Jacked up Cap Screw

[Prashun Patel]

I came into a thicker, nicer blade at a garage sale that will fit my Stanley jack plane. Unfortunately, the cap screw on the existing lever cap is not long enough. Anyone know where I can get a longer one?

[Jim Koepke]

I came into a thicker, nicer blade at a garage sale that will fit my Stanley jack plane. Unfortunately, the cap screw on the existing lever cap is not long enough. Anyone know where I can get a longer one?

How old is the jack plane? The earlier models had bigger screws and bigger heads.

Is the lever cap bowed? This can cause such a situation.

Of course, if the blade is real thick, that is the problem.

How thick is this blade?

You may have to modify the mouth on your jack plane.

I will try to remember to check out the Hock cap iron screws to see if they fit in a Stanley cap iron. They had to be filed a little when I first got mine because they were too long for my #3.

jim

[James Taglienti]

I have a couple of planes with longer cap screws. They are Stanley Defiance era planes that were made for other companies. They have a couple of other provisions- they have a tapered iron and a steel adjusting nut. The problem is that the planes work so well that i don't want to salvage the parts!
Also, if the cap screw is too short, odds are that your depth adjuster yoke won't engage either. Your lateral may be a little sloppy too.