steve swantee
09-10-2008, 6:51 PM
In January, with a bit of leftover Christmas cash, I decided to pick up the LV Scraper Plane for myself. While I really like the plane, I find that the rear tote is too tall for my hand. After a few strokes I find that my hand tends to slide up the handle, and when the plane reaches the end of the board it tends to tip off the end as the pushing force is not directly behind the plane, but higher up. So, after much debate I decided to modify the existing tote if I could.
First I cut approx. 1/2" -5/8" off the bottom of the tote. Then I re-drilled out the mortise on the bottom for the bosses on the base that the threaded rods screw into. Next I cut the threaded rods to fit the shortened tote with an angle grinder and dressed the burred edges with a file. I then reattached the tote. As the LV plane totes are fairly vertical, cutting this much material off the bottom of the tote only moves the tote back a bit on the plane body.
Now for the shaping. I prefer the styling of the early Stanley totes with the forward swept arch on the front of the tote. The only problem with this is that with the double rod configuration you can't remove too much material here or you will break through the front rod hole. I removed as much as I dared. Next I reshaped the bottom rear of the tote to match up with the rear of thr plane bed, then reshaped the underside of the horn where the web of the thumb and forefinger rests to make it a little more comfortable and elongate the horn a little. All in all I'm very pleased with the results. My hand stays put and keeps the force directly behind the plane where it belongs, and I like the looks too.
9660096602
96601
Steve
First I cut approx. 1/2" -5/8" off the bottom of the tote. Then I re-drilled out the mortise on the bottom for the bosses on the base that the threaded rods screw into. Next I cut the threaded rods to fit the shortened tote with an angle grinder and dressed the burred edges with a file. I then reattached the tote. As the LV plane totes are fairly vertical, cutting this much material off the bottom of the tote only moves the tote back a bit on the plane body.
Now for the shaping. I prefer the styling of the early Stanley totes with the forward swept arch on the front of the tote. The only problem with this is that with the double rod configuration you can't remove too much material here or you will break through the front rod hole. I removed as much as I dared. Next I reshaped the bottom rear of the tote to match up with the rear of thr plane bed, then reshaped the underside of the horn where the web of the thumb and forefinger rests to make it a little more comfortable and elongate the horn a little. All in all I'm very pleased with the results. My hand stays put and keeps the force directly behind the plane where it belongs, and I like the looks too.
9660096602
96601
Steve