burning in handle- follow up
Jack Guzman from Maine
>In case someone is interested--I tossed the broken attempt and got a new piece.Carefully laid out the tang base profile,drilled a small pilot hole to just past the full depth of the tang in the center.Drilled a second hole halfway down using a drill the size of the center of the tang.Next I used a couple chisels ,1/4" and 1/8" and shaped the rest of the hole to real close to finished size.I was going to make it a little large and glue it in but at the last minute decided to try one last burn. With the tang hot I pushed the handle on as far as it would go and GENTLY tapped it til it was just short of the bolster.Then I removed it,rough shaped the handle,cleaned the soot off the tang and reinserted it to check the fit.It was just short of the bolster so I gave it one last tap.That was all it needed. The handle didn't split ,it stuck,good.So I finished shaping it,oiled it and today I chopped four 1 1/4" deep mortises in cherry with it and the handle feels just right.The base of the handle has full contact with the bolster so it can't go any further in.
I made it out of cherry cause I had a piece handy. If this one splits due to the brittle wood I'll just make another out of maple.---Jack