Repairing a split wood hand plane

[Will Winder]

I picked up this huge W.Butcher plane over the weekend, its been in my fiance's father's attic for 30 years and in a barn for much longer than that. It is 29 1/2" long with a 2 5/8" blade. The wood body has a split all the way through base in front of the blade and a bunch of surface cracks all along the sole. The iron is much thicker than the blades in any of my stanley's, it also has some pretty serious pitting.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to repair this crack. Can I just glue it back together with some yellow glue or would some type of epoxy/filler be better?

Thanks

At 29 1/2" it is longer than my table saw
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There are a lot of splits but only one makes it all the way through, I can move it easily with a little pressure.
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From the bottom
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Next to a quarter for comparison
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The sole has lots of smaller cracks
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[george wilson]

I would use a darker glue unless you want a yellow glue line permanently in your plane. Gluing should be sufficient. Check the width of the wedge and the iron. Sometimes the wooden body of a plane that hasn't been dried enough,will shrink the plane enough to jam the blade,and possibly the wedge(mostly the blade,which doesn't shrink) severely. That could have cracked your plane. It is very unusual,for a long plane to crack open like that.

I wonder if there was a latent crack in the original wood that the maker didn't see,or just thought he could get away with. Later on,with a little shrinkage on the blade,it popped open.

[john brenton]

If it were me I would open that crack all the way up to split the piece off and re-glue it. If that plane were smaller I'd say it wasn't even worth it, but it's a pretty rare find and would be really handy to have around. After the glue or epoxy dries I would soak it in BLO and see if that wouldn't help seal up all those little cracks it there.

[Zahid Naqvi]

plus considering how long it's been in various storage locations I suspect the crack is filled with dirt and crud that will prevent any glue from holding the wood. I'd do what John recommended, split it open, clean up the mating surfaces with a stiff brush and some mineral spirits and then glue it back together once things have dried out. To me the blades in such older planes is worth the price, the wooden body you can make yourself.

[john brenton]

I don't know, Zahid. Unless he was going to make a laminated plane body, 30" of clear 12/4 is pretty hard to come by in some parts. That's not even including the tote and the wedge.


plus considering how long it's been in various storage locations I suspect the crack is filled with dirt and crud that will prevent any glue from holding the wood. I'd do what John recommended, split it open, clean up the mating surfaces with a stiff brush and some mineral spirits and then glue it back together once things have dried out. To me the blades in such older planes is worth the price, the wooden body you can make yourself.

[Tom Vanzant]

If the crack extends only to the mouth, you can't just slab it off without destroying the plane. If, as George says, the crack was caused by a too-tight iron, you won't be able to pull the crack together unless you create some relief clearance between the iron and wood. Don't grind the iron... relieve the wood. Once relieved, you may be able to glue the crack as is, depending on how much "crud" is in the crack. It may be possible to rip the crack to clean up the surfaces, then the kerf could be glued, using several layers of veneer to fill the void. The veneer could be pared to blend at the top and sole surfaces.
Will you use the plane of will it be "on the mantle"?

[Will Winder]

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Tom is right about how far the crack extends, it doesn't go past the mouth so splitting the body in half probably isn't an option. The gap can be pried open enough to clear out any gunk that has gotten inside though, so hopefully it wouldn't be necessary anyway.

I'll be sure to check how tight the iron is, I know the wedge was very tight so maybe it could be shaved down a little.

I'm planning to keep it around for using, I'm not sure I could get the clearance for 2 1/2 feet of mantle space anyway :)

The Iron is pretty hefty and has a wedge shape which I hadn't seen before. It is much thicker than any of my Stanley blades at the cutting edge. Unfortunately someone must have used it as a chisel at some point so the top has some damage.
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[john brenton]

The mushrooming is typical for wedged irons, especially ones as dramatically tapered as that one. You can just file it off (or just leave it), and maybe think about using a brass hammer and lighter taps.

[george wilson]

The old irons were usually wedge shaped,to help keep them from backing out of a cut.

Unless your plane's crack is really full of crud,I suggest just cleaning it out as well as you can and gluing it back together. Sawing it open and adding veneer will be so much more obvious than just a re glue. The crud must not,of course,be bad enough to be holding the crack OPEN. Try a dry run clamp up first,to make certain the crack does close. Take a strong shop vac to the crack all around,top and bottom of the plane. You don't want surface crud falling down deeper into the crack when you do pry it open to add glue.

IT LOOKS like there is bad dry rot around the mouth of the plane. If it were mine,I'd keep the iron and make a new body,or donate it to Cracker Barrel to add to their decor!!:) Really! OR,you could glue on a 1/4" thick new sole to the bottom of the plane. The mouth is pretty open,so it would cover the rot and reinforce the plane,and make it possible to close up that mouth. Joint the bottom flat before gluing on a new sole,and repair the crack first,too.

The crack has been there so long that its edges have become rounded over. It's never going to look very good.

[john brenton]

Not to hijack the thread, but you just reminded me of something. You always see woodies, saws, drawknives, etc at Cracker Barrel, and I'm sure that occasionally you see something you wished you had.

Last weekend I went to the cracker barrel by my house and there is a PRISTINE Disston #7 hanging from the ceiling...in the corner. It's barely even noticeable. When I say pristine I mean new old stock quality. I'm not sure which year it is as I'm not an expert and can't see the medallion, but it looks like the 1927 model from the Disstonian.

I asked about it but it was a no-go. They won't let go of anything on their walls. Dang.


donate it to Cracker Barrel to add to their decor!!:) Really!

[Gary Roberts]

That is one strange looking plane. I've never seen a fore or jointer plane with the tote right behind the blade, in the middle of the body. The ergonomics seem all wrong. Plus, with the razee front and back, it would be difficult to keep even pressure.

The splits are bad enough and could be fixed but the wood rot under the mouth also needs to be fixed.

Here's what I would do

Bore a hole through the nose for a brass or steel bolt. Countersink both holes and plug them once the bolt is in place. Glue will help but it's really the bolt that's holding it all together. Check the fit of the blade before inserting it. File or grind off some metal from the sides of the blade if you have to.

The mouth needs to be fixed with an insert the full width of the mouth. John Whalen's book on hand planes goes over this but I'm sure there are some online sources that describe repairing a mouth.

Or, keep the blade, look for a good fore or jointer plane and put this one on the wall which is pretty much what I would do!

[george wilson]

Tote behind blade is not unusual. These new German jointers with the tote way at the back are what is screwed up.

[David Keller NC]

Actually, as George notes, the tote placement is the normal position. What's odd about the plane is the razee (cut out) front. One normally only sees that on the rear of a plane.

BTW - it's not a "Butcher" plane - just a Butcher iron (unless it's marked "Butcher" on the front of the stock - that would be a rare plane indeed, possibly unique). Butchers are very often found on american planes of the early to mid 19th century, though they were actually a British firm.

Regarding repair, I would do as George advises and use a shop vac to clear as much debris as possible, then use a clamp to see if the crack will close - do this without the iron and the wedge in the plane. The best adhesion you can get is hot hide glue, as it will pretty much ignore wax and to some extent, grease. Hide glue also has the advantage of being similar to the plane's wood in moisture adsorption/desorption properties. Failing that, go with epoxy.

Once dry, you will very likely need to open up the wedge and blade mortise. That generally requires a float to do properly, though you may have some luck with a file. Don't attempt to chisel the opening - that's extremely difficult to do accurately. Finally, you will likely have to "throat" the plane, a description of which procedure is in John Whelan's book as Gary notes.

[george wilson]

If you put a bottle of liquid hide glue into a pot of hot water,and change the hot water until the glue is good and hot,it will get VERY thin and run everywhere in that crack.

Liquid hide glue is handier,and an article in FWW magazine some time ago found that it is stronger than hide glue you make from scratch. MAKE SURE the date on the bottle hasn't passed expiration,or it may never dry. On something like this,where you can't get the glue back out,I recommend trying the glue on some pieces of scrap wood first,just to make certain it will harden.

The front of that plane was probably cut down by the user. I haven't seen another like it. Razee planes in the first place were planes made to be lighter,and easier for boys to handle in a manual training class. Someone might have decided to carry the idea a step further.

A razee was originally a sailing ship whose top deck had been cut off to lighten it,or due to damage. They had to take a deck off king Charles' prize ship The Sovereign of the Seas,a terribly expensive 17th.C. English ship. It was too top heavy to be a good sailer. Too much "top hamper" I think was the term. His ship lost its top deck,he lost his head.

[Gary Roberts]

George

Learned something new! thanks

[Ron Conlon]

I asked about it but it was a no-go. They won't let go of anything on their walls. Dang.

Yeah, the Cracker Barrel near me has a gorgeous 1957 Johnson outboard in amazing condition (at least cosmetically) but apparently it's more valuable as a decoration to them. I always wonder what they did to the backside to secure it to the wall.

[Tom Vanzant]

I had the same experience with a BBQ place. They had drill braces hanging all over the place, and when I asked about a brass-bound ebony brace, they said "no deal". They wouldn't even give me a close look.