Shop Tool for Veritas Knurled Knobs?

[sean contenti]

Has anyone come up with a clever way of easily tightening and loosening those little knurled brass knobs Veritas has on many of their joinery planes? The fence and depth stop of the rabbet plane, etc. I've found that I have trouble with slippage unless I *really* crank those little suckers down.

I was watching a video with the Large Combo Plane, which I'm thinking about getting instead of the small plow, and my fingers started to spontaneously ache...

I've previously used a couple scraps of suede leather glued to the jaws of sacrificed pair of vice-grips, but I don't think my jury-rigged solution will even fit into some of the smaller spots on this new plane.

Thanks!

[Hasin Haroon]

Hey Sean, look for 'Nutsaver' on the interwebs. No, I'm not joking, the creator even shared his build process online.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Well golly- that's pretty cool.

[lowell holmes]

A pair of pliers?
or
Maybe replace them with wing nuts?
or
Make a wooden disk with a hex in it?

[John Lanciani]

Be careful, I twisted the head off of the knob of my small plow plane's depth stop by hand. I understand the reasoning behind the brass but I sure wish LV would use stainless steel or silicon bronze instead.

[sean contenti]

I like everything about that Nutsaver device except the name I think I'll find some scraps and put one together, see how it performs.

Lowell - Tried the pliers before the vice grips. Worked, somewhat, but I can't get enough torque if I address the nut along the axis of the bolt - gotta get the leverage going rotationally. Curved jaw of the vice grips worked better for that. (I could find some pliers with a similar jaw profile I suppose, but I don't have any now).

John - I hadn't even *considered* the possibility of torquing it down enough to strip out the nut... As hard as I've hard to crank to get the fence on my rabbet plane to stay put, I've probably been close to that point.

[Todd Stock]

Soft-jawed pliers... http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools...ch_Pliers.html

A strip of 1/8" old belt cut to about 3" by 1/2" wrapped around the thumbscrew and standard pliers to turn..adds leverage.

[Frederick Skelly]

Put plastic dip on the jaws of a set of slip joint pliers, or just buy the ones Todd suggests.

[Pete Taran]

This is ridiculous. Stanley figured this out 100 years ago by making a nice nut with a thin wing on it. Works great. The problem is they have to be cast. Since that's expensive, seems like modern manufactures make something that looks cool, but really doesn't work and requires an aftermarket tool just to use it. Nuts! No pun intended!!!!

PS. No nut salvation required here:

nuts.jpg

[Simon MacGowen]

I remember seeing this several times before and the conclusion more or less is-

- Use a plier
- Buy or make and use a nut saver
- Rough up the rods with sandpaper
- Use the plane as is with a sharp cutter.

I have never had any slippage problem and so I use the last method without any modification, not even sandpaper. But I have heard this problem before from others. Pick one of the above that works best for you. But the last thing I want to see is Veritas replacing the knurled knobs with wing nuts. The knobs look better for me.

Simon

[Derek Cohen]

Don't do any of the above!!!!!! You will damage the knob. Especially, do not use a grip or pliers of some sort. You add a large amount of force around the circumference of the knob, and the brass shaft will be threatened.

Most if the time the knobs are doable by hand alone. The one that gave a problem in the past was the depth stop on the plow. This has since been upgraded.

Having said this, I did modify my knobs to make it a little easier to tighten or, especially, loosen - since it is the latter that usually causes any difficulty. What I did was add a slot to the knob so that a wide screwdriver blade could be fitted. This really does the trick ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

[Pete Taran]

But the last thing I want to see is Veritas replacing the knurled knobs with wing nuts. The knobs look better for me.

Simon

Just so they look good Simon, that's all the matters. I think maybe I will come out with a line of plane irons made from recycled antique beer cans. I think that would look good too. All that old timey writing on the blade. Fantastic!

[Simon MacGowen]

Just so they look good Simon, that's all the matters. I think maybe I will come out with a line of plane irons made from recycled antique beer cans. I think that would look good too. All that old timey writing on the blade. Fantastic!

Pete,

I think you missed this: "I have never had any slippage problem and so I use the last method without any modification, not even sandpaper"

I can't speak for other users who have had the slippage concerns or experiences. When I use a plane -- any plane, except may be the scrub plane -- I do not use a lot of force...I hone the edge often. So, between a brass knob and a wing nut WHILE suffering no slipping problem (of any kind, stop, fence, etc.), my choice is clear. Aesthetic appeal is important to me. Wing nuts are not my thing; I use them for jigs.

Simon

[Simon MacGowen]

Don't do any of the above!!!!!! You will damage the knob. Especially, do not use a grip or pliers of some sort. You add a large amount of force around the circumference of the knob, and the brass shaft will be threatened.

Most if the time the knobs are doable by hand alone. The one that gave a problem in the past was the depth stop on the plow. This has since been upgraded.


Derek

As far as I know, some users are still tightening the plane knobs with the aid of something, be it a piler or a commercial nutsaver, etc. I have never tried any of those methods and I was only doing a recap of what has been discussed in the past similar threads. I was pretty clear that use the method that works for the reader. I did not endorse any of them. As you pointed out, every knob only needs to be tightened with fingers alone.

Simon

[John Schtrumpf]

For the fences on my Veritas planes (small plow, jack rabbet, skew block). All I have ever had to do was to thoroughly clean any oil off the rods and collets.

On the prior depth stop of the small plow plane. Not only did I clean all oil off the stop and clamp. I also sanded and left the sanding residue on. Which finally fixed it so that it could be hand tightened.

Added: I also have the threads on my collets and knobs greased (so they may hand tighten more).