Making a Gouge Handle

[Steve H Graham]

Today I'm working on my tool rest and a handle for a gouge. I ordered a single 1/2" bowl gouge from Hurricane, and it came with no handle.

I can make an aluminum handle, but I would rather use wood because it has a wonderful quality aluminum doesn't have. It's free.

Is there a secret to making handles? I figured I would just make a straightish cylinder with a hole in the end for the gouge. I am not sure how deep the hole should be, or for that matter, what the diameter should be. The gouge has a tiny shoulder on it, so I figure that's as far into the wood as it should go.

I think I have a brass tube somewhere I can use for a ferrule.

How do you get the handle and the gouge together? Do I put the sharp end of the gouge on a piece of soft wood and bang on the end of the wooden handle? I have a shop press.

[Steve Pippins]

Steve, go to youtube and search on woodturning handles. You will find plenty of tutorial videos that you can watch.

Where is South Florida are you located? You might try visiting one of the turning clubs in your area.

Steve Pippins

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

Alan Lacer has a great tutorial on how to turn a tool handle:

http://woodturninglearn.net/

His website won't link directly to the article - but on the left, click "Articles" then scroll down to "Forgotten Handles"

[Dwight Rutherford]

Here are some U-Tube vids on making handles for gouges,
https://m.youtube.com/results?q=make%20handle%20for%20gouge&sm=3

[Prashun Patel]

You're on the right track with all yr assumptions.

My advice on bowl gouge handles is bigger is usually better.

I epoxied mine into the hole.

Hardest part was drilling the hole straight. I used the lathe for that.

[John Grace]

There's the mechanics action of marrying the wood and metal together but also pay attention the diameter and over-all length you're looking for. Bowl gouges are typically a bit longer for greater control...I like to mirror a couple I already have and go from there, it's not as hard as it may appear.

[John Keeton]

Some time ago, I did a tutorial here - http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?164807-A-handle-for-the-HOG-a-short-tutorial/page2

[Dale Miner]

Another way to marry the gouge and handle is to start the gouge in the hole, and with the now partial assembly in your hand with the gouge end down, smack the back end of the handle with a wooden mallet. Newton's law about a body wants to remain at rest comes into play, and the inertia of the gouge wanting to remain stationary drives the gouge into the handle. Allow the handle to slip thru your grip a bit as it is struck. A few quick raps should seat the gouge into the handle. The sound changes when the gouge is at the bottom of the hole.

I usually push the ferrule onto the handle with the tailstock while the handle is held in the chuck.

[Steve H Graham]

One of the things that amazes me about turning is that people use wet wood. I'm used to thinking of wet wood as something I can't touch yet.

Is there any hope that a handle made from a green mahogany limb will not explode? A lady let me take a limb out of her trash today.

[robert baccus]

This is one place dry is better.

[Steve H Graham]

Do I really need my furniture...

[Prashun Patel]

Also, beware of 'limbs' and anything with pith in it.

The reason people turn green wood is because it's hard to come by thick, wide, short blanks. They're expensive to ship and take a long time to dry. Fallen trees, however, are free (for many) to find and harvest.

If you want some reasonable air-dried beech for a handle, pm me your address. I'll send you a couple blanks. It's a fair wood; this crop behaves and feels much like maple - just pinker with some flecks in the x-section.

[Dave Cullen]

Home Depot sometimes sells "turning blanks" - 1.5" square x 32" poplar for about $2 each. Great utility wood and they make okey doke turning handles too. In a pinch, a couple slices of 3/4 maple can be glued into a 1-1/2" blank too.