Thread: Rehandling tool help needed

Copper pipe for the ferrule.

Interested to find out where you got the chisels ,I've just purchased a home made wood lathe from a guy at work and he made three chisels from P&N chisel blanks .
I need to get a couple more to complete the set , a parting tool and a round tipped bowl gouge would be handy.

Kev.

Glenn,
For a tapered tang drill the hole in stepped stages. I do 2 stages for narrow tangs and 3 for wider ones. The small drill is the deepest and step up to follow a rough shape of the tang.
The hole is almost as deep as the length of the tang. On some woods glue is not needed as by striking the but of the handle the tang is driven into the hole and wedges there. The real hard woods deform less and sometimes I use epoxy glue. For turning tool handles pick a wood that has a bit of spring in it and resists splitting. Spotted gum is good and tas oak works. In the us and europe beech, hickory,oak and cherry to name a few. I read somewhere that you try splitting samples of wood with an ax and pick the most resistant ones. Make sure the ferrule is on before you drive in the tang.

Do a google search and you will find some info.

Originally Posted by Woodlee

Interested to find out where you got the chisels ,I've just purchased a home made wood lathe from a guy at work and he made three chisels from P&N chisel blanks .
I need to get a couple more to complete the set , a parting tool and a round tipped bowl gouge would be handy.

Kev.

Hi Woodlee

Give Jim a call at carrolls He's got pretty much a full range of unhandled P&N {about 30 tools in the range }
or try

Lumber Bunker as well


Cheers
Glenn

Originally Posted by orraloon

Glenn,
For a tapered tang drill the hole in stepped stages. I do 2 stages for narrow tangs and 3 for wider ones. The small drill is the deepest and step up to follow a rough shape of the tang.
The hole is almost as deep as the length of the tang. On some woods glue is not needed as by striking the but of the handle the tang is driven into the hole and wedges there. The real hard woods deform less and sometimes I use epoxy glue. For turning tool handles pick a wood that has a bit of spring in it and resists splitting. Spotted gum is good and tas oak works. In the us and europe beech, hickory,oak and cherry to name a few. I read somewhere that you try splitting samples of wood with an ax and pick the most resistant ones. Make sure the ferrule is on before you drive in the tang.

Do a google search and you will find some info.

Thanks Orraloon

Advice is much appreciated , is there a minimum amount of the tool that should be set in the handle eg 1/3 of the tool ??

Cheers
Glenn

Glenn, personally I put the full tang into the handle, although with gouges, I may leave an inch or so of bar out of the handle.

Originally Posted by Pat

Glenn, personally I put the full tang into the handle, although with gouges, I may leave an inch or so of bar out of the handle.

Thanks Pat

Thanks Glenn, will check them out.



Kev.

I'm Not so certain that you need to go for denser timbers for the handles. Timbers like Hoop Pine, Silky Oak and fine grained Oregan are quite saisfactory,

Originally Posted by artme

I'm Not so certain that you need to go for denser timbers for the handles. Timbers like Hoop Pine, Silky Oak and fine grained Oregan are quite saisfactory,

Atrme - dunno that I would agree with your recommendation of Hoop & Oregon, but if you are the careful type they may be ok. I take your drift that you don't need to go overboard, but even after 25 years of turning I have the occasional disaster that makes me grateful that the wood I select for handles is good & tough! .

Apart from toughness, it's nice to have a wood that has a good feel & doesn't produce splinters easily (which tends to knock Oregon out, IMO). My recommendations would include Blackwood, Fruitwwods like Apple, Pear, Peach, Apricot (excellent stuff) Redgum, any of the Casaurinas, etc. I've got handles made from most of those & several more (Cherry, Ash, Walnut, Hornbeam - that didn't come from round here, of course). It's handy 'cos I keep my tools in drawers at the end of the lathe bench & I only need to open the drawer a bit to recognise & grab the tool I want.

Sizes & shapes of handles are very personal choices, so you need to experiment a bit to find what you like. How much of the tang to bury is also a matter of a judgement, but the heavier the tool & the greater the stress it might be asked to take, the deeper I'd go (& the more 'meat' I'd leave around that end of the handle). However, I doubt you ever need much more than 45-50mm, & usually less than that.

I have a particular fondness for the P&N unhandled jobs, myself - I've already worn out a 3/4 skew, am 1/2 way through a 2nd, & recently bought a new one in case some idiot decides to "improve" them, i.e. find a way to make it 1/2 as well for 1/2 the cost (to them). That ought to see me out unless I start turning 20 hours a day..... Sometimes I wonder why I've accumulated so many tools - most of them only get used a few times a year - 99% of what I do (nearly all spindles) can be done with the aforesaid skew, a 1/2" spindle gouge & a parting tool. But again, tool selection is a very personal choice!

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Atrme - dunno that I would agree with your recommendation of Hoop & Oregon, but if you are the careful type they may be ok. I take your drift that you don't need to go overboard, but even after 25 years of turning I have the occasional disaster that makes me grateful that the wood I select for handles is good & tough! .

Apart from toughness, it's nice to have a wood that has a good feel & doesn't produce splinters easily (which tends to knock Oregon out, IMO). My recommendations would include Blackwood, Fruitwwods like Apple, Pear, Peach, Apricot (excellent stuff) Redgum, any of the Casaurinas, etc. I've got handles made from most of those & several more (Cherry, Ash, Walnut, Hornbeam - that didn't come from round here, of course). It's handy 'cos I keep my tools in drawers at the end of the lathe bench & I only need to open the drawer a bit to recognise & grab the tool I want.

Sizes & shapes of handles are very personal choices, so you need to experiment a bit to find what you like. How much of the tang to bury is also a matter of a judgement, but the heavier the tool & the greater the stress it might be asked to take, the deeper I'd go (& the more 'meat' I'd leave around that end of the handle). However, I doubt you ever need much more than 45-50mm, & usually less than that.

I have a particular fondness for the P&N unhandled jobs, myself - I've already worn out a 3/4 skew, am 1/2 way through a 2nd, & recently bought a new one in case some idiot decides to "improve" them, i.e. find a way to make it 1/2 as well for 1/2 the cost (to them). That ought to see me out unless I start turning 20 hours a day..... Sometimes I wonder why I've accumulated so many tools - most of them only get used a few times a year - 99% of what I do (nearly all spindles) can be done with the aforesaid skew, a 1/2" spindle gouge & a parting tool. But again, tool selection is a very personal choice!

Cheers,

Thanks IanW

that answered a few questions especially about the depth and amount of meat around the tang .
My selection for the handle material was more a case of what do I have that might do the job and it was Blackwood , ash , Mango , spotted Gum and Red Gum in sufficient quantities to allow a separate species per tool type for identification { and looks}

Cheers
Glenn

Glenn,
To try and answer the question on how much of the tool goes in the handle there is no hard and fast rule that I know of. I think about what stress the handle will be put under and try to address that. With tangs I put almost all of it in the handle. Turning tools have to have enough of the tool sunk in to take the stress put on the tool when working and the wood has to be strong enough and split resistant enough for the job. If you think the wood is perhaps not as strong then make it a bit thicker. I will admit I borrow the general dimentions from ready made handles and make them beefier if I think the wood is not as good as the origonal. Follow the general measurements of the origonal or similar tools. I am no expert but so far all my handles have held up to the work expected of them.
Regards
JA.

If you are making a sizeable tool then the dome tops of nickel plated brass taps make a serious ferrule.



More pics and thread here.