Ouch! Reattaching tote on wooden jack?

[Steve Branam]

Just got a nice old wooden jack in the mail. Started rapping on the button to check the iron, and the tote cracked off and fell on the floor. It had probably been dropped at one time, weakening it. The wood seems in decent shape, not rotted, just very dry.

What's the best way to reattach the tote so it can be used? I can glue it (any recommendations on glue other than plain old yellow carpenter's glue?), but I assume some sort of reinforcement down part of its length would be required, like a rod through a broken bone.

I was thinking of boring a hole down through it angled back a bit against the force of my hand pushing it, then make an oak dowel with my dowel plate and glue that in.

If I have to I'll just dig out the old tote and make a new one, but I'd like to restore the old one.

[george wilson]

I'd use some brown glue so the seam won't show as much-if the tote is brown. Then,the oak dowel can be added after the first glue up is dry. You could set the dowel into the wood below the surface,then inlay a diamond shaped piece of contrasting wood to hide the repair.

[James Taglienti]

If it was mine, I'd glue it back together with some creative clamping. Then I'd bore down through the center of the tote into the plane body and put a screw or dowel in it.

[Kemil Pepin]

Steve, if the break is clean and the tote is in otherwise good condition, I would just glue it and it would be good to go. You can cut a clamping block to match the curve on the top of the tote, then just glue and clamp. No need for a dowel or screw.

Kemil

[Stephen Shepherd]

Do not use modern yellow or brown glue to do the repair as it will effect the value, use Hide Glue. If you can get the rest of the tote out of the plane body then hide glue it back together and drill a hole from the bottom for the reinforcing dowel. Or drill into both halves and glue in the dowel so the repair does not show.

Stephen

[James Taglienti]

Last time I checked the value of a wooden user jack was about $15 - 20 in excellent condition.

[David Keller NC]

What's the best way to reattach the tote so it can be used? I can glue it (any recommendations on glue other than plain old yellow carpenter's glue?), but I assume some sort of reinforcement down part of its length would be required, like a rod through a broken bone.

Steve - Many 19th century "premium" quality wooden bench planes from the big factories like Sandusky, Auburn, Ohio, etc... had iron or brass reinforcment screws down the length of the tote. The screw head was, of course, on the top curved plane of the tote. If you want to do this so that it doesn't look like an obvious modern repair, I'd use a brass screw of about 4-1/2" in length with a straight slot, pan-head type on the head (vs. a philips or a tapered wood screw).

But if the grain matches up carefully and you can figure out a way to clamp it, then you really shouldn't need a screw reinforcement in use. Even liquid hide glue which is sometimes cited as weaker than PVA or Epoxies would be more than good enough to form a permanent, strong bond that's stronger than the wood.

As to value - the price that a wooden jack will fetch on the collector's market depends greatly on who made it. An average example from one of the big 19th century factories like Sandusky is worth between $15 to as much as $125 if it's in exceptional (nearly unused) condition. The other end of the scale is an high-condition 18th century American bench plane made by Francis Nicholson or Cesor Chelor - those are worth many thousands. Of course, those last examples are extraordinarily rare.

[Steve Branam]

Thanks for all the replies! The grain does line up well, so I'll try some liquid hide glue and make a fitted clamping block out of MDF. Do you think it would be worth a 1" pin set in from both sides? It would probably need to be a bit loose (like a floating tenon) because I wouldn't have a way of guaranteeing alignment given the uneven cracked surface.

I can believe the glue would be stronger than the wood, I'm more concerned that the wood fibers might shear off near the glue line since it was already in some kind of weakened state. A pin inside the joint would be hidden.

As far as value, it's just a beat up Ogontz Tool (a Sandusky brand) that cost me $16 plus shipping. I wouldn't be beating on a Chelor! I'm too cheap to pay more than $40 for a user-grade wooden jack.

[James Taglienti]

I oftentimes wonder how many of these very important planes and tools met untimely and ironic ends... I know the scrap drives during the world wars took care of a lot of the iron ones... the wooden ones, well... I bet most of them went to the burn pile on cold nights, or just rotted away...

You know Cesar Chelor didn't make a living selling the small number of planes we know today, there had to have been exponentially more...

Anyway... if you're repairing the tote and aren't worried about the plane losing value :rolleyes: just do whatever is easiest. I know that personally, I have big trouble centering a blind dowel hole correctly in totes- the curves, the typically ragged break, etc. You could probably make a new tote in the time it takes to build a decent jig.

As far as the material? Just jigsaw a rough tote shape from the side of one of your Chelors and refine it as needed. :D

[James Scheffler]

I oftentimes wonder how many of these very important planes and tools met untimely and ironic ends... I know the scrap drives during the world wars took care of a lot of the iron ones... the wooden ones, well... I bet most of them went to the burn pile on cold nights, or just rotted away...


One of my co-workers told me a story about visiting relatives in Ireland. There had been an old cabinetmaker in the family who had passed away. They were burning his wooden planes in the stove. He's a regular flea market denizen and buyer/seller of antique tools, and I think it was a really painful experience for him.

Jim

[David Keller NC]

Thanks for all the replies! The grain does line up well, so I'll try some liquid hide glue and make a fitted clamping block out of MDF. Do you think it would be worth a 1" pin set in from both sides? It would probably need to be a bit loose (like a floating tenon) because I wouldn't have a way of guaranteeing alignment given the uneven cracked surface.

As far as value, it's just a beat up Ogontz Tool (a Sandusky brand) that cost me $16 plus shipping. I wouldn't be beating on a Chelor! I'm too cheap to pay more than $40 for a user-grade wooden jack.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "a 1" pin set in from both sides". If you mean essentially making a dowel joint, I'd go with Jame's advice here - that would be extremely tough going to get everything to line up. Personally, I'd much rather just make a new tote than beat my head against the wall trying to line everything up. BUT - drilling a hole lengthwise through the top of the tote to insert a brass screw would be trivially easy after the tote's glued up, and as long as the hole's a tight fit with the shaft of the screw, that reinforcement should be all you'd ever need.

And - you might be surprised how many really valuable American wooden planes are trashed because of the owner's unfamiliarity with the market. One particular interesting tale is the only single-arm Isreal White plow plane ever found - the owner found it in the town dump. That plane's worth nearly 10 grand, maybe more, because it represents the only known example from a patent drawing (and it's also beautiful - it's made of ebony with an ivory nut).