Thread: Carter NO6 cap iron

Rick, by your description, I take it you mean the lever cap rather than the "cap-iron" (or "chip-breaker"). Unless Carter is different from Stanley & Record, the protector plate is riveted on. The rivet is peened into a countersink on the front, then filed flush (& usually covered by chrome), so work on the back - file the 'head' flush with the plate & you should be able to punch the rivet out fairly easily. To replace it, find a nail of the right diameter, cut it about 2-3mm longer than the thickness of your new spring + lever cap. The extra length is so you can peen each side into a new 'head' to hold the plate. Ordinary nails peen nicely (don't go for a concrete nail or anything hard!). It's a pretty straightforward job, and you are unlikely to damage the cap-iron unless you get stuck into it with a mighty big hammer! The next job will be to find a suitable bit of plate to use - a bit of thin card scraper or similar would be my choice...

Cheers,

I might have one. I'll have a look in the morning
Tom

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

I might have one. I'll have a look in the morning
Tom

I have had a look and found a Number 6 lever cap that will fit - not a Carter I'm afraid.
It is from a Kunz plane and will accommodate the Carter lever cap screw OK I think.
You are welcome to it for the cost of postage.
Cheers
Tom

Ian, yes it is the lever cap but I have never referred to it as such, always the cap iron, I checked old high school text books and it was referred to as either or both guess it depends on what school you went to.

Tom, thanks for the offer but I have drilled the rivet out and am making a spring from a paint scraper, and will use a 3" nail as a new rivet. The original seemed to be just a very tight fit, I couldn't budge it and when it was drilled out I used a counter sink bit to slightly enlarge the top of the hole to peen the nail to make sure it stays put.

Cheers Rick.

Originally Posted by Rick47

Ian, yes it is the lever cap but I have never referred to it as such, always the cap iron, I checked old high school text books and it was referred to as either or both guess it depends on what school you went to.

Tom, thanks for the offer but I have drilled the rivet out and am making a spring from a paint scraper, and will use a 3" nail as a new rivet. The original seemed to be just a very tight fit, I couldn't budge it and when it was drilled out I used a counter sink bit to slightly enlarge the top of the hole to peen the nail to make sure it stays put.

Cheers Rick.

No worries Rick.
I am glad you were able to fix yours as the originals always look best.
I also turned up some Stanley and Turner lever caps in my search if you ever need one
Happy shavings
Tom

That's the spirit Rick. A piece of paint scraper should do the job nicely, it'll be smooth and hard without being over-hard. You will need a small bend in it, where it fits under the cam, which you should be able to do by putting it in a vise & pushing it over with a piece of wood.
And I was having a brain-fade when I was talking about the rivet going through the lever-cap, it doesn't, of course, it's a press-fit pin. I've only replaced one myself, & that was many years ago, so I think I was picturing the lateral adjuster rivet, which is a through rivet - have had to fix several of those. It might take a bit of fiddling to get the diameter of the nail just right so it goes in & holds firmly. The trick is to apply a very small taper to the pin so it tightens as you tap it in, without jamming before it gets all the way home. It doesn't take a lot of strain in use, so the fit doesn't need to be extra-tight. If your fit is firm, but not hammer-tight, a dab of Loctite before you tap it in will probably give you enough holding power.

Originally Posted by Rick47

Ian, yes it is the lever cap but I have never referred to it as such, always the cap iron, I checked old high school text books and it was referred to as either or both guess it depends on what school you went to.....

Well all I can say is that your high-school texts were not written with due care & attention! We do need to distinguish between cap-irons (or "chip-breakers" if you will) and lever-caps to avoid confusion - as demonstrated by this thread...

Chees,

Originally Posted by IanW

...We do need to distinguish between cap-irons (or "chip-breakers" if you will) and lever-caps to avoid confusion - as demonstrated by this thread...

I used to struggle with the term "lever cap". What about the ones that have a screw instead of a cam lever? Then I realized "lever' was referring to the whole cap being a lever, not the little cam lever at the top .

Cheers, Vann.

Originally Posted by Vann

.....Then I realized "lever' was referring to the whole cap being a lever, not the little cam lever at the top...

I don't think you are alone there, Vann - it took me a few years for the full penny to drop too!

I also didn't appreciate what a clever bit of engineering the cam-operated lever cap is until I started mucking about with thumbscrew-operated types. A bit of fiddling with the fulcrum screw on a Bailey & you have the pressure on the blade assembly just-so, holding it all firmly but allowing the adjuster to operate without having to back off & re-tighten thumbscrews. Deceptively simple, but extremely effective!

Cheers,

Well this has led me to places I never new existed, apart from lever caps and cap irons, after a c&j apprentice ship and being in the building game from age15 to 55 until I retired and settled down to do some real woodwork I am sure I hadn't heard of a chip breaker or a tote, that has always been the handle but at least the lump of wood on the front of my planes only seems to be the Knob no matter where you live or went to school so please don't tell me it can be called something else.

Cheers. Rick.

No worries, Rick I've never seen the bit of wood on the front of a Bailey referred to as anything other than a 'knob', so I think you're safe there. But you better stay away from British infills, 'cos the lump of wood in the toe section of those is usually referred to as a "bun".

From my frequenting of forums based in other countries, "cap iron/chipbreaker" and "handle/tote" are respectively British & U.S. terms. Thanks to the cultural dominance of the U.S., "tote" is sneaking into the British Isles in place of "handle", but a lot of the older posters stick stubbornly to "handle". Here in Aus. we are about halfway between the two & get both sets of terms, so we need to be bilingual.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

...From my frequenting of forums based in other countries, "cap iron/chipbreaker" and "handle/tote" are respectively British & U.S. terms. Thanks to the cultural dominance of the U.S., "tote" is sneaking into the British Isles in place of "handle", but a lot of the older posters stick stubbornly to "handle"...

Yes Ian, but... I believe the term 'tote' traveled to the USA from Britain (way back when), and then died out in it's country of origin. So it is British . And what's more, using the term 'tote' distinguishes which handle you're referring to (the other handle being the 'knob'). When someone refers to the plane 'handle' I have to ask "the front handle or the rear handle?".

As for chipbreaker! That's as bad as referring to the 'blade' . Planes don't have a 'blade'. They have a 'cutting iron' and a 'cap iron' and the two screwed together are the 'double iron'. So there .

Ducking behind parapet before the shooting starts .

Cheers, Vann .

Originally Posted by Vann

.....Ducking behind parapet before the shooting starts ......

Nah, you're safe from me, Vann. Names do matter, but as long as we know what bits we are referring too, I'm happy to speak in whatever language is preferred. I suspect you are correct about "tote" being British (after all, 95% of U.S. language originated there!) & lots of words & expressions died out at home but persisted in the colonies.

It's such a mixed bag, the North Americans do talk about "double iron" planes, but you rarely see "cutter" or "cutting iron" or just "iron" used for the blade as in Britain. You & I frequent the same site on one of the British forums & I'm sure you'll agree they usually talk about "iron" or less often "cutter" but occasionally say "blade". I can usually figure out which bit of a plane is being referred to, but occasionally, as with this thread, I need to ask to remove any ambiguity.....

Cheers,
(You must be house-bound like I am today to be responding so quickly )

Originally Posted by IanW

Nah, you're safe from me, Vann. Names do matter...

Yes, I was wondering which ones you were going to call me .

Originally Posted by IanW

...(You must be house-bound like I am today to be responding so quickly )

Night-shift this week. I just got out of bed for a midnight (1pm) snack - and email check.

Cheers, Vann.