Restoring a 9 1/2 Stanley Block Plane - Does anyone have a donor lateral adjustment lever?

[Sneezle]

Morning all,

Sorry, I would have posted this in the Wanted section but I don't yet have the privileges to do that.

My father in law has recently found his Grandad's old Stanley 9 1/2 and has asked me to see if I can do anything with it. He was delighted to find it as his Grandad was a carpenter and it has been missing for nearly 50 years.

Looking at it, it's a rusty mess but seems fixable. I've started work on it and it's beginning to look quite nice. The only issue that I can see at this stage is that the lateral adjustment lever is missing the washer which allows it to adjust the blade. I don't think it's a deal breaker as the plane would still be workable without it, but I would really like to give it back in full working order if possible.

I have tried to bodge a fix by stacking old imperial washers and peening in a short aluminum rivet but it's just messy and doesn't work. I have now ordered multiple types of washers and rivets off the bay and have decided to give up as the costs are now approaching double digits which is nearly the cost of a second hand 9 1/2 in itself!

I have only just started with Woodwork and so metalwork is totally beyond me. Does any kind soul happen to have a spare or donor 9 1/2 lateral adjustment lever in Nickle that they wouldn't mind parting with? Happy to pay for it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[IWW]

Sneezle, you're unlikely to find anything with the right inside & outside diameters & the right thickness in a local hardware store, but it would be child's play for anyone with a metal lathe to whip you up a washer of the correct dimensions. I wouldn't use an aluminium rivet - I suggest an ordinary nail of the right diameter will be better, It's not so much the better shear strength of the steel, it's because the steel will give a more solid grip when peened in place. The trick is to allow enough protrusion of your rivet to peen into a shallow counter-sink, then file the excess metal off. It's quite a simple process, you shouldn't need any prior metalworking experience to get a tolerable result.

As you say, the plane would work just fine without a functioning lateral adjuster, but I can understand your wanting to bring it back to 'original' state.....
Cheers,
Ian