Stanley Bailey and Shifty Totes

[Jim Foster]

I have several Stanley Bailey and a few other old planes that have one screw in the tote. The forward location for the screw has a simple boss cast into the plane base instead (to save manufacturing costs I suspect). In all these planes the tote shifts around in use. On the current one I am using, a #4, I tried sanding the bottom of the tote flat, but the problem persists. Has anyone been frustrated enough with a shifty tote to work out a solution?

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I think all the smaller planes only had one tote.

Usually is a case of the handle wood having shrunk enough that you can't get decent pressure from the rear screw to hold things in place. I think sanding the bottom might make things worse if this is the cause. I suppose if it shifts around in use long enough in use the little knub in front might wallow out and make the fit worse. I usually just drop a washer or two in the handle to allow the rear screw to tighten things up more firmly. I think I wrapped the front knub with a bit of tape once to get that fit tighter as well.

[Judson Green]

On a few of the flea market finds I've found tape being used on the front knob, makes sense now. A few of my totes are shifty but I use em anyway.

[Bill Houghton]

If the hole in the tote where it fits over the little boss has wallowed out, you could probably use an epoxy filler. Grease the area around the tote to act as a release, fill the hole with some epoxy, install tote, turn upside down while the epoxy sets. Something like that. I haven't tried this; it just seems logical.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

While I did fill the wallowed out bit on my number 4 as I mentioned, I'm really not sure it's actually an issue if you can just get the back screw snugged up properly.

I did forget to add to be careful though if your shop experiences large temp/humidity swings - I've seen handles go back and forth between loose and tight, and you'd hate something to expand again later and crack or something.

[Bill McDermott]

I had that issue on an old transitional. The handle had a single bolt, but no boss or other helpers in the casting. It did however have beveled edges on the bottom of the handle, on the sides. The casting was made with little lips against which the handle is intended to register. My old handle is very worn. The shiftiness is slight and I just live with it. But now that you have me thinking about it, I imagine widening the very bottom of the handle with a thin shim of veneer would tighten things very nicely. Maybe you have the same opportunity.

[Jim Koepke]

But now that you have me thinking about it, I imagine widening the very bottom of the handle with a thin shim of veneer would tighten things very nicely.

+1 on the shim. A few of mine have been fixed this way.

Some totes are not as good as others. My experience with rosewood totes has been pretty good. With some of the other hardwoods some of my totes have had a bit of flex to them.

It can be annoying.

If the tote is actually loose, try a shim. Even the cardboard from a cereal box can be used.

jtk

[Charles Bjorgen]

I've had good luck shimming loose totes with pieces of leather. I first drill the hole in the leather and then cut the circle to size. Sometimes it takes more than one piece to get the tote tight.

[Jim Foster]

I'll give it a try and report my success back, the sanding I did was to remove a wobble in the bottom, I did not get the sense the screw was bottoming out, but it makes sense that that could be the problem. I do not have any washers that have the right outside diameter, hopefully they are a standard (readily available) size. I like the tape idea as well

[Shawn Pixley]

The only time I wasn't able to get the tote properly tightened was with the rod and screw cap bottoming out. Shim up the tote or cut more thread and shorten the rod.

[Jim Foster]

I worked on one of my "shifty" totes today. It was indeed an issue with shrinkage in the height of the tote as many suggested above. I was able to get it tight by grinding off a thread or two of the tote screw.

[Brian Myers]

I've had to do the same thing on a hand planes. I ground off a few threads ,tighten the rod down and after that was good to go. Sometimes I've had the reflatten the bottom of the tote so it sat better on the plane . Usually I flatten to bottom of a tote on the same sandpaper and granite counter top section I use for lapping the soles of planes.

[finlay gray]

I made a replacement handle, or tote, for a Stanley no 7 jointer plane and it required much hard work and time

[Charles Guest]

On a few of the flea market finds I've found tape being used on the front knob, makes sense now. A few of my totes are shifty but I use em anyway.

Fold up a fairly fine shaving and cram it under there before tightening the screw down. If that doesn't work, fold a thicker shaving and do the same thing.

[Jim Koepke]

Fold up a fairly fine shaving and cram it under there before tightening the screw down. If that doesn't work, fold a thicker shaving and do the same thing.

If you can find a washer of the right size, place it under the nut that secures the tote.

jtk

- this zombie has resurrected after seven years…