Stripped hole in wooden moving filletster plane

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I recently picked up a wooden moving fillester plane; don't have the piece in front of me or I'd mention the maker; it's nothing for the collectors, but I'd like to keep it in decent shape. I've gently tuned it pretty much to shape, the only thing that's a problem at this point is one of the screw holes for the fence that mounts on the sole is stripped and no longer quite holds.

Any suggestions for fixing this? I've done this sort of fix on small holes for guitars, but these are larger screws, and I'm curious if this application, on a wooden plane, presents and different concerns that I'm not taking into consideration. The one thing I'm thinking is that the amount of BLO this thing seems to have received over the years may inhibit glue from working here.

For whatever silly reason, I'd like to keep using the same screws. It adds something to the look even though I'm the only one who'll know.

I know this is silly and I'm probably over-thinking it...

[Andrew Gibson]

The only thing I can think of is to drill out the hole and add a dowel then drill and reinsert the screw...

I would think wood glue would do the job unless the thing has been submerged in blo for quite some time and just came out, but I could be wrong.

[Jim Koepke]

Pictures always help.

If it is a wood screw, then what Andrew suggested will likely do the job. You may be able to make a dowel out of the same kind of wood so the repair blends in.

I have been able to repair holes for reuse just by jamming a match stick into the oversized hole. This would not be a permanent fix. Keep a good supply of match sticks.

jtk

[Adam Cherubini]

Joshua,
I think the "right" thing to do is put in a patch. Find a piece of beech with similar grain orientation as the plane. Carefully cut a small square mortise and insert that patch with hide glue. Then re-drill and tap the hole using the original screw.

Alternatively, you could replace the screw and install a small brass threaded insert. This would function very well. You could conceivably pull out a dowel or rectangular patch while tightening the screw. Just make sure you use a "fillester head" screw.

Adam

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

That's basically what I was figuring; on small guitar work, I had filled holes with a matchstick or two and glue, inserted a waxed screw and let the glue dry, but these were all smaller holes. I guess I need to find a small piece of matching beech and drill and fill with a plug. The brass inserts are a good idea I didn't think of; the screws are pretty meaty, I bet I could grind off the threads, and then use a die to make them matching machine screws for the brass inserts...

I'll try and post pictures when I get an opportunity. Like I said, this isn't a huge issue, I'm probably just overthinking things. I really like this plane, even using it with batten, it's made life much nicer.