge is that this would remove the ears that support the wedge, so you would effectively need to rebuild that entire side of the plane. Removing and replacing only the two grooves might keep both more of the appearance, and the function of the existing structure.

    The reason I mention power tools is that a tablesaw or router would stress the remaining parts less as you cut the grooves, making it more likely the wedge-holding ears would survive.

    As far as the sole goes, I would get those nails out of there and glue in a replacement. But don't worry about the size of the mouth, because this has a double iron.
    Last edited by Alan Schwabacher; 06-21-2014 at 12:50 PM.

  15. #15
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    Alan, I would use a tablesaw or bandsaw to rip of the side with the crack within 1/8" of the bed, and then glue on a section the same thickness.

    Either that or nail the plane to the wall and use it as a coat rack.

    Dennis, this is your first plane. I'm afraid that we all have been where you are now - making a poor purchase because of limited experience. I hope this was not too expensive. Can you return it and get your money back? Truly, this plane is not worth the effort of restoring. You still have the blade to derust and it may be pitted beyond salvage. There are much easier planes available to learn on.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

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