For Cliff - Conkerberry handle

[IanW]

Cliff - I know you said use that Conkerberry I bought up north for jewellry - does this qualify? (Toolbox jewellry? )

Thought I'd do a bit of a Derek and make some pics while doing it. Unfortunately, it's a dull, dull, day here - a bit slow for handholding, and a bit close for flash, but here goes:

1. Raw material: My precious wood, a bit of HSS left over from the piece I got at the show to make a very small chisel, a scrap of 1/8" brass and an old 306 cartridge.

2. The wedges: Stick two bits of brass together temporarily (I used solder), chuck in the lathe and turn (at slow speed) into a long teardrop. Finish with fine paper, steel wool & some green compound.

3. Chuck the handle, drill the hole in the end, fit the ferrule, then shape as desired. I like a flat oval shape, so I rough turned the profile, then faired the edges with a rasp, then sanded to get what I wanted. Apply a liberal coal of Neil's brew (Shellawax) & polish to desired finish (Do the brass as well - keeps it from tarnishing).

4. Stick 'em together & take another pic.........

Cheers,

[Cliff Rogers]

OK, nice work....
I had never thought of using brass wedges, I just pour hot melt glue or epoxy in the hole & push the tool bit into it.

Maybe you could have just made the slim bit of the handle slightly slimmer to make it look a bit more hour-glass/lady-like/sexy.

[derekcohen]

Hi Ian

Very nice indeed!

I have also begun using brass internally. While the knives I have made are strong (from reports), I have always remained concerned about them being used out oif their envelope and the fronts breaking off. So now I am slotting the blades into brass and then this combination into the handle.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[artme]

A tool worthy of the handle.

[IanW]

Maybe you could have just made the slim bit of the handle slightly slimmer to make it look a bit more hour-glass/lady-like/sexy.

Yeah Cliff - see what you mean. Actually, it looks a bit better in the hand - for some reason she does look a lot more middle-aged in the pic......

The wedges are copied from someone else's example - they just make it easy to fit a flat blade into a round hole, and also allow me to change blades if needed. (Not that a marking knife is likely to wear out in a lifetime or two!)

Hi Derek - slotting something accurately is a bit more difficult for me - making them from two pieces was easy.. I also put too much taper on the wedges - next time I will do a slight taper.

Cheers,