handle making jig

[marcros]

Saw this on youtube earlier. looks simple and clever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUkFxkW ... gs=pl%2Cwn

 

[Steve Maskery]

That is very good indeed. I have a number of files with no handles, I can use that. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Trevanion]

I have wondered before whether making some kind of jig up similar to how they used to do cabriole legs back in the day (The jig looks very similar to what Pask has made up there) on the spindle moulder would also work for batch making octagonal chisel handles like the London pattern. Probably seriously overkill though!

 

[Bm101]

No lathe here. Thanks as always Mark. Great link.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The biggest problem I found making London pattern is that that it's perfectly easy and quick to plane them octagonal from square after the detail has been turned, but the end product depends on the tang hole being central. If I were to make a jig, I'd make a jig to ensure the concentricity of the hole rather than to aid the cutting of the sides.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I think the trick there, Phil, is to make the hole first and then use the jig. I'm no turner, but I believe the mantra is "drill before you turn". It's the same principle.

 

[ED65]

I saw the jig a couple of months ago as Pask Makes is one of the few channels I'm subscribed to. It is a very clever solution for handles of that shape. I've done this profile by hand planing a few times and that's fine for the occasional one but if you wanted loads doing a double taper could get old fast.

I prefer 18th-century style handles for the majority of files though (chisels too), with a definite rectangular section so they register automatically in the hand. Tapered octagons are a snap to mass produce using planing using the most basic of jigs and even starting from round stock you could churn out a dozen in half an afternoon, including being very fussy about surface quality.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I prefer 18th-century style handles for the majority of files though (chisels too), with a definite rectangular section so they register automatically in the hand. Tapered octagons are a snap to mass produce using planing using the most basic of jigs and even starting from round stock you could churn out a dozen in half an afternoon, including being very fussy about surface quality.

Would you like to do a little WIP for that, please? I, for one, would be interested.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I think the trick there, Phil, is to make the hole first and then use the jig. I'm no turner, but I believe the mantra is "drill before you turn". It's the same principle.

Certainly. The problem with a square or octagonal handle is that if the hole is slightly off centre (which wouldn't matter a jot if the whole piece was to be turned) it makes it far harder to keep the sides even. If the hole dead on centre it doesn't take a few minutes to plane the sides, but a hole going into end grain can drift quickly even if started on centre.

 

[woodbloke66]

The biggest problem I found making London pattern is that that it's perfectly easy and quick to plane them octagonal from square after the detail has been turned, but the end product depends on the tang hole being central. If I were to make a jig, I'd make a jig to ensure the concentricity of the hole rather than to aid the cutting of the sides.

If I need to make a new handle, it's usually a 'London' pattern, with the hole being the first thing drilled once the blank has been mounted in the lathe.

I've made a few of these and I found that to get a pleasant 'sweep' or curve, a small ferule needs to be used; the pilot hole is drilled in the lathe once the blank has been mounted between centres. I also use a three point 'V' tool to make a break between the curved section and the octagonal. I believe Alf, late of this parish, did quite a good thread on how to make these handles - Rob

 

[ED65]

Would you like to do a little WIP for that, please? I, for one, would be interested.

Alf beat me to one years back (2006!) but sadly the pictures are offline now. In case they do come back at some point it's here.

The second half of this Popular Woodworking article covers one method, and there's also this and this and this. And this by Chris Schwarz on why he prefers rectangular section to square. I took something from all of these if I recall.

My particular wrinkle involves no marking out and lots of winging it so it's not really suited to a formal WIP, it sort of boils down to "Start with this [block of wood] and plane it until it turns into this [tapered octagon]" :lol:

Some of the latest recruits:

These are mostly made from windfalls branches from the local park, the yew is from another park up the country, only the red oak (with the ferrules) came from a board.

 

[ED65]

If I need to make a new handle, it's usually a 'London' pattern, with the hole being the first thing drilled once the blank has been mounted in the lathe.

Perfection!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If I need to make a new handle, it's usually a 'London' pattern, with the hole being the first thing drilled once the blank has been mounted in the lathe.

I assume you're chuck mounting it rather than mounting it between centres?