How do you remove the adjusting nut bolt from a frog?

[Mark Berenbrok]

I'm rehabbing a frog for an old 5 1/2 Stanley. The adjusting nut bolt is gone and I have a donor frog. How do I remove the adjusting nut bolt from the donor frog?

Note: No animals were harmed during the rehab of this frog ;)

[Casey Gooding]

If I remember correctly, the screw should just, well, unscrew. Most of them are probably stuck so it will take some work to get it out without damaging the threads.

[Kevin Foley]

If you have another stanley plane that you can borrow the adjuster nut from, you can spin the second nut on to lock the first one and it should give you enough purchase to back it out. If not, rap the frog with a small hammer a few times or use some penetrating oil and try again tomorrow.

[George Penfold]

If its hard to get out, heat up the frog, this will expand the metal around the screw and you should be able to get it out easily

[Jim Koepke]

I have used vise grips with wooden pads between the jaws and the threaded rod. I have also used the jam nut method Kevin mentions. If you can find some of the steel adjuster nuts you will be ahead of the game for that one.

Just remember the bolt has left hand threads so you have to turn it clockwise to get it out. (this only applies for planes later than type 6)

On the face of the frog is a hole which is an opening to the adjuster bolt. This is a good place to put some penetrating oil. If you have one called "Break Free," that is one of the best I have found. It is usually available in gun shops. I am pretty sure of the name, but I will try to remember to check when I go out to the shop later and will edit this if the name is different.

If you have a small punch, a few light taps on this side of the bolt may also help to break any corrosion that may be holding it in.

Lastly if you have a drill press with a low speed, some times drilling a screw will cause it to break free. Since this screw has right hand threads, if the drill catches in the metal it would drive the screw out. That would be my last resort. We were going to try it at one place where I worked. We found a source for left hand twist drills, but I retired before they were bought.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

jtk