How to repair a crack on wooden plane
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Hello everybody,
A few month ago I’ve gotten myself a nice wooden jointing plane, because I felt I couldn’t get my No 7 to work well, and I could use a lighter plane.
I love this plane, it is working fantastic.However, I’ve noticed yesterday that the plane began to crack on the cheek, from where the wedge is set (see enclosed pictures).
It seems maybe I went a bit too heavy on the wedge, I’m just starting to use wooden planes …I’d like to make a clean repair before it’s too late, but I’m a bit lost on how to do it right.
There isn’t much space to spread glue and I fear to make it worse if I ever try to spread it open while I’m attempting to glue it up.I started to look after some low viscosity glue, that I could maybe use with a syringe, and that would spead through capillarity.
But I don’t know much about glue (so far I only used PVA), so that’s where I would appreciated a little advice.I was thinking of two options :
1. Use Liquid Hide glue : I’m not really self confident on my ability to perform this repair so I thought that the long drying time and the fact that I can always reheat it to
rectify myself feels quite reassuring. But I’ve never used any, so I don’t know how much of a good idea it might be, or if the repair will be strong enough.2. Use low viscosity cyanoacetate : This feels rather definitive, so either I’m doing it right and the plane will be stronger than ever, either I fail and it is good for scrap. Plus the fast drying kind of scare me. But again no experience with that glue either.
Here I am overthinking on things I don’t know to try to save this big boy.
I’d be really interested on anyone’s opinion on the topic, and could really use a piece of advice !Thank you very much for reading me !
GauvainHi Gauvain,
Saw this post is a little old already and I’m certainly no expert. I did a similar search online a while ago because I had a split in a wooden spoon I made. If I recall people advised against the hide glue without prior experience, and they mentioned the very thin stuff with a syringe, as you also said. I ended up cutting out the split bit and made it an avant garde spoon… because I didn’t want glue on a spoon for safety and because it would get wet over and over again, so can’t give practical advice on that thin glue, sorry.
If I were you I would probably just use wood glue, force as much in as you can, then keep the crack closed (with your finger or tape), and tighten and loosen a clamp a few times, so the glue spreads inward (since it can’t get out the crack). You can perhaps even try to force in more after the first time (before the first batch dries obviously). Then, I might put a dowel (or two) through for extra strength.
Just what I’d probably do if it is mainly a user and not a collectors’ item.
I’d be interested to hear what you did.
Cheers,
Sebastiaan
I have successfully used the shop-vac trick to repair some splits, but never on a plane. Got way more glue into the tight crack than I would have without it.
What you do is place the hose of your vacuum on the crack, opposite where you will attempt to introduce glue. You just stick it on there, so the suction of the vacuum is holding it in place. Then you put glue on the opposite side of the crack. The vaccum will (hopefully, I imagine it does not always work) suck the glue deeper into the crack. You can use tape to seal up parts of the crack so the only way in is where you introduce the glue. Alternate that with the clamp/unclamp as sebastiaan described to squish the glue around some until no more is going in. Then clamp it overnight.
Probably a good idea to try out some ideas on scraps before the real item. Whatever you do I think you have one shot, no way to get the glue out of the crack. Trip to the wood store looking for split boards. 🙂
If it isn’t too late; I’ve repaired several plane cracks with thin super glue, [just Pound shop tubes] it wicks into the crack and holds well. I use gaffer tape to pull the crack together on coffin planes, but just clamps on jointer/jack planes. You shouldn’t beat yourself up that looks like an old crack, probably from being stored without loosening the wedge. Their wood and wood moves all the time the iron blade doesn’t have any give in it which is often the cause of such cracking especially if left in damp sheds. Hope this helps cheers j
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