Tote and Knob repairs - How to thread

[Matt Evans]

Having done several of these repairs in the past few weeks I thought this might be helpful information for folks looking to repair their older planes.

If anyone else has Tote repair related thoughts, please post em here!

This is just to give a basic idea of how to repair chipped and broken totes.

This one is a horn repair.

Start by planing the broken surface flat.

Glue on block of wood. (you may have to plane the mating surface at an angle for this)

Rough cut to shape with coping saw or turning saw.

Rasp and file to final shape.

Sand through 400 grit

Finish.

[Jim Koepke]

For my metallic planes, old totes and knobs are saved as are any scraps of rose wood.

If a tote is busted up real bad, they can be temporarily glued then sawn apart on either side of the break to get a clean surface. Then a flat piece can be glued in to the area removed. Drill, sand and finish, if a piece can be found that matches the original, it will almost disappear.

jtk

[Mark Stutz]

I've got a couple of candidates, and some old beyond repair beech smoothers that will become wood donors!

I like the French press...a man after my own heart.

Mark

[john brenton]

I did one once using a sliding dovetail to fit a new horn on the tote...of course that was with a router. I did it because I didn't want it to look like it was a repair to hide a crack, but I wanted it to look like a good repair job that I'd never have to worry about breaking. It didn't come out perfect but it came out pretty sweet and the glue filled up the gaps.

[Jim Koepke]

the glue filled up the gaps.

When my rosewood handles need filing the dust is saved. Then it is mixed with epoxy to fill cracks.

A little clear tape pulled tight on epoxy will help to keep it from being rough when it dries.

jtk

[john brenton]

I have a whole shelf full of old glass milk bottles with different dusts in them. I keep all the sawdust and grind them up when I need to.

Good idea with the tape. The dovetail was one of my first repairs and I really didn't know about the benefits of epoxy. It was on a natural beech jack anyway, so the regular old yellow glue looked just fine after sanding and a blo treatment with dirty hands. I find that when rehabbing an old wood plane I like to keep my hands filthy from all the sanding, honing etc. while I rub in the blo. Maybe it's all in my head, but it seems to me that it hides the flaws better...or maybe it's just that it makes the repair look old, and therefore implies that the repair somehow more durable, or done by an old time craftsman.


When my rosewood handles need filing the dust is saved. Then it is mixed with epoxy to fill cracks.

A little clear tape pulled tight on epoxy will help to keep it from being rough when it dries.

jtk

[Bill Nenna]

Now you have me thinking. I'm restoring a Stanley #7 (and getting carried away). The handles are in decent shape and a good wood match, however the tote apparently came a #4 or similar and does not fit or hold at the base as it should. I did come by a new replacement tote made from walnut that will require stain matching If I want to keep a uniform rosewood look. Or, maybe, now that you have me thinking, I could splice a new base shaped from some cocobolo I have on hand. I'll have to think this over.

[Johnny Kleso]

I have a tutorial on totes on my webpage in the Planes 101 section

Most times repairs look much better than a broken tote or knob..

[john brenton]

Many of the old planes I've worked on had a problem with the handle at the base. Are you saying that the front of the tote tilts up at the base? Half of the planes I get have that problem. If thats the case, flattening out the bottom of the tote takes no time at all. I just put a piece of sandpaper on my flattening table and after a couple passes and checking the fit it sits great. Just a thought.


Now you have me thinking. I'm restoring a Stanley #7 (and getting carried away). The handles are in decent shape and a good wood match, however the tote apparently came a #4 or similar and does not fit or hold at the base as it should. I did come by a new replacement tote made from walnut that will require stain matching If I want to keep a uniform rosewood look. Or, maybe, now that you have me thinking, I could splice a new base shaped from some cocobolo I have on hand. I'll have to think this over.

[Jim Koepke]

Now you have me thinking. I'm restoring a Stanley #7 (and getting carried away). The handles are in decent shape and a good wood match, however the tote apparently came a #4 or similar and does not fit or hold at the base as it should. I did come by a new replacement tote made from walnut that will require stain matching If I want to keep a uniform rosewood look. Or, maybe, now that you have me thinking, I could splice a new base shaped from some cocobolo I have on hand. I'll have to think this over.

Bill,
A #4 tote will not work properly on a #7. The bigger planes have a tote with a screw at the front. A #4 tote does not have that screw.

Here is a tote I was working on today. It was broken pretty bad and had some of the midsection cut out and replaced with a piece of rosewood I cut from some I had. It looks a little red where the "washer" was glued in. There was still a bit missing so another piece was glued in.

164552

After the epoxy dried, the excess was mostly cut away with a fret saw and then pared away with a chisel.

164553

Then the area was sanded by wrapping some sand paper around a dowel.

164554

The repair is visible, but the grip on the tote was opened up a bit for my big hands.

164555

After all the sanding was done a cotton rag was loaded up with jeweler's rouge and the whole tote buffed.

164556

jtk

[John Neel]

Johnny Kleso's comment that he has a section on repairing totes is a bit modest. If you haven't been to the site, you might profit by exploring it:

http://rexmill.com

And in particular you should see

http://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/planes101/handle_repair/handle.htm (http://home.comcast.net/%7Erexmill/planes101/handle_repair/handle.htm)

for handle/tote repairs.


As a complete beginner with a plane left in the barn for over 25 years and then given to me by my mother-in-law, I was able to restore it to good looks and working order. I also used his procedures for repairing another plane tote. It came out with an all but invisible repair. I learned a lot quickly on his site.

John Neel

[Kevin Lucas]

Bill

Let me know what you use on the walnut. I just turned a walnut knob (wasn't too pretty or round the blank was small hehe).