Here's a shot of the tote. Notice the flat I made at the top of the horn. That's where a major chip was.

Dominic Greco

And take a look at the front mounting hole. The front is missing and no amount of tightening would stop this tote from wiggling.

I used a couple small pieces of rosewood to repair this rosewood tote. Now before you ask, "Why go through all this mess? Just make a new one!", I'll give you my reasons.

First off, I really don't like making totes. I can shape them pretty easily, but I consistently mess up the drilling for the counter bore at the top. The only way I can see to make it full proof is to buy a counterbore bit. And I have one of them on order now.

Secondly, when I'm restoring an older handplane I like to retain the original rosewood just to keep a measure of "authenticity". Sure a walnut tote will look authentic. But those old rosewood totes had a style. And they look so cool once they are cleaned up and refinished!

Thirdly, I hate to throw out a rosewood tote, or cut it up for scrap just because it's got some dings and cracks. The old timers used rosewood for a reason. It looks awesome and carves so beautifully!

In order to fix the front of the tote, I needed to do the patch in two parts. One to give me a base to work on and one to affix a new "toe" where I could drill a new hole for the screw.

I planed/sanded a flat for the patch and then wiped the area down with mineral spirits (just to clean away excess oils). After that I found two suitable pieces of rosewood and then planed/sanded a flat on them as well.

I use 2 part epoxy that you can buy from Home Depot. I chose epoxy because it makes a more flexible bond than CA Glue. The cup is for containing and mixing the glue. It also acts as a nice way to catch the charcoal dust that I use to color the epoxy.