making a plane handle

[Kelly Anderson]

I am the proud new owner of a plane in need of a handle. I would rather not have to pay more for a handle than I did for the entire plane so that means making one. Can anyone tell me how I can get the hole in the right place at the right angle?

[Mike Henderson]

I've made a number of handles for planes. What I do is drill the hole first and then shape the handle around the hole.

First, cut your blank to the rough shape and length (top to bottom). Next, mark where the hole should go at the top and bottom. Then draw a line down the side of the blank where the hole should go.

Drill the hole for the brass nut that holds things together first. Choose the correct size drill so that the nut fits tight. Try not to drill that hole too deep - you usually want the top of the nut flush with the top of the tote. Then, using the centre point of that hole, drill the hole for the rod.

It's tough to get the drill to go straight for that length of drill - it'll tend to wander to one side or the other. One thing you can do is drill half way from each end. This requires aligning your blank. Use the line on the side of your handle blank and clamp the blank in the drill press with the line vertical. Drill half way, then turn the wood over and drill from the other side and hope they meet.

Maybe someone else has a better solution.

After that, you can rough out the shape on your bandsaw, then use rasps to get to the final shape. Then a lot of hand sanding. It takes a while to get there.

Since you're doing all that work, you can do something fancy with the handle, maybe something like the attached picture.

Mike

[Mike Wenzloff]

Take a look at Alice Frampton's web site:

http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/planetote.html

Should get you all the way there!

Take care, Mike

[Kelly Anderson]

Wow that is exactly what I needed. I never would have thought of doing it that way. Thanks