Reply To: Hairline crack on the cheek of a 5 1/2 woden plane. (Metal plane)
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The material in the plane body is cast iron and cast iron is notoriously hard to weld. Very few experienced welders can handle cast iron on such a thin walled casting, and they will charge well over what the plane is worth to repair it. The crack already goes all the way through one of the cheeks of the plane so drilling holes will not stop its progress. If it’s not a plane with any special history for you (ie grandad’s plane), then just fix up the patch with mechanical fastenings. However the third screenshot shows that the toe of the plane is already slightly out of alignment with the heel. In that case sharpen it as a coarse jack or a scrub plane and open up the mouth to get bigger shavings through.
Cheers
Mark