A while back I rolled the ebay dice on a set of a #4, #5, and #6 Baileys. The #4 and #5 are in pretty close to working order, the #6 has some issues. It's got a type 11 base with a type 13-15 lever cap that has some issues. It did not take me long to discover that with the cam locked down I could still easily pull the lever cap off with just finger pressure. From there I noticed the iron was bent such that there was a good 1/16th gap with the cap iron at the back. Also some I'm sure well meaning fellow had ground the front edge of the lever cap. However he apparently did not see the need for having his eyes open when he did so judging by the end results. (He also applied the same technique when sharpening all three blades, but that is another story)
I was able to get the iron in the vacinity of straight putting it in the vise and using a length of 2x4 with a slit in the end to bend it, but it still rocks a bit on the frog when mated with the cap iron, and I can see a lot of light between iron and frog if I shine a flashlight through the mouth. The lever cap holds a bit better after this, but I can still pull it back with little effort. I wasn't sure how much the mangled front edge of the lever cap was affecting anything as the bottom of it was still flat, but i straightened it out. This didn't seem to affect the clamping pressure. However in the process I noticed that the lever cap is warped slightly.
I'm not sure exactly why I'm not getting any clamping pressure. I tried putting on the lever cap from the #4 and I was able to get it clamped tight, I had to back out the screw almost a full turn to get it on. It was either bottomed out or in as far as the rust on the screw will let it in with the proper lever cap. I can understand that the iron may still be part of the problem, but it's just too easy to lock the cam down and I don't know why. Is it the warp? Is it because the guy ground down the front edge? I'm not sure how much he took off as I don't have another cap of that size, but it's the same length from the hole to the front edge as the #4/#5's
What should be my first step? The iron has an inch left on it, I would like to save it but I'm not sure how much straighter I can get it. The lever cap isn't original so I don't have a problem ditching it if need be, but its patina does match the rest and I have these both as users and for display. If it can be saved I'd like to save it. At this point I'm just trying to get from falls apart when looked at crosseyed to serviceable, I'm not looking for poetry in motion.
-Leuf