Thread: When you can't cut downhill.......

Hi Steve,
One point, like Ted said, drill the hole while blank is still sq. I wood always put my Blank in my Chuck, 1 heck of a lot easier.
Yes, 2 - 2 1/2in. should be far enough in, & then I mark the Distance on the Steel, so as I don't go to far in.
I wood give the bored hole a bit of a wiggle so as to make it just a whisker bigger, whack some Glue on the Steel & in the hole, but very little.
Insert the Steel in the Handle, give it a few whacks with the Mallet, up to the mark, & Bob's your uncle.
Yes, half dowels on either side of the Skew, bit of Glue, & wood maybe have to use the side of a Bench Chisel to get them in.
I wood still have a look at R. Raffan's Handle, somebody should have the book or even the Library. Every Handle I have is of that Shape.
Be interested to know how you know my Christian Name.
Have fun as that is what it is all about.

Originally Posted by turnerted

Nice little bud vase Steve.
I usually use old fence posts for my tool handles . They look crap on the outside , but are usualy good inside .Drill the hole while the blank is still square then turn with your live centre in the hole then it won't matter if the hole was not dead centre.
Ted

Thanks Ted, good advice. I wonder if my neighbours would notice if the odd fence-post disappeared?
Meantime, the timber chuck1 gave me will keep me going with handle-making for a while.

Originally Posted by issatree

Handles Again.

Hi Steve,
One point, like Ted said, drill the hole while blank is still sq. I wood always put my Blank in my Chuck, 1 heck of a lot easier.
Yes, 2 - 2 1/2in. should be far enough in, & then I mark the Distance on the Steel, so as I don't go to far in.
I wood give the bored hole a bit of a wiggle so as to make it just a whisker bigger, whack some Glue on the Steel & in the hole, but very little.
Insert the Steel in the Handle, give it a few whacks with the Mallet, up to the mark, & Bob's your uncle.
Yes, half dowels on either side of the Skew, bit of Glue, & wood maybe have to use the side of a Bench Chisel to get them in.
I wood still have a look at R. Raffan's Handle, somebody should have the book or even the Library. Every Handle I have is of that Shape.
Be interested to know how you know my Christian Name.
Have fun as that is what it is all about.

Excellent, thanks Lewis. In the past, I always thought that turning tool shanks went almost right through the handle, so it's taken some time to get used to the idea that they're only about 2 1/2" deep. I honestly wouldn't have thought that was deep enough to handle the stress, with a bowl gouge for example.

After thinking about it overnight, I've decided to drill the same way as you, with the timber in the chuck, (1" jaws). I was going to do it the other way, but don't have a 'keeper' bar to screw into the rear of my Jacobs chuck morse taper and hold it in place. Knowing my luck, the chuck would come out and fly as I withdraw the drill bit to clear the swarf. At least with the Jacobs chuck in the tail end, I can hold it in place by hand as I partially withdraw the bit.

I would be interested to see Richard Raffan's handle shape. I'll do a bit of a search online tonight. Won't be too hard to find.

The reason I know your Christian name is from the bottom of a post or PM in the past. Can't remember which.
(I hate using the silly forum names, so use Christian names whenever possible.)