Turning chisel handles

Re: Turning chisel handles

Don Stephan

Materials I've read suggests air dried wood will drop to 10-12%, and wood in heated/air conditioned space will drop to 7-8%. Wood Database online says tangential shrinkage 7.2%, radial 4.6% or a ratio of 1.57. So it likely will become slightly oval as it dries. My biggest concern is if fitted tight in a ferule now it will fall out when dry, or if drilled and driven on a shank now it may split as it tries to shrink.

Re: Turning chisel handles

John K Jordan

>>>I have Black Locust I want to turn for handles on some old chisels.

The moisture content is 19-24% in the pieces, most of them in the 22-24 range.

Should I dry them bit more and turn them to size or turn them now a little larger and adjust when dry?

I've turned spindles green and mostly there is just a little warping when drying. I haven't tried making tool handles though.

Do you know about the microwave drying technique? Basically you gently heat a piece of wood for a short time, then let it cool (and moisture escape) then weigh it. Repeat until the weight stabilizes or the wood is dry enough to suit you. This works especially well on tool handle sizes. I might turn them to rough size first to eliminate some of the wood.

I've done this to dry spindle turning blanks when I was in a hurry. It doesn't take long to get a small piece of wet wood hot. Getting it too hot is a problem because it can burn. Have to experiment to get it hot enough to steam but not burn. I think I used the defrost cycle with 30sec or so for small blanks.

Re: Turning chisel handles

Barry Irby

Unless I was in a big hurry I would turn them 1/16 to 1'8" over size on the diameter and bring them in the house and set them in a sunny window for a week or two. Weigh them first and see if they lose weight. When they stabilize, turn them t finished size. Leave the center mark on them to make it easy to remount them.

If you are in a hurry you could play with the microwave as John suggested or Put some in a regular oven at about 200* and let it cool overnight. You could turn two and try one of each. Let us know what works.

Re: Turning chisel handles

john lucas

If you turn it now you will never get any ferrul's to fit. They will fall off when the wood shrinks. My suggestion is to do the microwave drying like John says. When I dry this way I do it very slowly. I heat it for about 30 seconds and then let it sit until cool. When it starts to not get as hot then I heat it for 1 minute. I usually do this off and on all day so as not to rush things. I used to do it in my kitchen and would simply do 1 or 2 or 3 cylcles while I eat breakfast and then again at lunch, etc. No rush. Now I have a microwave in the shop and whenever I take a short break to do whatever in the shop I will pick up the pieces and microwave them and then go back to what I was doing. I weigh them. When they stop losing weight I stop. This will usually be too dry so I let them set in the shop for a day or so to pick up moisture.

Re: Turning chisel handles

Kevin French

Thank for confirming my thoughts on this. I'm in no rush so I will cut the blanks, let those dry for a while, turn fat, and when the weight stabilizes turn to fit.

Re: Turning chisel handles

Barry L Elder

Take your time since almost everyone will have a different idea or two And it never hurt anyone to do a lot of reading on the various pieces and parts we make for the world's greatest hobby! And remember, if you're not having fun, you know you're doing it wrong! !

Re: Turning chisel handles

William Duffield

As an alternative to the microwave oven, Windsor chair makers often build an insulated box with a 100 watt incandescent bulb and a thermostat in it for drying rungs. This gets them super-dry, so you will need to let them set for a few days to reacclimate them to the humidity level in your shop before you fit the ferrule or tang. For chair rungs, the super-dry condition is desired so the tenons re-swell in the mortises after assembly.

Less chance they will fail the smoke test than in the microwave.

Re: Turning chisel handles

mikeee12345

Turning your blanks to oversized round will expose surface area and reduce the overall

size of the green wood needing to be dried. You can always play around with the design

while they are still green and then when they get to the moisture content level you can

finish turning them to the final diameter and fit the ferrules on the handles. I would turn

a piece of pine to the final dimension to see how if fits in your hand and then make any

changes to your design and then turn the others to the final desired shape. Hand tools should

fit the persons hand that will be using them.

Re: Turning chisel handles

Kevin French

The pieces are sitting on a shelf above my Pellet Stove in the basement. Sometime next week (if it warms up), I'll take them out to the table saw in the barn and cut them into blanks.

Most of the chisels I'm working with are 3/4" or larger Mortise Chisels. I'm looking at an 1 1/4" finished diameter. I'm not sure if I'll use leather or a metal ring on the butt end.

Re: Turning chisel handles

William Duffield

A metal ring transfers forces from the mallet to the chisel more efficiently, but also wears out your mallets more quickly, especially if you leave any arises in the striking surfaces of the hoop. The wood or other material you select for the mallet head can make a big difference in how long the mallets last.

Re: Turning chisel handles microwaving

Peter Hyde

Put each rough blank into a plastic bag and close it by folding the end over once. Set microwave for max power and give it 2 minutes. Remove bag wearing thick leather gloves as it's hot! Shake out the blank, and weigh it, turn the bag inside out and repeat process until weight becomes stable. Leave the blanks in a warm place to stabilize for at least a day before turning them. They should be at about 10% M.C.

Keeping the moisture in the bag results in less cracking and also allows for quicker drying. I've done pieces of black walnut 15" long and 3" x 3" this way with no problems.

Re: Turning chisel handles microwaving

Kevin French

The self over the pellet stove worked very well.

The blanks are at 9-11% MC

Time to cut them to turnable size.