My first Infill

Re: My first Infill

Hi G H,

Our own Steve Elliott is quite expert on rejuvenating infills—if you have questions or uncertainties, he can help..

Is that tote screw still tight, or has it been wallowed out?  On fixing that tote, it occurs to me that you could augment the screw, and strengthen the join, by running a 5/16 or 3/8” dowel up from the bottom. 

Wiley

Re: My first Infill

Hi Wiley

Thank you for the advice and the note about Steve. 

I can't be sure but I've seen the screw in the same position in the handle on other planes of this type. An original feature or getting over a similar issue?

Like you, I thought about the dowel idea. I've got some oak dowel to hand so it might form part of the solution.

Re: My first Infill

I would be wary of the dowel fix for two reasons. One is that screwing into end grain has very little strength.

The other is that the dowel grain will be at 90 degrees to the handles expansion and contraction. That may either cause the handle to crack or make the end of the dowel protrude from the bottom of the handle.

To make the handle "like new", meaning with the original limitations, making a cross grain plug or a series of cross grain plugs to fill in an enlarged hole where the screw was would do that.

A compromise that would maximize the strength and minimize the shrink mismatch would be cutting the plugs at 45 degrees to the long grain. I would glue up the break first and then do the enhancements on a one-piece handle. That will spare you trying to keep track of a lot of loose bits at glue time.

That is a nice plane and an excellent deal. I prefer the hammer adjust infills to the Norris adjuster one that I have. Is that a walnut fill or some other wood?

Re: My first Infill

Hi Steve

Thanks for your interest. My intention was to add the dowel beside the screw, not to infill the existing hole and screw into it. The brass screw is a pretty good fit. If anything, it's slightly bottoming out. 

Whatever I do it will be with a careful dry run with very slow setting epoxy!

I'm very pleased with the plane. Hopefully my repair will do it justice and last a good long while.

I can't be sure on the infill, it looks to be mahogany but I'm no expert on infills of this age.

Re: My first Infill

Hi GH,

The only reason I asked about the screw, was in case a prior owner had tried to use the plane with a broken/loose handle, and mangled the female threading.  Your answer to Steve sets that worry aside.  

You did great on the price!  

Wiley

Infill handle attachment

Hi Graham

I posted the details of a Spier restoration/rebuild in 2006 on the Old Tools Listserve. In this it was needed to completely replace the infill. The research on these planes revealed that the handles are filled into a mortice-and-tenon. 

This is part of my build ..

How it arrived …

Creating a new handle …

Fitted inside the mortice …

Finished plane …

I must add that the double iron was the making of this plane. With a closed up chipbreaker, it planes all interlocked grain.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: My first Infill

Thanks Wiley, yes £55 is pretty reasonable.

Thanks for the photos, Derek. It's nice to see how the handle is joined. I suspect something similar here. I'll be sticking with the repair to try and maintain originality.

I expect it to perform less well than the No.4 due to the lack of adjustment on the move. However, I intend to enjoy it for taking a few final passed now and again, just for the joy of it 

Re: My first Infill

I expect it to perform less well than the No.4 due to the lack of adjustment on the move.

It will be different for sure. For fine smoothing in challenging wood I would expect it to exceed a #4 Bailey. It will not be a plane for heavy shavings, then grab a #4.

If you end up wanting to refinish the woodwork, a small card scraper with a proper burr will clean off old finish with a minimum of wood removal.

Enjoy your plane. It was quite a catch and will benefit from your stewardship.

Re: My first Infill

‘…a few final passes…”.     That’s a good plan.  Just leave it finely set with a fresh edge on it, and it’s a finish plane.

Wiley

Re: My first Infill

Thanks, Gentleman.

And for the record, I'm not the total young blood you've been looking for to join, but 55 is a good long while away 😊.