Thread: Bullnose Plane....Homemade lever cap.

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Having read the posting guidelines.
For legal reasons. I have chosen not to post the brand name or Mfg of this inexpensive bullnose plane.
Instead I have chosen to applaud the fine qualities of this bullnose plane and have chosen not to over criticize it. The origional included lever cap is functional.
My Opinion....My homemade lever cap should endure a good solid turn of a screwdriver with no problems.
Photos 3 and Note photo 5 shows the origional lever cap top lever cap without screw. Photos 1. 2. 4. & 5. show my homemade lever cap. The bottom lever cap in photo 5 with the screw is my hand made lever cap.
This post is to show others they too can make a very nice optional replacement lever cap if desired. My opinion only. A new bullnose plane such as mine can be improved a little with a homemade lever cap made of steel.
Also a used obsolete bullnose plane can be improved or restored. All of this can be done without any expensive metal machinery.
Note there are a few small file marks showing in the half round portion of the lever cap and are hidden under the toe. I could not remove any more metal on the half round area and still keep the thicker dimensions and tolerances I chose to use.
My homemade thicker than the origional lever cap means less gap between the lever cap and cast plane body. This results in less gap in between the lever cap and cutting iron.
A lever cap is to simply secure the iron. It is not a chip breaker. Very basic metal skills are all that is needed.
The quality of the bullnose plane's machined sufaces is great. Nice and smooth no sanding needed. The plane's cheeks arrived machined square to the planes flat sole.
Optional.....With a small artist brush I hand painted the inside plane body casting with metal paint to prevent rust.
Optional.....My hand made lever cap took 3 1/2 hours to make and improved the cutting performance. Leather work gloves were worn when using the hand files for this lengthy project.
After a rough grind the steel bar was clamped in a vise, hand filed with a flat mill file and half round, then drilled and tapped and finally cut to length. Sanding and buffing were the final steps.