Tapering tang mortises...

[Scott M Perry]

Hi, all -

I'm fixing to make a(nother) travisher, traditionally styled, tapered tangs on the iron. I've made one of these before, and it turned out well, but I'm having memory gaps in how I fit the tangs to the tapered mortise. I *think* that I drilled a hole to the smallest size of the tang, then would smoke the tangs and insert into the mortises to see what needed chopping with a 1/8" chisel. Lather, rinse, repeat until there was a good, tight fit at the right place. Does that sound about right?

Mymemory is failing me more on a daily basis...

Thanks for your thoughts.
Scott

[Jim Matthews]

Any reason why you couldn't just use a reamer or broach?

It seems to me that repeated pyro fitting would lead to seasonal loosening of the blade
or a smoldering ash, if things get out of hand.

FYI - David Charlesworth retrofitted his with a threaded end - no taper on the tang.
http://www.ncworkshops.com/sharpening_tips.html

If it was me (yet, it isn't) I would use a fine Dremel burr to get close before I used a hot iron to get the best fit.
http://www.ncworkshops.com/sharpening_tips.html

[Trevor Walsh]

He means using soot to mark the high points off of the tang. And yes I think that sounds about right.

[Jim Matthews]

soot to mark the high points off of the tang

Gotcha. That means that there will only be one depth at which the taper will be seated.
There's no way to adjust the shaving size, that way.

It will either be cutting at the fixed dimension, or loose.

[Scott M Perry]

Jim, that's what I can't get my mind around. The one I made works great, and seems adjustable, but it doesn't flesh out.

So, how are the old boxwood shaves with tapered tangs mortised?

[Scott M Perry]

Anyone have any ideas how this should be done correctly?

[Trevor Walsh]

I have a travisher with tangs, it also has little metal wedges that go the opposite way as the taper on the tangs. Let me know if a picture is needed. I don't necessarily see having a fixed depth as a bad thing though. If your drawknife does all the rough cuts or rasp, then a finely set spokeshave would handle the smoothing. You could always set the blade deeper on one side so you have variable width shavings, but that only works on thin stuff.