I recently picked up a set of old socketed chisels with very nasty handles.
I am planning to make a new set of handles on the Delta lathe I just bought.
What is the best choice of wood for the handles. Someone suggested ash. Is
there other options to consider? Also, is the leather rings on the end of
the old handles for hand protection or just for ornamental purposes?

Hi Mike,

Ash is a great wood for handles that have to take a bending stress - it's
particulary tough in this direction. That's why you'd use it for the spokes
of cartwheels or pickaxe handles. However, it isn't particularly hard when
you're bashing it on the end grain as you would if you were driving it with
a chisel.

The preference for chisels which had to take this kind of punishment - in
the UK at least - was boxwood - this is a hard, dense wood derived from a
shrub, rather than a full-blown tree, usually.

Having said that, many chisels designed for hard work - like mortice
chisels, for example - had beech handles. Not as hard as box, but I have a
set of beech-handled mortice chisels which must be 80 years old at least,
which are still giving sterling service.

The leather washer found between the bolster and the handle of older chisels
was designed to act as a shock-absorber on those chisels which were designed
to be used with a mallet for heavy work.

All in all, I'd say that if you're designing handles for light hand work,
rather than mallet work, you don't need the leather washer and you can get
away with any hardish wood which won't split when you drive the chisel tang
in. I have chisels with handles made from apple, holly and walnut, as well
as the box and beech I have mentioned. The Japanese use Red Oak.

HTH,

Cheers,

Frank

"Mike" wrote in message
news:d4Ypb.108911$Tr4.295325@attbi_s03...
I recently picked up a set of old socketed chisels with very nasty
handles.
I am planning to make a new set of handles on the Delta lathe I just
bought.
What is the best choice of wood for the handles. Someone suggested ash. Is
there other options to consider? Also, is the leather rings on the end of
the old handles for hand protection or just for ornamental purposes?

Mike asks:


I recently picked up a set of old socketed chisels with very nasty handles.
I am planning to make a new set of handles on the Delta lathe I just bought.
What is the best choice of wood for the handles. Someone suggested ash.

Ash is good. Hickory is good. Boxwood is great (if you can find it and afford
it). Purpleheart is excellent. The list really goes on. Among others that
might do well are hard maple, Pacific madrone, pau rosa, pau marfim, degame,
American hornbeam, hackberry, greenheart, satinwood, canalete, dogwood,
persimmon, and a true host of others, including white and live oaks.

Charlie Self
"Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The
conduct of public affairs for private advantage. " Ambrose Bierce

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 01:08:25 GMT, "Mike" wrote:

I recently picked up a set of old socketed chisels with very nasty handles.
I am planning to make a new set of handles on the Delta lathe I just bought.
What is the best choice of wood for the handles. Someone suggested ash. Is
there other options to consider? Also, is the leather rings on the end of
the old handles for hand protection or just for ornamental purposes?

For chisels that take hard pounding I would choose boxwood, since I
have some.

I have some old chisels with elegant original handles that appear to
be pearwood. These were made by L. & I.J. White, of Buffalo, NY. A set
of patternmakers' incannel gouges have no leather. A pocket chisel has
leather. I think the leather is meant to be struck (lightly) with a
mallet, which would not be done with the gouges.

The above all have tine and ferrule attachment. A firmer chisel from
the same maker has a socket, a plain beech handle, and a steel ring
around the striking end. It has been pounded enough to flare the
steel. The beech, this protected, has held up fine.

HTH



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

"WooWooism lives" Anon grafitto on the base of the Cuttyhunk breakwater light

"Mike" wrote in message
news:d4Ypb.108911$Tr4.295325@attbi_s03...
I recently picked up a set of old socketed chisels with very nasty
handles.
I am planning to make a new set of handles on the Delta lathe I just
bought.
What is the best choice of wood for the handles. Someone suggested ash. Is
there other options to consider? Also, is the leather rings on the end of
the old handles for hand protection or just for ornamental purposes?

I just used some old wood handles from junk carpet cutters. Pulled out the
blade and shaped the wood the way I wanted. Finished with 2 coats of poly.

Another handle wood that might work that most people don't mention is elm.
Its tougher than you think and who cares if it looks bad.

On Tue, 4 Nov 2003 23:06:12 -0600, "bw" wrote:

"Mike" wrote in message
news:d4Ypb.108911$Tr4.295325@attbi_s03...
I recently picked up a set of old socketed chisels with very nasty
handles.

Socketed chisels ? Are these slicks ? Big thing, with a socketed
shank and a loose handle that fits inside. They're meant for hand
use, not hammering.

I like ash for these, because it's strong and lightweight. It doesn't
need compressive strength because you don;t hammer on a slick ! For
big mortice chisels, I use beech as it does resist hammering. If I'm
turning handles for bench chisels, fruitwood, holly or even ivy. It's
easy to scrounge small branches of this from people clearing their
gardens. Too small to saw up, too twisted or stressed by reaction wood
to use as a stick, but they turn into a handle nicely.

Another handle wood that might work that most people don't mention is elm.
Its tougher than you think and who cares if it looks bad.

Elm (English anyway) is one of the toughest temperate woods going, it
looks great if you scrape and oil it, and it's easy to find.

After Dutch Elm disease, our big elms died off. But often the whole
tree didn't die, it put out suckers and grew another trunk nearby.
These new trunks don't get attacked by the beetles until they're a few
years old and a few inches diameter. Often you see a line of them in a
hedgerow, one dead trunk after another. They're no use for big
timber, but they're effectively self-coppicing and if you collect them
at the right time, you can get some useful small diameter poles that
are very strong. Good tent posts.

--
Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

Lots of good advice, check your local woods. I made some out of
hop-hornbeam a number of years back, no problem. Also made a replacement
for some European hornbeam that split on me out of yellow birch, which has
held up to three years of steady mallet work as well as its look-alikes on
my lathe tools.

The leather is as much for your elbow as anything else. Eats vibration
which might otherwise be transmitted back up your arm. Sure, it helps
spread the load a bit where the metal meets the wood on tanged chisels, but
not really needed on yours, if you avoid long-grained woods for your handle.
Especially unneeded if you make your mallets out of green wood and soak in
PEG 1000. That process makes a good soft-blow mallet because it keeps the
outer surface soft.

"Mike" wrote in message
news:d4Ypb.108911$Tr4.295325@attbi_s03...
I recently picked up a set of old socketed chisels with very nasty
handles.
I am planning to make a new set of handles on the Delta lathe I just
bought.
What is the best choice of wood for the handles. Someone suggested ash. Is
there other options to consider? Also, is the leather rings on the end of
the old handles for hand protection or just for ornamental purposes?

Charlie Self wrote:

Ash is good. Hickory is good. Boxwood is great (if you can find it and
afford it).

Speaking o' which... I see lots o' references to boxwood in various
contexts. Is this some British/Euro tree species I've never seen, or is it
the same as the ordinary, ubiquitous boxwood shrub I have growing in front
of the house?

The thing is rather sad, I've not had much luck rejuvinating it, and it's
getting decidedly ugly. If I could turn it into some good handles, that
would be an argument in favor of replacing it with an oak-leaf hydrangea or
other similar.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Silvan asks:

Speaking o' which... I see lots o' references to boxwood in various
contexts. Is this some British/Euro tree species I've never seen, or is it
the same as the ordinary, ubiquitous boxwood shrub I have growing in front
of the house?

Don't know if it's the sampe species you've got aorund the house--Buxus
sempervirens. AKA Turkey boxwood, Abysinnian Boxwood, Circassian boxwood. Grows
in Europe, North America, and western Asia. Tree grows to a height of 20-30
feet, max. Anything over 8" diameter is nearly impossible to find.

If you find your own, dry it slooooooooowly (otherwise, it splits, surface
checks and just generally doesn't work out). Nicely stable once dry, though.

Hard to work because it's hard and sometimes has irregular grain. A very light
yellow, fairly uniform throughout, with heartwood and sapwood hard to tell
apart.

American boxwood is another name for our flowering dogwood. Uses include things
that make me want to bang my head on the desk for all the dogwood I've trimmed
and tossed over the years. Use to be used for spools and bobbin threads,
pulleys, golf club heads (shades of persimmon!), similar jobs that demand a
hard, tough wood that doesn't come in large sizes. I'm going to cut down my
wife's favorite some day...yeah, sure I am.

Charlie Self

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas J. Watson

On Wed, 05 Nov 2003 08:17:42 -0500, Silvan
wrote:

is it the same as the ordinary, ubiquitous boxwood shrub

Probably (our European timber and hedge plant are). It's easy to find,
but harder to find in useful sizes. _Very_ expensive to buy.

--
Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

I have some old chisels with elegant original handles that appear to
be pearwood. These were made by L. & I.J. White, of Buffalo, NY. A set
of patternmakers' incannel gouges have no leather. A pocket chisel has
leather. I think the leather is meant to be struck (lightly) with a
mallet, which would not be done with the gouges.

Nice tools. Even tough they were made in Buffalo, they are very hard to find in
this area.

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
(Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Charlie Self wrote:

Don't know if it's the sampe species you've got aorund the house--Buxus
sempervirens. AKA Turkey boxwood, Abysinnian Boxwood, Circassian boxwood.

Yeah, Buxus... It's a Buxus something, but nowhere near as big as what
you're talking about. It has to be 30 years old, and the largest trunk is
only a couple inches in diameter. Total height maybe 5', and I haven't
pruned it in years. Definitely a shrubby habit.

American boxwood is another name for our flowering dogwood. Uses include

Nah, I know what dogwood is. I'm not a complete idjit. It *is* the state
flower in this and many other states after all. Plus I have a bunch of
them on my property.

jobs that demand a hard, tough wood that doesn't come in large sizes. I'm
going to cut down my wife's favorite some day...yeah, sure I am.

Reminds me. One of my Arbor Day dogwoods died after getting badly damaged
in a storm. I saved the trunk for some reason. It's been laying around
for a few years now. I think that wil be turned into something interesting
on my lathe one day soon.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Nova wrote in message ...
Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

I have some old chisels with elegant original handles that appear to
be pearwood. These were made by L. & I.J. White, of Buffalo, NY. A set
of patternmakers' incannel gouges have no leather. A pocket chisel has
leather. I think the leather is meant to be struck (lightly) with a
mallet, which would not be done with the gouges.

Nice tools.

I agree (and I think Rodney is guilty of a drive-by). I have a 3"
L&IJ White slick (very nice but it weren't cheap), a couple double
plane irons (need to make planes for them), and a nice 2" wide bevel
edge socket chisel (which, on-topic for this thread, needs a handle;
how 'bout a picture Rodney?).

Even tough they were made in Buffalo, they are very hard to find in
this area.

How's the availability of D.R. Barton tools from down the road in
Rochester? They're nice too!

Cheers,
Mike

On 5 Nov 2003 19:04:38 -0800, (Mike) wrote:

Nova wrote in message ...
Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

I have some old chisels with elegant original handles that appear to
be pearwood. These were made by L. & I.J. White, of Buffalo, NY. A set
of patternmakers' incannel gouges have no leather. A pocket chisel has
leather. I think the leather is meant to be struck (lightly) with a
mallet, which would not be done with the gouges.

Nice tools.

I agree (and I think Rodney is guilty of a drive-by). I have a 3"
L&IJ White slick (very nice but it weren't cheap), a couple double
plane irons (need to make planes for them), and a nice 2" wide bevel
edge socket chisel (which, on-topic for this thread, needs a handle;
how 'bout a picture Rodney?).

Possibly guilty, if I knew what a "drive by" is. They are worth
posting a picture, and if we get a digital camera better than the
keychain camera we have now I will do that.

Sooner or later I will have to go digital just to catalog the
collection, but it costs $$$ for a digital camera that will use our
macro lens.

The bevel edge socket chisel sounds most like the one I have with a
plain beech handle, which may not be original, although it is old. Our
bevel-edged chisel, the one I called a "pocket chisel," has a tang and
brass ferrule, not a socket.

I guess pictures would make all this clearer. I can make slides with a
film camera and mail them to you by snail mail if that would help. Or,
if there is a place I can post to, I could scan slides. I have never
put pix on the web. I know people do that, but don't know how.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

"WooWooism lives" Anon grafitto on the base of the Cuttyhunk breakwater light

On 05 Nov 2003 14:04:37 GMT, otforme (Charlie Self)
scribbled

American boxwood is another name for our flowering dogwood. Uses include things
that make me want to bang my head on the desk for all the dogwood I've trimmed
and tossed over the years. Use to be used for spools and bobbin threads,
pulleys, golf club heads (shades of persimmon!), similar jobs that demand a
hard, tough wood that doesn't come in large sizes. I'm going to cut down my
wife's favorite some day...yeah, sure I am.

So you don't **** off your SO too much, Lee Valley has dogwood shuttle
blanks. :-)

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...C 250%2C43217

Luigi
Replace "no" with "yk" twice
in reply address for real email address

Silvan writes:

Reminds me. One of my Arbor Day dogwoods died after getting badly damaged
in a storm. I saved the trunk for some reason. It's been laying around
for a few years now. I think that wil be turned into something interesting
on my lathe one day soon.


There are your handles, then.

Charlie Self

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas J. Watson

Luigi Zanasi responds:


So you don't **** off your SO too much, Lee Valley has dogwood shuttle
blanks. :-)


http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...e=43230&catego
ry=1%2C250%2C43217

I knew that. It just went away a year or so ago (mentally). And they are
cheaper than a divorce (DAMHIKT).

Charlie Self

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas J. Watson

Charlie Self wrote:

in a storm. I saved the trunk for some reason. It's been laying around
for a few years now. I think that wil be turned into something

There are your handles, then.

Oh, that was the OP. I don't need any handles yet.

Is it really worth putting the dogwood back for some day when I do?

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

Silvan asks:

Charlie Self wrote:

in a storm. I saved the trunk for some reason. It's been laying around
for a few years now. I think that wil be turned into something

There are your handles, then.

Oh, that was the OP. I don't need any handles yet.

Is it really worth putting the dogwood back for some day when I do?

Unless you have a better use for a super hard, nearly shockproof wood at the
moment, it sure is.

Charlie Self

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas J. Watson

Charlie Self schreef
Silvan asks:

Don't know if it's the same species you've got around the house--Buxus
sempervirens. AKA Turkey boxwood, Abysinian Boxwood, Circassian boxwood.
Grows in Europe, North America, and western Asia. Tree grows to a height of
20-30 feet, max. Anything over 8" diameter is nearly impossible to find.

+ + +
It is supposed to go up to 40 feet in the right spot, but good luck finding
it! Buxus sempervirens is not native to the America's

Chisel handles for heavy use (mortise chisels) around here were either
boxwood or hornbeam (Carpinus betulus). The latter is still used. I am sure
Blue beech (Carpinus caroliniana) and hop hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) would
do well also. For a bench chisel there is no end of suitable woods.
PvR

I'd keep away from ash for something that will be handled often.

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote in message . ..
On 5 Nov 2003 19:04:38 -0800, (Mike) wrote:

I agree (and I think Rodney is guilty of a drive-by). I have a 3"
L&IJ White slick (very nice but it weren't cheap), a couple double
plane irons (need to make planes for them), and a nice 2" wide bevel
edge socket chisel (which, on-topic for this thread, needs a handle;
how 'bout a picture Rodney?).

Possibly guilty, if I knew what a "drive by" is.

Drive-by Gloat. Brother of the Stealth Gloat and cousin to the
ordinary Neener.

They are worth
posting a picture, and if we get a digital camera better than the
keychain camera we have now I will do that.

Well, I certainly understand not having a digi camera. Every time I
consider buying one I think about how many tools I can get with that
money and then decide to postpone the purchase.

I guess pictures would make all this clearer. I can make slides with a
film camera and mail them to you by snail mail if that would help. Or,
if there is a place I can post to, I could scan slides. I have never
put pix on the web. I know people do that, but don't know how.

Thanks for the offer but I can probably find some pictures on MJD's
archives or via the standard route......Google.

Cheers,
Mike

Charlie Self wrote:

Unless you have a better use for a super hard, nearly shockproof wood at
the moment, it sure is.

Hmmm... Well, that answers that pretty decisively. I'll hang onto it until
I need it.

Maybe I'll re-think the decision not to prune my dogwoods too. I *am*
getting sick of mowing under them.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/

On 6 Nov 2003 08:08:27 -0800, (Mike) wrote:

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote in message . ..
On 5 Nov 2003 19:04:38 -0800, (Mike) wrote:

I agree (and I think Rodney is guilty of a drive-by). I have a 3"
L&IJ White slick (very nice but it weren't cheap), a couple double
plane irons (need to make planes for them), and a nice 2" wide bevel
edge socket chisel (which, on-topic for this thread, needs a handle;
how 'bout a picture Rodney?).

Possibly guilty, if I knew what a "drive by" is.

Drive-by Gloat. Brother of the Stealth Gloat and cousin to the
ordinary Neener.

OK, I understand. Yes, gloatable tools. On closer examination this AM,
the handles are box, not pear.

The socket chisel handle is beech, and much rougher. It may be a
replacement.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a

"WooWooism lives" Anon grafitto on the base of the Cuttyhunk breakwater light