London Pattern Chisel Handles

[Marcus Ward]

After a discussion on the oldtools list regarding london pattern handles I've fitted them to pretty much everything except the dogs. I just eyeball the curves and cut the flats freehand using a smoother with the handle in the bench vise. They come out pretty awesome. No jig needed.

This weekend I made handles for each of my files and rasps (8 types) and a couple of chisels.

http://www.f-64.org/bench/handles1.jpg

This chisel is a harbor freight el cheapo. I got a whole set of them for 7$, I think. The edges are horrible and roll right over or chip. However, messing around with heat treating I heat treated it and quenched it in water (wasn't sure what the proper media was but it didn't crack) and now it's got a killer edge on it and holds it incredibly well. 25 tough mallet strikes into oak crossgrain and no degradation of the edge, it's still razor sharp. Before that type of treatment would destroy it. However, the handles were made from some obscene chinese wood (possibly some sort of plant material). Most of them are cracking so I started replacing the ones I had heat treated and this is the result:

http://www.f-64.org/bench/handles2.jpg

Buying a set of 7$ chisels, heat treating them all, and replacing the handles isn't really a good way to go about it but if you're on a horrible budget it might be okay... ;)

FWIW, I'm not on that budget, but I'm curious enough to try it for the cost of a couple of big macs.

One funny thing is the cheap harbor freight chisels resemble an ECE mortise chisel in more ways than one. Both use some unnamed wood for the handle, both are dipped entire into some sort of finish, both have el cheapo stamped bolster rings. The ECE has a better blade but I wasn't impressed with the quality when I got it.

[Phillip Pattee]

Marcus, pretty cool. A tutorial similar to what Clint did for shaping plane handles would be helpful. What did you use for your stock, and what dimensions? What you did with your heat treatment was called water quenching. You could try oil quenching (I've heard peanut oil works well) for a little tougher edge. Rarebear has some info on heat treating on his site. https://home.comcast.net/~rarebear/heat_treating/heat_treating.htm We did this back in college mechanical engineering. I think my wife would freak if I tried anything like this at home, so I admire your efforts.:)

[Marcus Ward]

I may make a tutorial some time. Rarebear was using O1 tool steel which needs to be oil quenched. There are other kinds that you quench in water or brine and since I didn't know what it was I just used water. I have a can of olive oil I use to quench plane blades in so I may try that. The stock was just walnut about 1.25" square and 8" long but it depends on the tool I'm making the handle for. The ones on the big rasps are huge.

[jonathan snyder]

Very nice Marcus.

I have never held a London pattern handle. Are they really that comfortable, or did you just have so much fun making them that you couldn't stop? I'm not sure if I would like them, I guess I'll have to try one one day.

Jonathan

[Marcus Ward]

I really like them, I think they're some of the most comfortable handles. They also make good screwdriver handles. The flats fit your hands and you can get a ton of torque. The rounded part on the front fits your forefinger and thumb for lots of fine control. Give em a try.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Nicely done Marcus. I think it's important that folks understand that if you can remove the handle, it's really easy to reharden and then temper your own tools to correct any maker deficiencies. Most tools are made out of decent steels these days, but often corners are cut in the final processing.

[Wendell Wilkerson]

A tutorial similar to what Clint did for shaping plane handles would be helpful.

Alice Frampton (Alf) has a tutorial for making London pattern handles on her website :

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

Wendell

[Marcus Ward]

What you did with your heat treatment was called water quenching. You could try oil quenching (I've heard peanut oil works well) for a little tougher edge.


Okay tonight I tried oil to see how it did. Whatever kind of steel this is, it's definitely water-quench. The edge after the oil quench was still very soft. The chisel I was working on tonight was a 1/4" from the same bunch. I have been eyeballing those fancy lee valley japanese dovetail chisels and lusting over one for cutting teeny tiny pins on dovetails but can't justify the price so I started grinding on this 1/4" chisel until it was triangular in cross section. Then I hardened and tempered it. It works great. I made another london pattern handle for it and cut a dovetail in a walnut/oak combo (for contrast) and to test the little chisel out on oak. It did a fine job with no degradation to the edge and easy removal of waste. :)

[Paul Erickson]

Okay tonight I tried oil to see how it did. Whatever kind of steel this is, it's definitely water-quench. The edge after the oil quench was still very soft. The chisel I was working on tonight was a 1/4" from the same bunch. I have been eyeballing those fancy lee valley japanese dovetail chisels and lusting over one for cutting teeny tiny pins on dovetails but can't justify the price so I started grinding on this 1/4" chisel until it was triangular in cross section. Then I hardened and tempered it. It works great. I made another london pattern handle for it and cut a dovetail in a walnut/oak combo (for contrast) and to test the little chisel out on oak. It did a fine job with no degradation to the edge and easy removal of waste. :)

Hi Marcus,

I think to also have a set of those chisels which I bought by mistake, before I knew better. Thanks for your info, I will try to harden them some time. Have you done any experimentation with your tempering temperature? How did you temper yours?

cheers, Paul

[Marcus Ward]

On the hardening, I just heat it until it loses it's magnetism (curie point) and quench it. After hardening I scrub it off with a scotchbrite pad until I can see the metal and then heat it with a torch until I see straw yellow (beer color) and quench it again. You gotta be really careful because that's the first color that shows up and you can go past it very easily. Seems to work fine.

[Ken Werner]

Marcus, does the steel lose magnetism at a certain color, or before it begins changing at all? Do you touch a magnet to the heated metal?

[harry strasil]

You hang a magnet on a stick with a piece of thin copper wire, and bring it close, if it does not attract to the steel that is the critical temp point. By the Way its usually 1460° F.

Putting a 1/4 inch of liquid Vegetable oil on the quenching water (it will float on top) will prevent what is called a shock hardness to very thin edges. But be careful the oil will flash (burst into flames), so wear a glove and be prepared. It is important to stick the chisel straight down into the quenching water or there is a good chance it will warp to the side that goes into the water first.

What Marcus is doing is called Draw Tempering for the second stage, it can be done in an ordinary kitchen oven and that is what most hobby knife makers use for tempering as its a controlled heat and hard to over heat it.

[harry strasil]

http://www.anvilfire.com/index.php?bodyName=/FAQs/temper_colors.htm&titleName=Temper%20Colors%20:%20anvilfire.com

[Marcus Ward]

The steel loses its magnetism at bright cherry red, about as hot as you can get it with a blowtorch, it's way after the metal turns blue, it does that right off. I do like Harry says - use a magnet to check the curie point and quench as soon as it's there. Now the yellow is a totally different thing. When you first heat the chisel up you'll see colors move along the blade from the heat source, starting with straw yellow and ending with purple and then going grey. That color you want for tempering is that first straw yellow. I get that by just passing the blade through the flame quickly and heating it up slowly because that color comes on fast and passes quickly so you have to be watching for it and quench as soon as you see it. If I had an oven (no, my house does't have one) I'd use that as it'd be more accurate.