Dear Art,

Congratulations on your GGGrandfather's planes. Nice to have that sort of
legacy.
This is a bit long and if you already know this stuff, just hit the appropriate
button.
    On the warped plow arm: I've had varying results with these. If it was
summer, I'd say, wet the concave side and put it out in the sun. That not being
an option, at least here in soggy Northern Calif., I'd steam it or soak it in
some warm water long enough to make it pliant. Then clamp it straight and wait
for it to dry to ambient humidity. Sometimes this works great, other times,
it'll
just want to revert to the old warp. If it won't remain straight, and you are
intent on being able to use the tool, you can try cutting a replacement for the
warped arm. Then you can put the original in a safe place until you want it.
Replacing a plow arm that has varying degrees of difficulty, depending on how
the
plow was constructed.
    As for the screws: Are these screws in a plane? Anyway, I have two ways to
extract screw fragments. (1) use a small diameter drill bit --a 1/16 in your
eggbeater works fine -- to drill a series of holes in a circular pattern around
the fragment. then just reach in with a pair of needle nosed pliers and take it
out. Once the fragment is out, drill out the hole so as to make it neat and fill
it with a dowel. I like to cap the dowel with a flat grain plug to match the
grain. Actually, most of the time, you can just plug the hole and you're done.
(2) The second way to get the screw fragment out is to use a screw extractor
that
comes in the form of a small steel tube, which looks a bit like a 2-in. drinking
straw with teeth cut in both ends. They come in various sizes and I've heard
that
they're easily made out of length of steel tubing. It fits into your drill or
(hand-cranked) drill press and just cuts a nice clean circle around the
fragment.
Rockler has a picture at:
http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/findprod.cfm?&DID=6&sku=2354.
    For future reference: When an old screw corrodes, it's tough to get out. The
first thing to do it be sure your screwdriver fits the slot. Don't be afraid to
grind it to fit. That alone forestalls a lot of problems. Once you've got the
right sized tool, if the screw doesn't turn out with reasonable force, first try
tightening (yup) the screw. Often times, alternately tightening and loosening
will work -- good galloot advice from an earlier discussion. If that doesn't
work, with your driver in the slot, try giving the screw a few sharp blows. If
that doesn't work, heat an old screwdriver up with a torch until it's almost red
hot, then apply the driver to the screw. Don't try to turn it out at the same
time; what you want to do is transfer the heat to the screw so that it will
expand and break loose from old corrosion. It might take two or three tries, but
this and some patience will usually work.
    Hope this helps.

John Quinn
Santa Rosa

>
>
>     Recently, I rescued about 20 wooden planes of various kinds from my dad's
> shop attic, where they had sat for 40 years. They are about 140 years old,
> and once belonged to my great-great grandfather. I feel very fortunate to
> have them. Unfortunately, some didn't weather the last century so well. One
> of the arms on a plow plane I'm cleaning up has the slightest bow in it,
> which prevents the body of the plane from sliding further than an inch or two
> before it binds. Is there a way to straighten out the arm without doing harm
> or removing material?
>
>    Also, I'm sorry to say that I've broken some screws in trying to remove
> them. What are some ways to free severely rusty screws from wood without
> breaking them in the first place, and how should I go about extracting the
> remaining bit of screw? In most cases, it was the very tip that let go, so
> maybe there's enough screw to hold.Believe me, I was as careful as I could be
> trying to remove these things- I worked them back and forth gently, and
> heated them using a soldering iron hoping the expanding metal would break
> them free. Thanks!
>
> Art Bailey
>
> --