Sargent plane parts?

[Bill Houghton]

I recently picked up a Sargent No. 79 rabbet plane - this is the Sargent riff on the Stanley No. 78 duplex rabbet, though it's clear that Sargent was building for a market with less disposable income - simpler casting, a lot of simplified machining steps, etc.

It came with a depth stop, but no fence. A Stanley 78 fence will fit, it appears, but the fence rod uses an odd thread pitch - looks like 1/4"-22. Anyone happen to know where I could get such a thing?

[Marcus Ward]

St James Bay Tool Co probably has it. That dude has everything.

[Bill Houghton]

though it occurs to me to call and ask how easy it is for them to do a custom one - I don't know what their volume is.

[Marcus Ward]

It might be the same as the equiv stanley part.

[Bill Houghton]

It might be the same as the equiv stanley part.

Stanley's not the only company to use thread pitches that are now non-standard. The Stanley 78 fence rod uses a 1/4"-28 thread pitch (now Unified Fine thread), while the Sargent, as best I can tell, uses a 1/4"-22 pitch, no longer standard.

[Marcus Ward]

Those not very nice people who probably could be called something slightly stronger but I can't because any sort of word carrying negative connotations about the provenance of the aforementioned nice people is thought by Dave Anderson to be a curse word (or so he told me in a private message asking me to edit this post). Didn't they know we'd need parts 100 years later?? Some people!

Good luck!

[Johnny Kleso]

I can make you a rod for $5 + shipping but I need to know exactly what thread it is

You maybe able to get a Stanley sized tao at www.rutlandtool.com and retap the Sargent to fit the Stanley but I'm thinking the rod is a 1/4" and the thread is smaller..

I just checked the Wards Master 78 I have here and it is a #12(.216) -28 (tpi) a standard size on a 1/4" rod
Wards had Stanley as a maker of their tools ar one time and I think Sargent was the maker after Stanley.

If you go to a good hardware store you might be able to buy a screw to check the size or better yet bring the plane..

I think Stanley use a 12-20 bastard size (no standard)

[Bill Houghton]

I can make you a rod for $5 + shipping but I need to know exactly what thread it is.

Johnny,

When I try the thread gauge on it, the 22-pitch gauge settles in comfortably; sizes on each side of this pitch don't. I can thread a standard 1/4" fine thread screw into it just a bit before it hangs up. So I'm speculating that it's 1/4"-22.

I was thinking about spraying the hole with WD-40, then filling it with 5-minute epoxy and shoving a piece of wire in before the epoxy set up, to see if I could get a plug with the threads and diameter. I tried this approach today with a connector nut and Fixall, but the Fixall wasn't strong enough; tomorrow I'll clean out the connector nut and try the epoxy, see if that's strong enough to maintain its shape while I unscrew it from the hole.

But I'm open to suggestions for other ways to confirm the size.

[Bill Houghton]

I can make you a rod for $5 + shipping but I need to know exactly what thread it is.

Johnny,

As best I can tell, it's 22 threads per inch - checked two ways, both the "feel" of a 22 pitch thread gauge vs. others, and threading a dowel into the hole and then checking the few threads I was able to get that way.

Diameter appears to be .245. I can thread the Stanley fence rod (which is 28 threads per inch) into it a turn or so before it binds, and that's the diameter of the Stanley rod.

Lengths: threaded portion 1/4", then a collar that's the minor diameter of the threads for 1/8" (I assume to simplify the threading), then the section the fence slides on, which is 0.280 (nominal but slightly undersized 9/32) by 2-9/16".

I've sent you an e-mail, too, with some more information.

Bill