More chisel handle ?????????

[Jerry Bruette]

Friend asked me at work today if anybody makes handle for socket style chisels. Told him I've never heard of or seen any ads for handles. So the question is can a person buy handles for socket style chisels?

TIA
Jerry

[Mike Henderson]

If you're talking about pre-made handles for just any socket chisel, then, no you can't buy ready made handles. For specific chisels, for example, the Lie Nielsen chisels, you can buy pre-made handles because Lie Nielsen knows the size and taper of their chisels. For older (antique) chisels, the size of the socket and the taper is different between every chisel.

A couple of years ago, I was contacted by a woodworker who wanted some handles made for his chisels. I had him send me the chisels so I could fit the handles to the sockets. I just don't know any other way to get a good fit to random socket chisels.

Mike

[Jim Koepke]

Many here make their own. I have sold off most of my spare handles. There are handles often for sale on ebay.

The problem is the fit. Without the chisel in hand, it is near impossible to make a handle that fits properly.

In my chisels are three of the same size from the same maker and the handles are slightly different. Before asking why have that many of the same size, two of them have been reground to be skew chisels.

Then there is the consideration of what kind of handle fits best for the user's hands. For me, two or three basic shapes work well. There is one for paring chisels that have a bead at the business end for the front of my hand and sometimes my slack hand to rest against. The other end of the handle has more or less a ball for controlling the angle of attack or to actively skew the chisel while cutting to produce a slicing motion.

For my larger paring chisels the handle may be a bit longer with less pronounced features.

For firmer chisels The handle is pretty much the same as the paring chisels except it is elongated to allow for a full grip and not getting my hand hit during mallet use.

Of course there are a lot of other shaped handles that came with the chisels or have not been redone.

If your friend wants an exact replacement for a chisel, I think LN sells handles similar to the old Stanley 750 style chisel handles.

Here is a post with a few links to sellers of handles:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?146367-Handle-for-socket-chisels

If you were closer to me, I would be happy to have you come over with the tools and turn handles.

All I would ask is maybe a few beers or you could sweep my floor in exchange.

jtk