Loose handles are like clamps, you can never have too many.

Yesterday was a snow day, and I finally got around to putting the handles on. I messed up and drilled the holes for some of the tangs a tad too small, so the handles split when I drove them on. They are snug and work perfectly, but have ugly cracks in them. Have to make 3 more handles.

It's a bit of guesswork to know how undersized to make the tang holes so they grab the tangs snugly, but not so small that the wood splits under the strain.

Here’s how to fit tight handles w/o cracking:
Measure the length of the tang from tip to bolster. (ie total depth)
Measure thickness of tang at point, middle, and bolster.
Find three drill bits whose diameter matches the thickness dimensions and mark their respective depths by placing the tape about ¼” closer to the bit’s end than the required depth. (To make the holes shallower.)
Drill the smallest diameter hole first, take care that you stop ¼” from the full depth of the tang.
Drill the next size hole and then the largest diameter hole being careful not to let the bit grab (and pull into the hole, thereby drilling too deep.)
Be sure there is a ferrule in place
Dip the tang in a bit of linseed oil and put it into the handle.
Tap the back of the handle with a hammer, the chisel or tool does not have to be in contact with a table, it will seat itself by the hammer blows.
The last undrilled ¼” will grab the tip of the tang like a nail in wood.
The handle shouldn’t split, if it does then your holes may be either too shallow or too narrow.
Alternatively, you can drill a pilot hole in the handle and heat the tang until it is red hot, being careful not to draw the temper of the edge part, and plunge it into the handle. The problem with this approach is that the hole can become too loose if you over burn it.

Oh, and nice handles.

Here's a third way to make the holes, it requires a home made drill bittish thing.

Get a piece of drill rod and hammer it flat until it is the same taper as the tang. File the edges square to the face (maybe at a slight angle). Drill a pilot hole and use your scraper bit to ream a taper at slow speed.

Drill it big and fill it with J-B Weld epoxy. :haha:

The voice of reason.

Indeed.

And it takes longer than you might expect to make a handle. You have to get the wood down to rough size, and then plane each surface of the octagon, including a nice taper towards the chisel, and then ease the corners where it will fit in your palm. Each handle has 25 facets, and while they don't have to meet any exact specifications, when you make 10 handles, that's about 250 surfaces to cut. Each surface takes about half a dozen strokes of the block plane. It adds up. 1,500 plane strokes, give or take.

No wonder it took a couple hours.

Octagons are awesome though, because the chisels won't roll off the table when you set them down. And they are plenty comfortable.

Ahh, so you didn't use a taper jig and rip them on the table saw?

:eyebrow:

Planes are more fun.

Plus, I'm not sure the table saw would have been that much faster. You still have to make a ton of cuts and reposition the work piece in the jig each time. I just used the saw for the picture because it was the only clean surface in the shop.

I have to agree, planes are more fun, more quiet, less dusty, and so on.

I love to turn handles on the lathe, so that's probably the route I'd go. I do have a nice octagonal (London pattern) boxwood handle on a Marples chisel that I like.

Those are very nice!

I was trying to do roughly the same shape as the handles that came loose with the chisels, except I wanted octagonal handles that didn't roll. I was picturing pfeil chisel handles in my mind as I did these. I also didn't go with a ferrule, because that would be a fair amount of extra work, and I though I would try getting by without them.

In High School wood shop I made handles for three of my Dad's chisels. These were the chisels he smacks with a hammer making holes in floors and joists, for copper tubing clearance. Nobody told me Mahogany was inappropriate.
They were beautiful... were. :o

Those aren't my chisels, just a pic from the net to illustrate the style.

Bruce, did you put a heavy ferrule on the butt end? That can help a lot.

Attachment 46199
Like these fellas

At least you know he liked them and used them, right?