Pie spatula

Re: Pie spatula

Dave Paine

I would use epoxy. I have made a number of wooden fixture knobs with screws attached by epoxy. Works well. Clean the metal with acetone to remove any oils/residue.

Re: Pie spatula

Stuart Johnson

I would drill the hole at an angle and the use epoxy. The reason for the angle is so the handle will be raised a bit and easier to hold and slide under the pie. I doesn't need to be much but I don't think you want the handle flat with spatula.

Re: Pie spatula

Geoff Whaling

Ron, I like to drill a hole to the depth of the tang on the spatula (salad set, letter openers etc) before I mount the blank between centers. Mount with the hole on the tail stock end, then turn a small tenon to suit the supplied ferrule. This allows you to retract the tail stock center and check fit. Similar process to turning a tool handle.

Tip. .... To drill the hole I mark centers, mount a suitable drill in a Jacobs chuck in the head stock with lathe RPM down low then locate the other end on the live center and hand hold & guide the blank onto the drill bit. This produces a hole on center and parallel to the blank axis. Has some risk though with hand holding a blank so don't do it if you can't get lathe RPM down low.

If the stock blank is soft-ish and does not split easily I drill slightly under size to the width of the tang, otherwise drill for a snug fit. On larger items like cake servers / spatulas I will use a split dowel & 24 hr epoxy to glue in the tang, esp if the hole is oversize. Smaller stuff, small knife handles etc just the epoxy.

Re: Pie spatula

Ron Pemberton

I was thinking a drill bit hole was a bit large to use. I thought of band sawing the blank in half and gluing a contrasting wood in the middle of the blank prior to turning. I think this would leave a slot to insert the tang. Maybe something to experiment with.

Re: Pie spatula

John Kaner

Ron,

I like the router idea. Two pieces of nice wood 3/4" x 2" 6". Using router table (shown) cut a shallow stopped groove centered on each side. Glue wood together,

turn to shape and add ferrule, use epoxy to glue tang in slot. Use several clamps to hold handle in place, while epoxy sets. (IE, one across spatula, one between handle end and clamp) It appears the tang is angled up, so should have hand clearance.

I did this with a pizza wheel slicer, years ago.

Re: Pie spatula

Steve Kniffen

Just made a bunch of kitchen stuff like this. The instructions say to drill a 0.25" hole in the blank. I did this on the lathe, but I mount the blank in a chuck in the headstock and the drill chuck/bit in the tail stock. I mark the center of the blank as mentioned above and turn the speed down to 200-400 rpm. Then it's just crank the handle on the tailstock and the bit does its work. For a hole deep enough to hold the tang, I back out the drill and clean it a couple of times. I use a silicone glue from a tube so I can squeeze it into the hole and I don't have to mess with mixing epoxy and trying to shove it into the hole.

Steve

Re: Pie spatula

Ron Pemberton

Thanks for kick starting my gray cells. Onward ever onward.

Re: Pie spatula

Wayne Kuhn

You could drill a hole then fit a split dowel on either side of the spatula tang.

Re: Pie spatula

Ron Pemberton

How feasible would it be to just bend the tang?

Re: Pie spatula

Barry Irby

What is the other piece in the picture? A feral? Why does it have the slit?

Re: Pie spatula

Ron Pemberton

Yes, it's the ferrule, slips over the tang fitting on a tenon on the handle.