#8 crack repair

[John C Bush]

Pulled an old garage sale find Stanley #8 from the bottom of the "some day I'll tune it"" drawer and noticed there is a small fracture line from the throat along the side wall
~~1/2"--3/4" ++. I've never brazed CI before and wondered if it's reasonable to try it, or find an experienced welder. Can you TIG CI as well?? Thanks,

[Jason Buresh]

Pulled an old garage sale find Stanley #8 from the bottom of the "some day I'll tune it"" drawer and noticed there is a small fracture line from the throat along the side wall
~~1/2"--3/4" ++. I've never brazed CI before and wondered if it's reasonable to try it, or find an experienced welder. Can you TIG CI as well?? Thanks,

I brazed cast iron when I was in tech school. It's a pain in the rear. It had to be preheated before you could start the brazing process and after everything was said and done it wasn't a very strong repair. I am not a welding expert, but do have welding experience, and as far as I know you can not TIG weld cast iron. I believe the only option for welding cast iron would be brazing.

Have you considered JB weld at all? If you could flow some into the crack and let it harden that may be your best bet.

[Keith Outten]

Brazing is your best bet and a really good welder or pipe-fitter would increase your chances of a successful repair.
Jason is right about the pre-heat and you will need to control how fast it cools down as well. A barbecue grill is often used to heat it up and cool it down, just let the charcoal burn until its cold. If you don't have a charcoal grill dig a small hole in the ground.

There is a special stick welding rod for cast iron repairs but its pretty expensive and not for the novice welder. You also would have to grind the crack to open it up before you start your repair.

[steven c newman]

Dave from Chisel & Forge does have a video out.....about how he fixed the crack in my Millers Falls No. 14 jack plane.....might be worth the effort to go and look it up......

[Scott Winners]

I've never brazed CI before and wondered if it's reasonable to try it, or find an experienced welder. Can you TIG CI as well?? Thanks,

If you are keeping it as a user, I would take it to a pro. General internet advice when rusting hunting is to put planes with visible weld repairs back on the shelf and keep looking unless the other parts on the item are worth the purchase price. Around the mouth is the first place to look.

One of my kids is a certified welder doing food grade Stainless maintenance and repair in olive and almond country in NoCal just now. She insists CI repairs are "not hard but tricky." I think you have good advice here in thread, but resale value is going to be minimal. If someone like my youngest is looking at your plane in the future she can look at it and know if your repair was done correctly. The rest of us will put it back on the shelf and keep looking.

My younger daughter doesn't "do" wood working, she is a welder; so for resale you wil be waiting for someone with a metalurgy background who is also into woodworking to get market value.

[Meryl Logue]

Does this crack actually affect functionality? I’m no expert… in fact I’ve never even touched a plane that size. But if it is not flexing under use, isn’t it all about chasing ephemera?

[Thomas Wilson]

My grandfather brazed a 5 1/2 that was broken in half back together. It is possible. He was a machinist at a very high level. I remember him and my father talking about it at the time. I was three when he died. The event must have made a strong impression. I inherited the plane and could take pictures of the repair if anyone is interested.

[Scott Winners]

Does this crack actually affect functionality? I’m no expert… in fact I’ve never even touched a plane that size. But if it is not flexing under use, isn’t it all about chasing ephemera?

I have let this question alone to see what the more experienced have to say. My hunch is cracks at the mouth develop in the first place from running into knots while planing, nd from there I am kinda fuzzy.

[Mike Henderson]

If the crack is not bad, leave it as is.

I've brazed cast iron and you do have to preheat the iron in order to avoid problems. Others have give you good advice on that.

Mike

[Dennis Droege]

I think that's a nickel rod. I've used them (years ago) with good results on heavier material. Not sure I'd try it on a plane body. I like the previous comments about brazing and heat control. My .02.