Hairline crack on a lever cap

[john zulu]

I would repair the cap lever. If you have O/A or a Tig torch you can use brazing to save the lever cap.
You can ask on WeldingWeb or look for Don W*lumberjock.com* if you are not comfortable with this repair on your own.

As for the chipbreaker. The Veritas alternative is of better performance and worth it.

[Jim Koepke]

Although I wasn't able to tinker with the chip breaker as instructed, I did take a quick look at both the chip breaker and iron this weekend. Well, not only chip breaker edge not flat, both the C/B and iron are twisted. If I set them flat on a surface, I can make them rock by giving the corner a light push with a finger tip . Twist cannot be a good thing to properly tune up the plane, is it?

Magically, this week is the LV free-shipping week I'm inclined to get a pair of Veritas replacement chip breaker and iron and be done with it. Am I too quick to reach that conclusion?

A good plane is worthy of a good blade and chip breaker.

In the past some of my chip breakers have had a bit of twist. It is possible to put it between a couple pieces of scrap wood in a vise to use a couple more pieces of scrap to give it a bit of torsional adjustment.

Some of the blades are a bit softer away from the hardened edge so they can also be torsionally adjusted. This is especially true of the old style laminated blades.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Hi Kesh,

I look at plane parts on that auction site fairly often, as I am looking for parts for my own planes. The type of part you seen most often listed separately, which has a known crack in it, is the body of the plane. If a base that would normally sell for $40 to $50 has a crack in it, it probably will not sell at all at any price, not even $5. That tells you how much folks trust cast iron parts that have cracks in them.

Stew

[Kesh Ikuma]

@Jim - Clamping out the twist (is that a proper expression?) sounds like a viable solution. I suppose I can pull this off with my leg vise, can't I? I don't own a metal vise.

Although my tendency is make things worse, I'll give it a try before the LV F/S period runs out.

While I'm having tough (but fun) time learning how to planing out twists in wood, I would've never guessed I'll do so for the tool itself. haha

[Kesh Ikuma]

@John - I knew there is someone here on the "repair-it" camp!! Unfortunately, I don't own a torch (what's O/A?) and no I'm not viewing this as an opportunity to buy one neither Sourcing it out is definitely as an option, but I suspect shipping it out of town to repair will end up costing more than getting another cap from parts guys. I'll be on a lookout for a local metal person who can braze it for me.

>The Veritas alternative is of better performance and worth it.

I own Veritas iron and its cap for my Stanley Handyman #5, and I do agree wholeheartedly. Them alone made the plane serviceable. That being said, my #7 being Type 13, which is supposedly better all around than the later inferior Handyman era; I do want to give the original iron a fair try before I jump ship (again).

[Jim Koepke]

@Jim - Clamping out the twist (is that a proper expression?) sounds like a viable solution. I suppose I can pull this off with my leg vise, can't I? I don't own a metal vise.

Although my tendency is make things worse, I'll give it a try before the LV F/S period runs out.

While I'm having tough (but fun) time learning how to planing out twists in wood, I would've never guessed I'll do so for the tool itself. haha

Yes Kesh, a leg vise will do fine. I suggest setting the metal between pieces of scrap to avoid leaving impressions in faces of the vise. Two longer pieces of scrap can then be used to make a handle to use on the metal. Use screws on either side of the metal if need be. It will not take much force. Better to check often so as to not bend too much.

jtk

[Robert Engel]

I quit buying off Ebay a long time ago. Got tired of opening the box and (repeating) "I didn't see that in the pics".

[Stew Denton]

Hi Kesh,

If you decide to go the brazing route, I can't remember the source, but have read one woodworking writer that had some sort of cast iron tool brazed by a gunsmith. Some gunsmiths do brazing as a part of the routine work in their trade. Since they are used to working with precision made items, they may be one of your best chances to braze the lever cap without warping it. That is one risk you take with brazing or welding, you can warp the item.

If you find out that to repair the lever cap, it will cost on the order of half what you can buy a replacement part for, I would forget the brazing and the risks that go with it, and go for a replacement part.

Stew