george wilson
04-04-2012, 4:35 PM
This is mostly for Klaus to see. Just small ball pein type handles. The trouble is,you just can't buy a decent handle this small. Too much trouble to make,really,but it's the only way to get them.
The 3rd handle down shows the close grain. In the picture they are still round,and laid on the end of my 8" jointer to shoot. This ash has really tight grain!
This type handle is what I used on the "graceful" hammer heads. I must find a suitable name!
I got some very close grained ash,and oriented the growth rings so that you can see the rings on the sides of the handles. Exactly the wrong way to orient the grain on a hammer handle,of course. But on these small hammers it really doesn't matter. They are not the kind or size hammers that will ever be used for hard striking.
I just turned them out freehand on the lathe without any templates. No measuring either. They all came out the same. They will be cut to length later. That's my old Oliver wood lathe which I used. The vise is my original German "universal" vise,which was really a gun stocker's vise (wonder why they with held that info?). The Asians copied them later. This one is from the 60's. It cost $40.00 in about 1967. Then,they got up to about $200.00 pretty soon,and I guess priced themselves out of the market by the late 70's or early 80's. That was money then. The Asian copies can be spotty on quality control,but if you get a well fitted one,they seem just fine. I have about 3 of them also. We had a German vise of this style in the toolmaker's shop whose vise nut stripped out. I was going to make a new nut,when we found that the nut from an old,broken Asian machinist's vise fit perfectly,with just a little milling. The threads were exactly right!:)
In the pictures,I am planing the handle oval with a violin plane. Any small plane would do,but I could get into the slightly concave areas nearer the head with the violin plane. It has a flat bottom,but by tilting it at a 45º angle,it would plane in the slightly hollow places.
The 3rd handle down shows the close grain. In the picture they are still round,and laid on the end of my 8" jointer to shoot. This ash has really tight grain!
This type handle is what I used on the "graceful" hammer heads. I must find a suitable name!
I got some very close grained ash,and oriented the growth rings so that you can see the rings on the sides of the handles. Exactly the wrong way to orient the grain on a hammer handle,of course. But on these small hammers it really doesn't matter. They are not the kind or size hammers that will ever be used for hard striking.
I just turned them out freehand on the lathe without any templates. No measuring either. They all came out the same. They will be cut to length later. That's my old Oliver wood lathe which I used. The vise is my original German "universal" vise,which was really a gun stocker's vise (wonder why they with held that info?). The Asians copied them later. This one is from the 60's. It cost $40.00 in about 1967. Then,they got up to about $200.00 pretty soon,and I guess priced themselves out of the market by the late 70's or early 80's. That was money then. The Asian copies can be spotty on quality control,but if you get a well fitted one,they seem just fine. I have about 3 of them also. We had a German vise of this style in the toolmaker's shop whose vise nut stripped out. I was going to make a new nut,when we found that the nut from an old,broken Asian machinist's vise fit perfectly,with just a little milling. The threads were exactly right!:)
In the pictures,I am planing the handle oval with a violin plane. Any small plane would do,but I could get into the slightly concave areas nearer the head with the violin plane. It has a flat bottom,but by tilting it at a 45º angle,it would plane in the slightly hollow places.