EEEK!! Close Call

[Christopher K. Hartley]

I was scraping along nicely when all of a sudden...Jolt...Thump...Crack...EEK!! Well this wasn't one of those good tools it is just a HF but have I learned the importance of good handles. Oh by the way; no injuries thank goodness.

[John Hart]

Yow!! That is one scary looking mishap! Glad you came out of it without leaking red stuff all over everything!:)

[Ernie Nyvall]

Dagnabit... but hey, looks like you may have a couple of pen blanks there.:D

Ernie

[Jeff Horton]

Hummm. I have two bowl gouges I made handles for out of toobafours since that was all I had at the time. Now you have me rethinking that. Of course in the right situation I guess anything could fail.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Dagnabit... but hey, looks like you may have a couple of pen blanks there.:D

Ernie

Thanks Ernie, I would not have thought of that, I've never done pens.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Hummm. I have two bowl gouges I made handles for out of toobafours since that was all I had at the time. Now you have me rethinking that. Of course in the right situation I guess anything could fail.

I'd sure be careful Jeff, this came real close to serious. I'm only going to use hard wood making handles. I got to looking and I can't tell what this stuff is.

[Jim Davenport]

Chris, I'm sure glad you weren't injured. I bet that got your attention:eek:

[Jim Dunn]

Ok deep breath, cupajoe, stop shaking and turn, turn, turn.

[Jim Becker]

I can't say I've ever heard or seen of this particular one happening!! Scary...

[Andy Hoyt]

The value of a ferrule has just been demonstrated.

Imagine the same event without one.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Glad you weren't hurt Christopher! New project....hardwood handle.....

[Corey Hallagan]

Wow, you got me freaked out now!! Glad you weren't hurt!

Corey

[Bernie Weishapl]

Glad you weren't hurt Christopher. The ferrule saved the day.

I don't think I would make handles out of 2 X 4's . My brother made one out of a 2 by and it snapped in his hand when he had a catch. It splintered every which way when it went. He had was a couple of big time splinters for the doctor to take out.

[Pat Salter]

WOW, I've never had anything close to that happen. I hope it's not one of those things we all have happen or I'm going to start wearing Depends in the shop.
We get a lot of broken shovel handles at work and I tell everyone not to throw them away. I've used a couple already. I hardly had to do much more than cut off square, drill a hole, add a ferule and insert tool. They are usually made of ash or hickory so should be good. At least it should be better than a "toobafour" :D (sorry Jeff, had to say it)
And you say you were scraping when this happened? That's unusual. Whenever I've seen a scraper used in a demo or tape the handle is always higher then the cutting edge so if it starts to catch it simply "bounces" away from the wood. I'm trying to figure out how you did this so I don't do it.:rolleyes:

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

Glad no harm done to YOU!

Now you get a chance to build your own handle. That's a GOOD thing!

Bruce

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Examined the handle wood more closely, It is really soft and looks like Mahogany. Why on earth would they use that stuff for a handle?

[Steve Hayes]

I was at Lowe's the other day and they were closing out straight shovel handles for $5.00 a piece. They were app. 2" in diameter and made of ash. Bought 4 and made a couple of handles worked out pretty well. You can get about 3 handle per stick. I made one earlier out of poplar. Very comfortable just wonder if it will hold up?

[Bill Grumbine]

I am glad to see you weren't hurt! But I have seen this very thing happen in my own shop with a bowl gouge. :eek: It was not me that did it, but rather a friend of mine who had come for some lessons, and then wanted to borrow the lathe. Catches that break the tool handle like this usually occur when the tool is hanging way out over the rest. Alternatively, the tool can be just a little bit over the rest and the tool is being held way at the back of the handle.

Harder wood might prevent this from happening, but probably not. The handle that was broken on my tool was made from Norway maple, which is fairly hard and strong. Make the handle strong enough, and it will not break, but then other things will happen. You could end up punching yourself in the face. DAMHIKT

Now, I am one for hanging the tool way over the rest, but then I am very careful of how the cutting edge is oriented. The key to avoiding catches of this magnitude is to keep the toolrest close to the wood. As you gain confidence and experience in tool control and the little nuances of how to hold that tool, you can start hanging the tool farther and farther over the edge. Scrapers are especially notorious for digging into the wood in a very aggressive manner, especially if we let our rear hand droop just a little, and that is a phenomenon that is natural to us all.

Bill

[Chuck Saunders]

Can you imagine HF using less than highest quality materials? ;)
I am more amazed at how good the lathe tools are.
Chuck

[Frank Fusco]

Glad you were not hurt. Like others, 2x4 does not seem like appropriate choice of material. I don't know what kind of tool that is but a precaution with cheap imports would be to assume the tang is not very long and make sure you do not overstress. That said, I do use some el cheapo import tools and have good luck with them. But, I have seen carving tools and turning tools where the tang is very-very short. For either use, this is quite dangerous. I threw away a couple dozen carving tools that were given to me just because of that reason.