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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
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    Brisbane, Australia
    Age
    43
    Posts
    519

    Default A little technique for cleaning up front tote handles without a lathe

    A forum member was very kind to offer to provide me some surplus front knob handles for Bailey hand planes (BobL).

    I thought in the spirit of camaraderie I should post both something that might be useful newbies without a lathe, which will also serve to let the donor know what I've done with his goods!

    These are the old warriors as they arrived:

    IMG_20200830_204643.jpg

    They are evidently veterans and trying to sand/otherwise abrade them back to complete smoothness would have taken off too much material, and to me not really felt "right".

    My technique with a little Bosch drill press (I have space issues) is to make this little holder which can be gripped in the drill press once the nuts move down. The idea of the big washer is to avoid the nut on the top of the knob crushing the area where the hole is bored out and expanding the bored-out area would visible. This is cheap as can be - a couple of wingnuts and a piece of threaded rod that will fit:

    IMG_20200830_204659.jpg

    And then you can sand. I go at a very slow speed particularly with the coarse grit I started with, which I only used to knock the old, flaking finish off really.

    IMG_20200830_204815.jpg

    I also stop and inspect after starting. You can often find a big chunk of dried finish - lacquer? I assume - that you can knock off with a chisel or knife or whatever to speed things up without abrading too much. Again, this was just to clean up and not smooth to "as new".

    I decided to try three different finishes widely described so I could compare them: boiled linseed oil + pastewax, shellac + pastewax, and ubeaut Shellawax. For the first two knobs I only sanded to 600 grit as a higher grade seemed to matter less. The third, for Shellawax, I sanded to 3000 grit.

    The handy thing about doing this way is you can add a messy finish without taking off the drill press, leaving your fingers cleaner!

    IMG_20200830_210340.jpg

    At the risk of blowing smoke up the forum admit - Shellawax really is a great product. Although not visible in photos it's just done in a minute (no lingering smell) compared to the others where I will have to go back and finish tomorrow.

    And here are the troops at the end. They are obviously still a little weathered. The colour of the old finish (a maroon) seems to have left colour in the wood in some areas (I am not sure whether just not sanded enough or whether the finish perhaps leeches some colour into the wood). I probably could have sanded back further to get out more deeper bumps and scratches but they were really quite deep (if you compare with the first photo you'll see how much they change).

    Although the surface imperfections are quite obvious in a close-up photo they're really not noticeable when the tool is just on or under the bench.

    IMG_20200830_213640.jpg

    Thanks to BobL for his generosity! The chaps have a modest new home but will be well-loved!

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
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    Perth
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    Default

    Great to see they have a good home.

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