Hand plane lever cap chips

[dlminehart]

I picked up an old #5 on eBay recently, and notice that the lever cap has some chips out of the front where it presses against the chip breaker. Nothing really huge, but a few about 1/4" wide and up to 1/8" deep. My intention is to use this plane as a trial for rejuvenation, and as one to actually use for work. Will those chips affect its use? If so, I'll return it to the seller.

[kwgeorge]

Don can probably talk more to this as he has more experience but I don’t think it will be all that bad. You can grind the lever cap back a bit where it sits higher up on the chip breaker. This should not be an issue as long it still sits high on the rounded section of the chip breaker. You can also watch Ebay for a replacement lever cap as I have seem many of them for sale up there cheap. Regardless it will be good experience for you. It is not uncommon to find lever caps with chips in them as people would use them for a screwdriver just because it was handy.

Ken

[Pappy]

Ken is right. Minor damage to the lever cap won't affect the use of a plane. The most imortant things are a flat sole and no damage to the mouth or where the chip breaker sits on the iron.