Millers Falls 10 1/2 .. coming up a bit blank!

Hi all. This is my second post on SMC and hopefully it's a good one.

I acquired a bascketcase Millers Falls 10 1/2 scrub plane a couple of weeks ago. It's been beat to death and then resurrected and then beat again.

The main casting, while a bit rusty and missing a fair amount of paint, is solid. Everything that is supposed to be flat is flat with no cracks or dents or bends or anything of that sort. It's a prime candidate for restoration. The lever cap does not belong to this plane, and after a while I decided that neither the knob nor the tote do, either. The iron is homemade.

I knew the majority of this before I paid too much for it, and that's ok with me. All that said, I was hoping for a little help. I want to restore this to original. I have little hope of finding the parts, so while that's a wonderful, lofty goal, without the correct parts it will not happen. So my first question is this: does anyone have an outlet for unbelievable crazy parts that I don't already know of? One of those "friend of a friend, guy I met once to see about a dog" kind of guys. I've been to supertool and hyperkitten and they've tapped out (though hopefully if something munched up and broken comes their way they'll let me know), and I've checked the online inventory of pretty much every parts guy on the web. Parts for a Stanley 40 1/2 should fit, and I'll verify that at the area A meet in a couple of weeks, but I would prefer to leave the Stanley parts for guys trying to restore a Stanley plane. I'll likely order St James Bay instead once I've verified that the Stanley parts actually fit. Maybe I can get them to tap for the MF thread and send me an unpainted unit. I dunno.

Unless one of you has an odd red-colored 40 1/2 lever cap.. that'll be my cap!

My second question is, would anyone have one and be willing to take pics of it for me? Finding real pictures of one of these has been impossible. Google search brings up only my pictures that I posted elsewhere. One sold at FTJ in December (at more than my bid) that was a dead ringer match for my 9 1/2 with the red cap and cocobolo parts. If the winner would do me the service of taking a few pics of it I would be greatly appreciative. I'm hoping for pictures of the lever cap front and back and pictures of the wooden parts so that when I get to making replacements I can at least approximate the original.

Here's to crossed fingers!

--G

For info on Millers Falls planes themselves, google up just Millers Falls, and look for the Home page. I don't recall seeing where they made a scrub plane. Their No. 10 was the same as a Stanley #4-1/2.

For plane parts...go to nhplaneparts.com at Ebay. Eric runs a "parts store" on the site. Also, you can email him there and ask for the parts you are looking for.

I've bought parts from him before. I watch his posts.

I have a full set of the bench planes, actually. What I'm poking for is info on the 10 1/2 scrub plane. It's a rare beast, to be sure. Patrick Leach said he'd only ever had one pass through his hands since he started.

Old Tool Haven says:

Quote:

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Catalogs indicate body and cap are black-enameled and that handle and knob are mahogany-finished hardwood. Models with red caps and cocobolo handles and totes have been observed. The red-capped models appear to be of later production.

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http://oldtoolheaven.com/blok/blok01.htm

Looked to see if Bob Kaune had anything:

http://www.antique-used-tools.com/mi...stan_parts.htm

Nothing listed.

jtk

Another thought...

Stanley planes were everywhere. Parts are easy to find for the more common models. As the model gets more specialized, the parts are harder to find.

A plane made by a maker with limited sales is going to be much more difficult to locate.

jtk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jim Koepke

Old Tool Haven says:



http://oldtoolheaven.com/blok/blok01.htm

Looked to see if Bob Kaune had anything:

http://www.antique-used-tools.com/mi...stan_parts.htm

Nothing listed.

jtk

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Him too. Haha.

I'm pretty sure I'll end up with the repro part. I was surprised to find no pictures of the real thing on google though. I would just dup the parts from the 9 1/2, but unbelievably, they don't fit. The threaded boss in the casting is bigger so the knob and tote don't even get far enough to screw down.