Don,

The planes are brand new to me so I can't respond to the question regarding how
old the cracks are although my guess is that they are not at all new. Also, I
have not used the smoothing plane as is to have noticed whether the two cracks
in front of the wedge have grown.

The smoothing plane body is not deformed. The jack plane body has noticable
twist along the sole and it isn't at all flat. I will be taking out the twist
and will flatten the sole.

Of the two, left as is, I worry most about the jack plane cracking apart length
wise.

I'm really happy to have obtained both planes and I'm very motivated to rehab
and use them. Aside from honing and sharpening the irons, the irons and chip
breakers are in great condition.

Mark

On Apr 23, 2015, at 05:00 PM, Don Schwartz  wrote:

> I would suggest you apply CA wherever you suspect the integrity of the
> plane has been compromised by wedge/iron and hammering - splits
> resulting from normal use or abuse. That includes the splitting you
> describe on the smoother. Those splits can sometimes be helped with
> screws or, more radically, by planing the side(s) off to remove the
> splits, attaching new wood, and shaping as required. Only do one side
> at a time! ;-)
>
> Any splits resulting simply from wood movement should be considered
> individually. Are they resulting in defomation of the plane body? Can
> they be readily closed by clamping without causing deformation? Are they
> new cracks or old? Have you observed their elongation since you've owned
> the planes? If left alone, are they likely to extend to the mouth or
> affect the wedging action?
>
> I would only apply BLO after finishing with any gluing, and likely then
> only to close up end grain checking visible in the mouth or ends of the
> body. It's mostly cosmetic IMO.
>
> FWIW
> Don
>
> On 2015-04-23 1:01 PM, Mark Jefferis wrote:
>> On the jack plane, I am concerned that the number, placement, length
>> and width of the checks/cracks imply that the checks/cracks could
>> lengthen and break the body a part. I am imagining that stabilizing
>> these cracks could prevent them from growing. I am not worried about
>> appearance. I just don't want it to fall a part while I'm using it.
>>
>> Of most concern, the smoother has length wise cracks/splits on each
>> side of the body top where the wedge terminates in the throat against
>> the iron. These cracks in front of the wedge are directly affected by
>> the wedge's pressure. The cracks follow the grain. I am able to close
>> these two splits with a pliers.
>> Is there agreement that CA glue is an effective and easy approach to
>> preventing the two wooden planes from falling a part? Initially I was
>> going to use yellow wood glue.
>>
>> I will also take up the suggestion about soaking them in BLO.
>
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