Plane cheek cracked... any hope?

[Jon Toebbe]

Well, you win some, you lose some... I bought a rather nice Type 17 Stanley Bailey #7 on eBay for less than $30. Woo hoo! It arrived today exactly as described except for a crack entirely through the cheek (see attached photo for the gory details). Doh! I'm pretty sure it happened in transit, but no matter -- it leave me with a difficult problem.

Is it even possible to repair damage like this? I've searched a bit and have found similar threads where the concensus is "bummer, get a new one," but I'm too thrifty (cheap) to give up so easily. Is JB Weld and some careful filing an option? Welding? Or is there really no hope?

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Jon,

This is why I won't ship things without insurance. The problem with braizing or welding is that the heat introduced to the cast iron will warp it. The crack will be fixed but it will probably have a severe twist to it.

If you find someone that will weld it and has the skill and equipment (warming and annealing oven) to keep it from warping it would be cheaper to replace the plane.

I doubt JB weld has the tinsile strength to hold.

Save all of your parts and you can use the sole for diamond paste sharpening. ;)

[Jon Toebbe]

Well, at least FedEx is willing to cover the claim, so it's no loss. I'm bummed since other than the cracked cheek, it's in awfully nice condition -- and I got it for less than $30!!! argh!!!

Would attempting a repair with JB Weld preclude any attempt at welding/brazing it later? I'm thinking maybe I'll try it, and see if it'll hold. But if that would ruin future attempts to repair it, I'm hesitant to experiment.

[Ken Werner]

Jon,
Here's my $.02:
Recover what you can from fed ex. Salvage what parts you can sell on the bay, or keep them and buy a new body alone. This should work out ok for you, other than the disappointment.
I once had a nice dado plane fall on the [my then concrete] floor, breaking in two. I couldn't throw out the parts for years. This was way before eBay. This year, I sold all the parts I could salvage, and took in about $50. Kind of like an old car, the parts are worth more that the sum of the whole. Anyway, remember Stanley made more than a few 7s, you'll find a nice one.
Good luck,
Ken

[Paul Erickson]

Jon,

I had a couple of bodies brazed, and would not do it again. I was able to get them working fine, but for the cost of the brazing and the work to get them into shape, I would have been better off looking for new bodies. Unlike you, I was not in a position to get reimbursed by the shipper.

cheers, Paul

[Terry Beadle]

One other alternative is to use some steel flat bar with some holes drilled through the ends. Put one on the inside and one on the outside. It will look tacky but it should keep the plane in the 'user' category and it won't apply any heat. The cheek area is a support and not prime to the working condition. If putting and inside and outside flat bar bridge piece is too tacky, start with the inside one and use rivets that you can smooth off on the outside of the cheek.

On the other hand if you go the brazing route,
The cost of brazing should not be much. If the vendor doing the brazing traps the plane body on flattened sheet of steel it will then be a heat sink, the brazing will not take long and shouldn't affect the plane as much as you would think. The use a heat gun to keep the plane at over 150 degrees for a 15 minutes after the brazing step and the stresses should be minimal. I would recommend V'-ing out the crack area a little before applying the brass. Make sure the vendor uses the smallest brazing tip as possible.


Good Luck!

[Eric Commarato]

Jon,

The same thing happened to me recently. I bought a Record No. 7 for $31.00 bucks at an on-line auction, and upon unpacking it discovered a break in the exact same place. The foam squiggles allowed the plane to settle to the bottom of the box, and it was dropped somewhere along its way to me. From now on when I purchase a plane from a long distance, I plan to send careful packing instructions, and hope the seller will pack carefully. Luckly my seller was kind enough to refund the payment for the plane, and we forgot about the $16.00 shipping fee. One thing you might look into is cast iron stitching. There are some machine shops that will stitch the casting back together. It is a cold process where the casting is drilled and an insert is anchored into the two sides. The plane may not be worth it though, but it is an interesting repair technique.

Sorry about the plane, the Record No. 7 has been a plane I have been wanting for a while. Needless to say my heart fell when I opened mine and found it broken. I feel your pain.
Good Luck,

Eric

[Ruston Hughes]

Jon,

I bought a #7 off eBay ($20) that has a similar crack that was repaired (didn't pay attention to all the description) and it works well. However, the repair was not a weld, but a brass plate peened to the cheek.
I can't recommend this type of repair since I'm not a metal worker and this is the only experience I have with a repaired plane, but it does get around the problem of the plane warping due to the heat involved in welding.

[Mike Henderson]

I broke a plane (dropped it on a concrete floor) and repaired it myself by brazing. Works fine but it killed the value of the plane - I won't be able to get anything for it if I were to try to sell it. I did not experience any warping or twisting but certainly have seen that when brazing other cast iron things.

The plane is probably not worth what you'd have to pay someone to repair it, and it would have very little value on the market afterwards. You can't hardly give away a repaired plane or one with a hanger hole drilled into it.

Mike

[Jon Toebbe]

Thanks for the commiseration, everyone. I was heartbroken when I saw it was damaged, but hopefully FedEx will cover the damage (they haven't called back yet...). Either way, I don't even have $30 in the plane. All the parts are in good shape, so maybe I'll keep my eyes peeled for a cheap sole in decent condition.

In the meantime, since it's basically worthless anyway I'll experiment with JB Weld repairs. I doubt it'll work, but it costs me nothing but the time (and a squirt of epoxy). Who knows, maybe it'll hold until I get another plane in better condition.

Cheers,
Jon

[Steve Clardy]

I've brazed a couple of them with success.
V out the inside of the crack, then braze, using the small tip and low heat.
And like above, clamp it down to a flat steel plate.

I have also been playing with welding them with a chunk of original casting .
Using a torch, just like brazing. I keep a few old broken bodies around for this.

I just cut out a straight piece of casting, use brazing flux on it, and weld away. It takes a lot higher heat though. I have one that has turned out real well, but it has a couple of slight holes in the weld I need to go back and redo.
I haven't messed with it for several months, due to lack of time for that kind of stuff

[David Wilson]

I had a plane cracked like yours, took it to my X-BIL, ground a v in the crack and brazer it. Doesn't look that good but works great.
Question is, are you looking for a working plane or a collectable?

[Jon Toebbe]

Question is, are you looking for a working plane or a collectable?
Strictly a working plane -- I'm too poor to even think about collecting. :) I worked some JB Weld into it this evening, clamped it gently and set it aside. A friend of mine swears by the stuff, and reckoned the cast iron's porosity is working in my favor with the epoxy. We shall see...

Failing that, I think I'll try brazing it back together. It'll be oo-gly, but dag-nammit I'll get it working! :D

Wish me luck...
Jon

[David Marcus Brown]

How did you make out w/ the JB weld?

[Kevin French]

I've found a couple cracked planes and had them brazed, niether of them warpped and both work fine.

[David Marcus Brown]

What did the brazing cost you?

Did you go to a specialist or just an average welding shop?

[Kevin French]

I took it to the local welder, he'd have done it for free but I gave him $10.

[Bill Houghton]

welded up a No 10-1/2 that I bought at a garage sale ($6, gloat-gloat, but YEARS ago, so more like $20 in current $$) after a friend of mine totally wrecked the welding job. My uncle explained that you need to clamp the plane down to a flat surface on both sides of the crack, weld it up, and then leave it alone until it cools.

Worked like a charm, and I've still got the plane (as if I would sell a 10-1/2).

[Jon Toebbe]

Well, the bed just came out of the citric acid dip. A quick scrub with a plastic bristle brush, a thorough rinse, some blowdrying and WD-40 and she's looking much better. I spent some time sharpening the iron (automotive sandpaper is very quick and easy, once you get the back of the blade flat), so I'll give it a try tomorrow on some douglas fir 4x4s I'm planning to turn into the legs of some shop furniture.

So far so good. The epoxy is holding under hard twisting and bending hand pressure, and the sole is pretty flat (I'll lap it after I'm confident the epoxy will hold). I'm tentatively optimistic at this point.

And failing that, a friend of mine has offered his help with an acetylene torch to braze the crack shut once and for all.

[Jon Toebbe]

Against all odds, I think the JB Weld is going to work. The plane is cutting just fine, and I see no signs of the epoxy coming loose. It may not hold up forever, but it's holding up for now. Thanks to all for the replies and advice. If it breaks again, I'll let you know. But after an hour of planing those 4x4s it's okay.

Cheers,
Jon

[Jon Toebbe]

I've been using the jointer pretty extensively lately: flattening some rough lumber (poplar, oak, red cedar, douglas fir), trueing up a worktable base before adding a top, swatting flies... well, okay not swatting flies. The JB Welded crack seems to be holding up fine. Best of all, I finally got through the bureaucracy at FedEx and got reimubursed for the full purchase price of the plane and shipping. woot.

So, as near as I can make out this plane has cost me a couple of hours of fiddling, a squirt of JB Weld, and an hour or two on the phone wrangling with Customer Disservice specialists at FedEx. Not too shabby... :cool: