A Replacement Plane Yoke

[rxh]

A couple of years ago, before I discovered UK Workshop and the wisdom that it contains, I bought a Brook No.7 plane (pause for gasps of horror). I mainly make small items of furniture and musical instruments and my Record No.5½ was the largest plane I felt the need for until I set out to make a double bed. I suspect I was lucky as my Brook plane turned out to have a pretty flat sole and the blade didn’t need much fettling to make it work OK. However, the yoke offended me every time I saw it or adjusted the plane – it is made of two pieces of pressed steel held together with a hollow rivet and was a very sloppy fit. I have replaced the yoke with one made from a solid piece of steel and the result is a considerable improvement. It was an interesting exercise in metalwork and I thought that readers might be interested to see it. However, I think a better path to getting a good No.7 without buying a premium new one would be to look out for an old Stanley or Record and refurbish as necessary!

 

[ColeyS1]

That yokes a thing of beauty !!! Well done on the modification - I just know tomorrow im gonna be looking how crap mine are now though :lol:

 

[snikolaev28]

Hello rxh,

Just found the same problem with Stanley 4 Handyman sometime ago. The same poor (mass production) made yoke.
It seems to me that you have not any 'how to', just some elbow grease and 'go ahead'?

 

[bugbear]

...I have replaced the yoke with one made from a solid piece of steel and the result is a considerable improvement. It was an interesting exercise in metalwork and I thought that readers might be interested to see it.

If your other skills are as good as your filling, you must be making some nice stuff.

Here's a guy that might interest you - anther file master:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/remark/pages ... e%20anchor

BugBear

 

[Richard T]

=D>

Did you machine it or cut it out by hand?

 

[rxh]

Thanks for all your comments. I started with a piece of round bar stock - it would have been easier to use square but round is what I found in my junk box. I removed some of the waste by milling but most of the work was done with hacksaw, ordinary files and rifflers. The round bit at the bottom of the fork was made by drilling and then sawing through to the hole to create the "arms".

 

[heimlaga]

well done

i have thought about doing exactly that to my anchor number 3 smoother.