I’m a big fan of The Accidental Woodworker, a blog where amateur woodworker Ralph writes daily about his growth as a woodworker. One of his interests includes restoring old handplanes. He does a great job bringing them back to looking like new, and performing even better. So when he recently posted about his difficulties locating someone to repair a cracked frame on a transitional plane he had purchased, I reached out to see if he would be interested in letting a total n00b give it a try.
He was, and I did. Which was rather trusting on his part, since I’ve never done this before. But it was a great excuse to try out TIG brazing, something I’ve had on my list of techniques to learn for quite some time.
Cast iron is notoriously difficult to work with, and as you’ll see in the video, it definitely gave me a bit of trouble. But we got there in the end. I’ve already sent the plane back to Ralph, and I’m looking forward to seeing it fully restored.
Links
- Ralph’s blog, The Accidental Woodworker
- Aluminum bronze brazing rods
- My welder, the PrimeWeld 225x
- Camera tripod and boom
- Blue Demon nickel welding rods
Amazon links are affiliate links. The channel gets a small commission when you order something using them. No worries if you prefer not to use them.
Get Smarter and Make Stuff 