Planes!
No doubt, you’ll remember that in previous posts I’ve extolled the virtues of my Veritas miniature block plane. Well, not anymore!
The thread on the small screw, which holds in place the cap iron, has stripped thus rendering it unusable. I got on to Axminster and you can get a replacement screw, which I’ve ordered, so now all I have to do is wait 12 weeks for it to arrive! Looking at the plane’s design I can’t help feeling the some of the components are just too small to be robust enough for daily luthier usage.
Coincidentally, at the weekend, I picked-up this old Stanley #101 plane.
Back when it was first introduced, it was sold by Stanley as a toy plane, but as it proved popular with craftsman it was re-advertised as small plane block plane.
Unfortunately the cap iron has broken, so the intention is to make a new one from some brass.
The wee plane is clearly old and after looking at various web-sites, it seems that the S foundry mark on its castings means that it was made between 1894 to 1902. At least 116 year old then! Not sure if the complex miniature mechanism of the Veritas will last that long (well, not if I use it regularly!).
Coincidentally, at the weekend, I picked-up this old Stanley #101 plane.
Unfortunately the cap iron has broken, so the intention is to make a new one from some brass.
Labels: Luthier, Stanley #101 plane, Veritas miniature block plane
posted by Gary Nava, Luthier at 4:36 pm
1 Comments:
The good news is you can get a replacement.
The bad news is that the steel in the screw is harder than the iron in the plane. And also that it takes 12 weeks to get one.
If that is a "normal" flat head screw with a currently available thread (I am thinking of the odd Stanley threads), I would recommend going to a hardware store and buying one as long as will thread in and still do the job. Get a couple in the next two lengths up if they are cheap enough. Buy a higher grade screw if you have a choice.
Conventional engineering wisdom is that the first 3 threads take all the load and some people design with only 3 threads of engagement for that reason. I personally call BS on that and use extra thread depth in my designs.
My guess is that the upper threads in that hole are compromised and using the same screw will lead to removal of the remaining threads in the iron.
Looking at your scale, could that be an M3 screw? That's tiny for a lever cap. You might contact Veritas if the iron is stripped and if they replace it, follow my advice to prevent a repeat performance.
Hope you get this sorted out.
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