Making Scratch Awl & Burnisher Handles

[Jim Koepke]

My grandson Mike almost got away yesterday without me taking a picture of his first dovetail box:

a Mikes First Dovetail Box.jpg

Not bad for a first time. He cut all but the first tail of one corner.

It seems my shop is running out of space for my rust accumulation addiction. (is there an AA for this? Accumulators Anonymous?)

A collection of tools is being put together to ship to him. He was introduced to scraping so he needs a burnisher and he liked my awl made of HSS so one of those is in the works.

The piece of lumber chosen for the handles was out of square and was taller than it was wide. Getting three of the sides square was quick with a plane. Instead of planing down the ~1/8” extra on the side an tip from an old Fine Woodworking magazine was employed. Use a piece of scrap the same length as the stock. In this case the stock is long enough to make two handles. Place the work stock against the fence and the scrap against the stock:

b Sawing Scrap for Size Duplicator .jpg

Carefully push both piece to cut the scrap, push sticks are easy to make and safer.

After cutting place the scrap against the fence. Then in this case to make the stock square, it was rotated to place the excess in the path of the blade:

c Sawing Work Piece to Size.jpg

This method would work to make duplicate sizes of another piece. This one only needed a few passes with a smoothing plane to get it square enough for my caliper to like it.

Next step is to make a divot for the lathe’s tail stock center. First mark center:

d Marking Center.jpg

The awl is shop made from a piece of HSS drill stock. The awl's tip is four sided. It registers well against a rule and seems to hold its edge at the tip quite well. It has even been used to scribe a couple pieces of metal without ill effect.

Once the X is marked the next step was to use an awl to start a pilot for the gimlet:

e Pilot Mark.jpg

Gimlets are often my choice for a quick hole or two. This one makes a quick dimple for the lathe’s tail center:

f Gimlet in Chuck Handle.jpg

The sizes on my tanged gimlets have been recorded on my wood screw chart matching screw size to gimlet for boring pilot holes.

Gimlets don’t show up very often in Antique shops or estate sales and such. Now the only come home with me if it is really cute.

Was there mention of an addiction of accumulation?

g Various Gimlets.jpg

There really aren’t that many duplicates now…

jtk

[Chuck Hill]

It seems my shop is running out of space for my rust accumulation addiction. (is there an AA for this? Accumulators Anonymous?)

I am not aware of any cure for Tool Acquisition Disorder. If you find one, let us know!

[Jim Koepke]

When starting this project my plan was to make two handles. Now another might be made for myself since these look much nicer than the spare handle holding my shop made awl.

The HSS drill stock has come in so handy at times purchasing more is being seriously considered. At Lost Art Press one of the “Anarchist Gift Guide” items (#14) was an awl from Germany similar to mine with a price tag of about $58 (49.90 €). Either some folks have money burning a hole in their pockets or serious consideration might go to making a few of these if materials are not too costly.

No pictures were taken of me at the lathe. Those who have a lathe know what it is like and for those who don’t have one, the images are blurry with wood shavings flying everywhere. This image is near the end of turning:

a Why Only Make One?.jpg

This was sold as a type of mahogany by the building supply liquidator in town. It works well with sharp tools. This has been given a coating of Howards Furniture Oil.

The inside diameter of 1/2” copper pipe end caps being used for ferules measured at 5/8”. My 16mm open end wrench was a hair fatter than my 5/8” wrench. It was used for a gauge in the section of the turning for the ferules. The caps depth was 9/16” so 1-1/8” plus the thickness of the parting chisel was left in the center for the ferules between the handles.

When the handles were parted a ferule was fitted to the handle remaining in the chuck. This required a little stock removal with a fine tooth file. Be careful if doing this as even a fine file will remove a lot of wood quickly on a spinning lathe.

With the ferule in place the tail stock was set up for boring:

b Boring Operation.jpg

The drill rod for the scratch awl is 3/16” the bit used for the mounting hole was a #18 drill (0.169”). This is a few thousands smaller than an 11/64” bit.
Notice the extra wood at the chuck. This often gets used later during sessions at the lathe.

To get the rods installed in the handles a piece of wood had a rip kerf sawn for about 6”. Holes were then drilled centered on the kerf to hold the rods in a vise. Then the handles were easy to tap on for a tight interference fit.

Remember the extra wood in the chuck? It is above the awl and burnisher in this image:

C Scratch Awl and Burnisher with Acorns.jpg

The piece of scrap with the kerf and hole to hold the drill rod is at the right in this image.

One of my first and often turned items is acorns. All the kids in the family and many of the adults all seem to like getting them.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Made one more awl today with a handle of apple:

Awl with Apple Handle.jpg

Apple turns very well. It cut like butter.

jtk