Straightening plow/plough plane screw arms

[Martin Zielinski]

I’m a long time lurker and am in need some experienced advice. Last night I received a beech plow/plough plane I had purchased on e-bay. All the problems (cracks etc.) had been described in the original posting, except for the biggest issue; the screw arms, especially the rear one, are warped. The rear one has a serious curve to it. Both arms curve toward each other. This limits the travel of the rear nut (it binds) and the plane is adjustable to only about a third of its intended range. The plane body also gets jammed as the space between the arms gets closer. Is there any conceivable way of straightening the arms? I am looking for a user tool and am willing to work on it without too much concern for its collector value. Could I soak or steam the arms and let them cool/dry with a pipe sleeve over them, or heat them gently and try to do the same? Thanks for any ideas or input.

Best regards,
Martin

[Jim Koepke]

Martin,

Welcome to the Creek and glad you have come out of the shadows.

Others will have to supply information if anything can be done with your plow plane arms.

My comment is because of your mentioning that you wanted a good user. Having both wooden and metal planes for this purpose, my opinion is that the metal ones are better at being good users.

My thoughts on what you have… Is there a way to loosen the screw arms so they can have the warping in a vertical orientation? This could prevent the binding. It could cause a problem with the fence not being plumb, but that is something for which you can compensate.

jtk

[Martin Zielinski]

That's a great idea Jim, but I do think that the screws and the vertical posts in which they terminate are one piece. I will double check when I get home. I really like wooden planes, and the price was right in this case.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Well, now you know why the price was right. :)

You could always trying removing the arms (possible?), steaming them, clamping them straight on removal from the steam. Might work.

Pam

[Jim Belair]

Could you redrill the body holes to accommodate the bow and still have enough to adequately secure the nuts? Or file the hole(s) oval in the direction of the warp?

I'd probably try the other ideas first though- steam and try and straighten.

Good luck Martin.

Jim B

[Larry Edgerton]

On mine the threaded arms and the brackets that drop down to the fence are one piece. It would be tough to replace just the threaded portion as there is a bolt running down to the fence just after the thread enters the bracket. It would however not be all that dificult to make a replacement of both the bracket and the threaded part out of steel, but that kind of defeats the purpose.

Do you think you can get it apart? If so I would try to put the threads/brackets in a steam box and dry them with a setup that bows them a slight bit the other way.

When I bought mine it had a piece of wood with two holes drilled in it slipped over the threaded rods. I took it off, and the piece is in my living room, but now I am wondering if the previous owner had done that to avoid what you have now? Curious.

[Zach Dillinger]

No matter what method you choose, be very careful not to snap the threaded arm at the site of the bend. I have a screw arm plow that had a serious bow in one arm. I tried to steam bend it back, as gently as I could, and the arm snapped clean off. It now sits in my "to be repaired" drawer, but I honestly can't think of a way to fix it. So watch out. I think I agree with these fine gentleman that the way to proceed is to make a whole new arm and bracket.

[Martin Zielinski]

Thank you for all of your help. I was able to unscrew and remove the arms from the fence. I waxed the screws a bit so that I could remove the nuts without too much force. With the arms uncoupled I can slip them out of the body. The curves in them are quite pronounced, but gradual enough that I think I can try to steam bend them back. The plan is to steam them, and then gently slip a section of pipe over them so that they can reset in the straight pipe. I will let you know how that works out. Thanks again.

Martin

[Larry Edgerton]

Instead of pipe, where you stand a chance of ripping on a thread, how about two long V-blocks cut out of good hard wood? clamp then together over the threaded section and let dry. Just a thought......

[Martin Zielinski]

You are right, and I didn't have any pipe of the right diameter. I went simpler than the V-blocks though. The part is now in the form and I want to keep it there for a couple of days to make sure that it stays straight. I will keep you posted with the whole process - so far, so good.

[Johnny Kleso]

If the arms are screws to fench I would remake the arms..