Hairline crack on a lever cap

[Kesh Ikuma]

I just took the dive and got a rusty #7 off eBay as my first rehab attempt. I spent a good part of the day today on it, making its vinegar bathtub and scrubbing off the loose rust periodically (you know, hard to let it do its own cleansing when you are at it for the first time :) ). Anyway, everything was looking great until I noticed a hairline crack on the lever cap, which in the hindsight was visible in the auction photos... I guess a lessen learned.

346176

Is this anything to be concerned about as far as the performance of the plane?

The plane is still soaking in the bath, so I haven't tried it out yet.

Thanks! -Kesh

[Glen Canaday]

Ouch. Yeah that's important for function. If you got a good deal on it, you can grab a matching cap inexpensively and still come out on top.

[Kesh Ikuma]

Thanks. That's a bummer. I guess the crack reduces the clamping pressure and allows the blade to move... I saw a matching cap lever for sale around $20, so I'll be on a lookout if it's causing a problem when I put it in use. Has anyone fixed it by welding together the crack?

[george wilson]

cast iron needs to be brazed,not welded. the crack would need to have a deep v groove ground into its whole length,and filled with brazing rod. then ground and filed off flush. but then,you'd see a wide braze line. best to just find a new cap.

typed one handed while holding a sandwich !.

[Phil Mueller]

"typed one handed while holding a sandwich"....your skills never cease to amaze me, George!

[Kesh Ikuma]

@George - Yeah, will be looking for a new cap. The process sounds daunting enough. Thanks for the insight into what it takes to repair it.

"typed one handed while holding a sandwich !" I just saw "a sandwich" before reading the full sentence, and I thought for a second that you are telling me that I can use the cracked cap for a sammich lol

[Stew Denton]

Hi Kesh,

I think you are wise to replace the lever cap. My experience with trying to limp by on things has been that they usually fail at a bad time, when you very much need to make progress, and will be delayed till you have the replacement part.

As you probably know, there are a lot of lever caps like the one you need on that auction site. Keep us up to date on the rehab of your "new" plane. As you also know, there are a lot of us on this forum that are quite fond of the old tools and love to see them restored, put back in service, and doing a great job again.

We would love to see a picture when you get the rehab done.

Stew

[Brian Holcombe]

Having brazed cast iron before, do as George suggests and replace it :)

[george wilson]

My one handed typing was to explain why there were no capitals!:)

[Glen Canaday]

Oh, but..keep the broken one! You never know when you'll need the pin or the spring or the lever.

[Kesh Ikuma]

Rust off (a little bit left on where japanning's stripped, but I run out of patience) but I discovered another issue. There was a gaping hole between the chip breaker and iron... What's your favorite way to tune up a chip breaker?

I straightened the tip(?) with waterstone, but shavings still get jammed in between... Now I think about it, it could be due to the lack of clamping pressure due to the cracked cap. Another thing I noticed compared to my other planes is that there are no gap between iron and chip breaker when the cap is clamped down. Any thoughts? I'll post some pics tomorrow to show what I mean.

@Stew - I'll try to post pics when I'm done.
@Glen - That's a good idea. I'll definitely hold on to the cracked cap.

[steven c newman]

Check the chipbreaker to see IF it is bowed> Maybe take a hammer and a punch to flatten out the bow? Have had a couple come through the shop like that. I sit them on the bench, I find the "High" point, and tap it down. Testing to see if it still rocks to the side. Comes from too tight a bolt holding it to the iron. Might try that, and save a LOT of stone work on the edge. Might want to check the iron, as well....

[Stew Denton]

Kesh,

There shouldn't be a hole (I am assuming you mean a gap by this) between the chip breaker and iron, even without the lever cap pressure. The iron or chip breaker, or both, may have gotten bent over the years.

If you are getting shavings jammed between the two, you may have a situation on the line of contact between the chip breaker and the iron. Thus, where the chip breaker bears down on the iron there may be a slight bevel such that there is a tiny gap at the front edge of the chip breaker between the chip breaker and the iron, but firm contact at the back edge of this contact line. If this is the case you will have a small gap that opens out toward the front of the iron. You want just the opposite, where the very front edge of the lever cap contacts the iron for its entire width. You don't want it to contact the iron most tightly at the back edge of this contact line, instead, you want the firmest contact at the front edge of the chip breaker where it bears against the iron.

I would first check the iron and chip breaker for flatness across the width at the front edge of both with a straight edge.

You get this good contact area when you flatten the front edge of the lever cap on a stone or diamond plate by running the chip breaker down the stone with the body of the chip breaker perpendicular to the length of the stone and with just the front contact edge of the chip breaker on the stone. Meanwhile, the tail end of the chip breaker set just slightly below the plane of the top of the stone. By doing this the contact line on the front edge of the chip breaker will have the firmest contact against the iron at the very front edge of the chip breaker.

You can overdo this. You want the front edge of the chip breaker, where it sets against the top of the iron, just behind the cutting edge of the iron to be just SLIGHTLY beveled toward the top of the front edge of the iron.

Stew

[Kesh Ikuma]

Sorry to be late responding to all of you continue giving me your invaluable advises. I've been rather busy with everything from daytime work to a woodworking project.

Although I wasn't able to tinker with the chip breaker as instructed, I did take a quick look at both the chip breaker and iron this weekend. Well, not only chip breaker edge not flat, both the C/B and iron are twisted. If I set them flat on a surface, I can make them rock by giving the corner a light push with a finger tip . Twist cannot be a good thing to properly tune up the plane, is it?

Magically, this week is the LV free-shipping week :D I'm inclined to get a pair of Veritas replacement chip breaker and iron and be done with it. Am I too quick to reach that conclusion?

[Glen Canaday]

Nope, in my opinion. It is possible to hammer the iron and cap iron flat, but it's worth saving yourself the effort :)

Just be sure to check that the iron is the same thickness as the original. Slightly thicker is ok, but if you go past about 1/8" you'll be in mouth-filing territory. If you're unsure, give them a shout and ask!

[john zulu]

I would repair the cap lever. If you have O/A or a Tig torch you can use brazing to save the lever cap.
You can ask on WeldingWeb or look for Don W*lumberjock.com* if you are not comfortable with this repair on your own.

As for the chipbreaker. The Veritas alternative is of better performance and worth it.

[Jim Koepke]

Although I wasn't able to tinker with the chip breaker as instructed, I did take a quick look at both the chip breaker and iron this weekend. Well, not only chip breaker edge not flat, both the C/B and iron are twisted. If I set them flat on a surface, I can make them rock by giving the corner a light push with a finger tip . Twist cannot be a good thing to properly tune up the plane, is it?

Magically, this week is the LV free-shipping week :D I'm inclined to get a pair of Veritas replacement chip breaker and iron and be done with it. Am I too quick to reach that conclusion?

A good plane is worthy of a good blade and chip breaker.

In the past some of my chip breakers have had a bit of twist. It is possible to put it between a couple pieces of scrap wood in a vise to use a couple more pieces of scrap to give it a bit of torsional adjustment.

Some of the blades are a bit softer away from the hardened edge so they can also be torsionally adjusted. This is especially true of the old style laminated blades.

jtk

[Stew Denton]

Hi Kesh,

I look at plane parts on that auction site fairly often, as I am looking for parts for my own planes. The type of part you seen most often listed separately, which has a known crack in it, is the body of the plane. If a base that would normally sell for $40 to $50 has a crack in it, it probably will not sell at all at any price, not even $5. That tells you how much folks trust cast iron parts that have cracks in them.

Stew

[Kesh Ikuma]

@Jim - Clamping out the twist (is that a proper expression?) sounds like a viable solution. I suppose I can pull this off with my leg vise, can't I? I don't own a metal vise.

Although my tendency is make things worse, I'll give it a try before the LV F/S period runs out.

While I'm having tough (but fun) time learning how to planing out twists in wood, I would've never guessed I'll do so for the tool itself. haha

[Kesh Ikuma]

@John - I knew there is someone here on the "repair-it" camp!! Unfortunately, I don't own a torch (what's O/A?) and no I'm not viewing this as an opportunity to buy one neither :) Sourcing it out is definitely as an option, but I suspect shipping it out of town to repair will end up costing more than getting another cap from parts guys. I'll be on a lookout for a local metal person who can braze it for me.

>The Veritas alternative is of better performance and worth it.

I own Veritas iron and its cap for my Stanley Handyman #5, and I do agree wholeheartedly. Them alone made the plane serviceable. That being said, my #7 being Type 13, which is supposedly better all around than the later inferior Handyman era; I do want to give the original iron a fair try before I jump ship (again).

[Jim Koepke]

@Jim - Clamping out the twist (is that a proper expression?) sounds like a viable solution. I suppose I can pull this off with my leg vise, can't I? I don't own a metal vise.

Although my tendency is make things worse, I'll give it a try before the LV F/S period runs out.

While I'm having tough (but fun) time learning how to planing out twists in wood, I would've never guessed I'll do so for the tool itself. haha

Yes Kesh, a leg vise will do fine. I suggest setting the metal between pieces of scrap to avoid leaving impressions in faces of the vise. Two longer pieces of scrap can then be used to make a handle to use on the metal. Use screws on either side of the metal if need be. It will not take much force. Better to check often so as to not bend too much.

jtk

[Robert Engel]

I quit buying off Ebay a long time ago. Got tired of opening the box and (repeating) "I didn't see that in the pics".

[Stew Denton]

Hi Kesh,

If you decide to go the brazing route, I can't remember the source, but have read one woodworking writer that had some sort of cast iron tool brazed by a gunsmith. Some gunsmiths do brazing as a part of the routine work in their trade. Since they are used to working with precision made items, they may be one of your best chances to braze the lever cap without warping it. That is one risk you take with brazing or welding, you can warp the item.

If you find out that to repair the lever cap, it will cost on the order of half what you can buy a replacement part for, I would forget the brazing and the risks that go with it, and go for a replacement part.

Stew