Draw knife handles

Yes

Jim Reed @ tallahassee

>Once upon a time I had no money but loved tools. I picked up a few drawknives cheep because they had no handles. For one I cut a groove in some pieces of walnut and glued them on top of the tang. Then I cut them down with a pocketknife. On the other, I purchased some file handles and just screwed them on. Both methods worked well. Since you are a woodworker, look at this as just another woodworking project and I'll bet some ideas will come to you. Good luck.

Re: Draw knife handles

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Monte,

Ellis Wallentine posted this on the hand tool forum, which you should come visit if you're starting to use hand tools much.

I don't know of anyone who's making draw knife handles, but you might be able to use or adapt tang-type chisel handles, which are sold by various retailers (I believe Tools for Working Wood, which advertises here, sells them). You'd have to find one a little shorter than the tang on your drawknife.

Traditionally, the tang on a drawknife goes all the way through the handle (and a bit past), and the end of the tang is then peened (like a rivet) over a washer shaped to fit the end of the handle. You could probably cheat and use a flat washer if you flattened out the end of the handle to match, but you don't want a big metal washer sticking out there to catch your flesh if your hand slips.

Unless you're very broke or in an area where drawknives are hard to find or the drawknife has a lot of sentimental value or is particularly cool, it could be more work than it's worth.

Other handtoolers may have more information than I do - you might try reposting over there.

Bill

Look in your scrapbox for a

Forrest Addy

>You're woodworker, right? Making handles is right up your alley.

Look in your scrapbox for a 2 x 2 x 12" piece of hard maple. Templating from the old handles, make a couple of ferrules from 3/4 copper tube from the plumbing section at the big box.

When you'rs done turning them out on the lathe, pilot drill 3/16" or so by as deep as the tang is long.

If the draw knife forging is riveted, reforge the tang to restore the end square for re-riveting. Do not quench. You need the end of the tang soft for heading.

Heat each tang on the draw knife separately to almost red, plunge the hot tang into the pilot hole till the smoke stops pouring out. Remove, heat and repeat until the tang is within 3/8" of fully seated. Make/find/buy new suitable end washers if needed. Fully seat the handle install the washer, rivit over the reforged tang end.

A propane or MAPP gas torch is a suitable heat source for the whole process.

The traditional finish for maple handles is boiled linseed oil but proprietory oil finish is fine and won't take so long to cure.

Re: Draw knife handles

Greg B�tit, Vergennes VT

>i think this must be my first post over here. I'm so nervous. I posted the following response to Ellis' repost of your original over on the Hand Tool side:

For the money a new handle would cost (if one were to be available), you could probably get a nice draw knife on eBay. Someone with a lathe could whip up a duplicate in a New York minute, but the economics of it would still be prohibitive. That's what friends are for.

Replacement draw knife handles are probably not available because they are not much in demand. The fact that "one size fits all" does not apply to draw knives is one good reason no one is mass producing them.

I went to the hardware store to buy a shovel handle last year. Imagine my surprise to discover that a brand new Chinese shovel cost 2/3 of what the handle replacement did. The hardware store owner pointed this fact out to me while I was gleefully standing in front of him with the replacement handle in one hand and my other hand going for the wallet. (The Borg is coming to the area soon, I sure hope he can weather the storm. I'll do my part to keep him in business.)

I hate to throw a good shovel away. But I bought that Chinese one and put the broken one in the corner with all my other old shovels that need rehandling. I'll have a huge ash log, all the chair parts I will need for two years already made, and some extra hours on my hands some day. You bet.

greg