Stanley Handyman plane #4, model 1204

[Dan Kopack]

This was my father's plane. I am looking for the "cap screw". It is the screw that holds the plane iron and cap together. Stanley does not sell as a individual item. There is an individual on the west coast that advertises he has the part but he will not answer the phone or an email. Anyone have a suggestion as to where I might find this part. Thanks.

[Steve Demuth]

It's the same screw used in any other Stanley plane for that purpose. You can easily get one on eBay for under $10 - just search for "Stanley cap iron screw."

[Jim Koepke]

There is an individual on the west coast that advertises he has the part but he will not answer the phone or an email.

If that is the individual in Port Angeles, WA he is pretty good about answering email. Make sure you have .net and not .com on his eddress.

This should be an easy part to find on ebay.

jtk

[Bill Houghton]

If the person on the West Coast wasn't Pete Niederberger, try him: 'EMAIL="pniederber@aol.com"]pniederber@aol.com[/EMAIL. If it was, I'm puzzled; he's always responded very quickly to me.

At some point, someone here may say, "It's a Handyman plane, why spend time on it?" But I'd encourage you to go ahead and get it fixed up; for one thing, it was your dad's, and family tools have value. For another, the Handyman planes could be decent planes, or not, partly depending on the quality control

The biggest weakness I've seen in the Handyman planes is that they often lack the flat steel spring under the cam on the lever cap (the part that holds the plane iron and cap in the plane). This can cause the cam to dig in a bit. If your lever cap is missing this part, you can add it easily. Get a piece of feeler gauge stock (bearing and supply house is your likely source) - 0.014" is about right, although the exact thickness isn't critical. See if they'll punch a 1/8" hole centered in one end for you; if not, you should be able to drill it. Then drill a blind (not all the way through) hole in the lever cap at the right place and use a short aluminum pop rivet to hold the piece on. Look around the internet for "bench plane parts" that will illustrate the spring, if you don't know what I'm talking about. https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/.../benchkits.jpg has a better illustration of the spring than most images online.

[Dan Kopack]

Thanks everyone