Reply To: Hairline crack on the cheek of a 5 1/2 woden plane. (Metal plane)
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I have a little experience with this. A while back I picked up a TYPE 9 #7 plane (1902-1907) at my local junk dealer for $5 USD. It has a crack in the cheek just like rotaryw’s.
I Bought it for the low knob and the old style frog, which I planned to put into my #6 from the end of the Sweetheart era.
But I thought I’d see if I could save the plane, and I figured if I failed, at least I’d learn something and still have the parts I bought the plane for.
So I called my welder from when I ran jobs and he said he’d braze the cast iron for ‘free’ if I bought the rod. Sounded cool.
Well, the rod was 56% silver rod from Harris that the welder spec’ and I found three sticks for $30.80.
After I stripped the repair area and tore down the plane, he heated the cast piece to 400 F and brazed the crack, the repair sat surrounded by perlite to slowly cool for a day and then I ground, filed, and lapped the sides and bottom of the plane, which involved about 5 hours of work and maybe $15 of sanding strips. My total is now at about $45.80
And the welder didn’t tackle a small chip behind the mouth, which I am fine with. He said it risked warping the bed more. I may try some sort of epoxy filler if I find something not too ugly. A low temp bismuth solder is another alternative. It melts at about the boiling point of water.
The plane cuts great. When put on a test granite, I can’t get a .001 feeler gauge under the plane.
I’m still looking for a low knob and frog for the #6. Here are some pictures:
Yes, the crack is on the cheek you are looking at.
Inside. I did put some black on the repair.
Bottom with chip.
I hope that lets you know what you may get into. I’m retired, so my time was just fun ( did I mention my welder’s shop is an hour away and it took three trips?)
I’m happy with the result.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Larry Geib.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Larry Geib.