Wooden sole on a router without holes
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I’ve acquired a well-used but well-cared for Stanley 71 router plane and I’d like to put a wooden sole on it. However, there are no holes on the body of the router. Any thoughts on the best way to attach a sole aside from drilling screw holes into the router body? I am thinking of mortising it in place, though that could be tricky navigating the curves.
Personally, I’d drill two neat holes in the sole. That’s what many owners did to follow the improved design. I understand your reluctance to modify it, but I don’t think you should allow your desire to preserve a good tool, to restrict your use of it. Two neat holes from a drill-press (carefully marked-out beforehand) aren’t going to ruin it. It was meant to be used, and already has been well-used. You’ll be extending its function in-line with all routers produced later. Nothing will hold a wooden sole better than a couple of good stout screws. It needs to be rock steady.
Two of my Stanley 71 1/2’s were drilled by previous owners. Another had a grinding gouge in the sole so deep it was almost unusable. I had an engineering company mill it completely level once again – it’s now perfect. The sole is now a few thou’ thinner than it was in 1924, but it’s a great tool once again. Nothing will be as elegant or effective as the two screw-holes everyone uses.3M makes some extremely strong, yet thin double sided foam tape. It is used to apply body trim parts to car panels. They also make a thin double sided fiber reinforced tape used to join carpet seams. The adhesive on either tape is stronger than the wood it would be attached to. You can remove it with judicious use of a thin putty knife and mineral spirits or a heat gun. The adhesives are impact resistant. Paul has a few videos where he makes bench accessories using this idea.
There’s a good chance that CA glue would hold the wooden sole adequately. If you ever need to remove it, a sharp rap with a mallet would work. If it fails, a quick scrape to remove the old glue, a smear of fresh CA, and 5 minutes later you’ll be back to work. I would _not_ use a more durable glue, like epoxy.
14 October 2017 at 6:30 pm #334373I recently modified a Stanley 71 with a wider wooden sole. Both my old 71s have screw holes in them. When you make the new base, take care that the two faces are dead flat and parallel. Your new reference surface will then be parallel to the old reference surface – and hopefully to the cutting iron as well. Hope this helps!
15 October 2017 at 8:31 am #334631Ditto drilling the holes. The earliest 71’s ( or 71 1/2’s) had no holes.
Around 1906 they provide a countersunk boss that if you drillled it out, you could install a flathead screw and it would lay flush.
Around 1909 they drilled the holes.
In the late thirties they added more threaded holes to attach fences, and later , some grooves that stabilized them.
The castings are easy to drill. Cast iron is like butter. Sharp bit- slow rpm.
@franiel One way to deal with precise holes is to affix the wood to the sole of the plane in some way, e.g., glue or tape, and then bore the wood and metal sole simultaneously. As long as the wood does not shift, you will end up with aligned holes, even if they are not exactly where you intended or not exactly square.
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