DIY removable blade handles

[Thom Sturgill]

After reviewing discussion on 3rd party handles and their costs I decided to look at Do-It-Yourself solutions. Commercial handles start at about $40 for short handles and go well over $100 for some solutions. DIY handles are easily in the $20-$30 range and cheaper depending on your willingness to turn metal on your lathe. I found three basic solutions (I'm sure there are others) that I wanted to explore.

The first uses common PVC pipe and an adapter from Hunter tools and a video (http://www.hunterwoodturningtool.com/products/sleeve/) is available on his site. (BTW, his Osprey tool looks interesting).
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The adapter is turned to fit in a 1" pvc pipe and set flush with the end. It is drilled to accept a standard diameter blade and is available in for sizes for $20 each. It comes with 2 set screws, but you have to drill and tap the holes for them. I made both a 3/8" and 1/2" handle and so far they seem to fit my hand well but are a little light. It is easy to turn a plug and put weight in the back of the handle.

The other solutions involve buying aluminum pipe and rod. Depending on your source the shipping can be more expensive than the metal itself. the first solution I found involved buying the Hosulak adapters and epoxying then into appropriate sized tubing. The Hosulak adapters are also $20 and the tube is a bit more expensive than the PVC. In addition, these are then covered with PVC tubing available from the BORG by the foot for about $2/ft.
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These made handsome well balanced handles, though only the 3/8" one uses the Hosulak adapter, the 1/2" adapter was turned on my Jet lathe using a 1/4" square bit held in my boring bar and ground to an appropriate shape. It was finished with a file and sandpaper. . The adapters are epoxied in place.
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The variant on this is to buy rod sized to fit snugly in the tube and drill to fit and epoxy in place. Cindy Drozda has a tutorial on her site for this method, again the PVC hose is installed over the metal tube. Again if you are willing to turn metal on your wood lathe, you could get rod the same diameter as the OD of the tube and turn down about 2" to insert into the tube, or even better get a piece the OD of the pvc hose and turn down about 2" to go into the metal tube. This would provide a smooth transition between the area where the set screws are and the PVC covering. This solution should cost less than $20 total.

The 1" OD tube with the PVC cover is very close in finished outside diameter to the 1" PVC pipe, but the weight is more to my liking.

I will probably use the 3/8" PVC solution for my small gouges, the Aluminum handle for my 1/2" gouges and the small aluminum handle for my small Ellsworth hollowers.

[Roger Chandler]

Nice work on these Thom.........hope they work out well for you!

[Richard Jones]

Thom,

I guess you've looked into regular 1/2" and 3/4" pipe for handles? I use both black iron and aluminum, with brass fittings on each end. Business end has a 1/2" FIPT x 5/8" comp, allowing most 5/8" gouges to slip in pretty easy. Sometimes a chainsaw file needs to be used inside the pipe, where the seam is, so the tool will fit properly. I then drill and tap for a 10-24, and use a grade 3 bolt fitted with a grip. Better if you grind a small flat on the tool tang, prevents problems. The bottom end is just a threaded cap. You can buy iron pipe in different lengths at most hardware stores, along with some radiator hose to slide over the whole works. If you have some plumber friends, fittings and pipe can be really cheap. I've tried lead shot in the handles, but it's just too heavy. I'm currently using a piece of 3/4" aluminum pipe with my big Thompson scraper and it does fine.

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[Alan Zenreich]

Thom,

I don't see much of a need to epoxy an adapter into the end of an aluminum rod. I have made several handles, where I set scres to simple drilled and tapped a couple of holes in the side of the handle... This holds the chisel in the hole drilled in the end of the bar. What I'm getting at is that it's really simple to provide the same functionality of the adapter (which is really designed for wood), by tapping the aluminum already present in the handle. I drill different size holes on each end of the handle, and put a pair of set screws on each end... Making it easy to change blades as necessary.

edit: I just noticed that you were using tubing, whereas I used solid rod. So just consider my comment an alternate approach, one that doesn't require an adapter or epoxy, but does require drilling a hole into the end of the rod.

[Harry Robinette]

It may be just me but I can't see using PVC. Myself a plastic handle is NOT something I wont on a tool.

[Thom Sturgill]

Alan, I thought of rod too, but part of the idea was to be able to slide the blade into the handle in reverse to protect it when taken to meetings for demos. Also it sometimes is nice to shorten the blade on spindle gouges. I do not have a drill bit long enough for that.

Harry, I will probably only use the PVC handle with the little 3/8" gouges, seems to work well there and I like the light weight. I may turn the 1/2" adapter down to fit into an aluminum handle. I was curious and willing to invest the $20...

[Thom Sturgill]

I thought about both steel and copper and decided the stell would probably be too heavy , while the copper would not be strong enough. 'aircraft' aluminum is not that expensive, as isaid shipping can be more than the metal itself, so it would propbably pay to get several people to go together on an order.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nicely done Thom.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I wanted a heavier and longer handle for my 5/8" turning tools when roughing out the bigger blanks, so I made one longer and heavier tool handle about a dozen years ago, drilled a 1" mild steel rod all the way through with a 1/2" drill-bit and then drilled all but for 4 or 5 inches with a 5/8" drill bit, that way I could use both a 1/2" tool and a 5/8" tool in that handle, and have it as far in or out as I would like, the tools were held with 2 setscrews, used the size where the allen-key that I used for my Oneway chucks would fit in, as that one is always on the lathe.

I later made a couple more of those handles, but shorter ones, I used these for a number of years without any covering on them, found that the tool was kind of thin at 1" diameter, plus it was pretty cold in the winter time, so I added a 1" high pressure hose that has the reinforcement netting in it, a couple of holes for where the setscrews are and that's the way they have been now for a few years, the tools are not changed often, but can be quite quickly if I want to.

To drill the long hole, I welded a long rod onto a 1/2" drill-bit to be able to drill all the way through the steel rod, I find this heavier handle and tool works very nice for roughing-out large blanks where both the weight and length help.

The two shorter ones are used, but not as much, for these tools a regular wood handle would be just as useful IMO, the shorter ones have both 3/8", 1/2" and 5/8" holes, and I can connect them onto either one of the other handles with just a piece of steel rod that fits.

Total price is what I paid for the high pressure hose, the rod I had picked up from a neighbor's discarded barbell, and the setscrews I have in my "stuff collection"


This is the way I used them initially
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This is how they are now, and the bucket shows what the handle lengths are compared to my other full size tools
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[Thom Sturgill]

Nice thing about DIY is you can design/modify them to suit. I would like to find out how to do the grip on the Bennett handles though.

[Richard Jones]

Nice thing about DIY is you can design/modify them to suit. I would like to find out how to do the grip on the Bennett handles though.

The Bennett handle looks a lot like the Monster handle......... some kind of closed-cell foam? I have one of the Monster handles and it's very comfortable, but so is the radiator hose.....

[Mike Stephens]

Some one once posted a great link for foam handle grips. I can't find it now. Maybe another creecker has a link for use.

Very nice handles all around. Hope you get many years of service from them.